Above Suspicion

Plot synopsis:
In the spring of 1939 in England, Oxford University Professor Richard Myles (Fred MacMurray) and his new bride Frances (Joan Crawford) decide to honeymoon on the continent. Because they are American tourists and therefore "above suspicion," they find themselves commissioned by the British secret service to find an apparently missing scientist who has developed a countermeasure against a new Nazi secret weapon, a magnetic sea mine. Without knowing his name, what he looks like, or where to find him, the couple look upon the search as adventurous and cross Europe seeking clues from clandestine contacts.
In Paris, Frances is given a hat decorated with a rose as a signal for their first contact, who silently instructs them to go to a café in Montmartre, where an unseen contact plants a tourist guidebook to southern Germany in Richard's coat. The couple notice a series of ink dots on a map in the book that linked together form a musical staff with the opening notes to the song "My Love Is Like a Red, Red Rose," which they deduce is their password. Three pinpricks in the same map direct them to the book's seller, A. Werner (Felix Bressart), in Salzburg. Werner informs them they must go to a certain museum where a man named Count Hassert Seidel (Conrad Veidt), calling himself a "guide," suggests that they check into a guest house run by Frau Kleist (Johanna Hofer). She provides them with a book on Franz Liszt with annotations that reveal their next stop should be the village of Pertisau in the Tyrol, where they should inquire about a doctor who collects chess pieces.
Some days later, the couple intends to go to a performance of Liszt but are advised against it by Thornley (Bruce Lester), a fellow houseguest and recent graduate of Oxford. They go anyway; and, during the same loud passage that Thornley had been practicing earlier in the night, a Nazi Colonel, the Commandant of Dachau concentration camp, is shot and killed. Officials insist on questioning the entire audience, but Richard and Frances are rescued by Gestapo Chief Count Sig von Aschenhausen (Basil Rathbone), a former Oxford schoolmate of Richard's. Thornley later admits to Richard that he killed the Nazi as revenge for torturing and killing his Austrian fiancée. He also warns Richard that Thornley and his fiancée had once also been "above suspicion."
Frances and Richard go to the home of the chess collector, Dr. Mespelbrunn (Reginald Owen); but, while he does not seem to be present, Count von Aschenhausen is. They notice sheet music for "My Love Is Like a Red, Red Rose" on his piano, but Sig does not respond to an identification signal that Richard gives him, and the couple becomes suspicious. They hear thumping noises upstairs and discover that Sig is holding Mespelbrunn prisoner. Mespelbrunn tells them to run and that the Gestapo is coming after them. The couple leaves the house just in time, and Hassert appears to help them free Mespelbrunn, who is the missing scientist "Dr. Smith". All four head for Innsbruck, and Mespelbrunn gives Richard the plans for the countermeasure.
The couple obtain counterfeit passports from an elderly couple named Schultz. Richard and Frances are to catch the train to Milan at separate stations; but, when the Schultzes are arrested by the Gestapo, the police are on the lookout for them in disguise. Frances is detained and questioned by the Gestapo; but Thornley, in Innsbruck as well to catch the same train, is able to find Richard. Richard, Thornley, and Hassert sneak in to where Frances is being held and kill all her captors, including Sig; but Thornley is also killed. After fooling the Nazi border guards, Hassert and the newlyweds finally find freedom in Italy.

Tags: revenge, murder

Review:
If you like the kind of spy-romance yarns spun out by Hollywood in the 1940s--the kind with tongue-in-cheek dialogue that lets you know you're not supposed to take any of it too seriously--you'll enjoy this amusing, yet suspenseful film in which Conrad Veidt plays a "nice guy" for a change.
Honeymooners Joan Crawford and Fred MacMurray are asked by British intelligence to do some spying while on their European jaunt.
Good entertainment with some amusing dialogue and light-hearted performances by Joan and Fred that indicate they should have been teamed more than once.
As it is, this is Joan Crawford's last film at Metro after seventeen years with the studio and comes just two years before "Mildred Pierce" at Warners.
The film's setting is in the days prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. Although it would have been highly unlikely that British Intelligence would have asked two non-Britishers and non-professionals to do a bit of spying for them which could turn very dangerous for them and give the whole thing away plus creating an international scandal (the World War had not yet started), yet it is always interesting to see how it would have developed.
Good slick direction by Mr. Thorpe, excellent acting by Mr. McMurray and specially by Miss Crawford, excellent set design which does not forget the overcoats needed on the Brenner Pass between Austria (in the Film the country is called Southern Germany) and Itally (which did not get into the War until 1940).
Above Suspicion (1943)An odd movie even for its time, being clearly anti-Nazi and a bit of an American adventure on behalf of the British, but set in the months before the war began, earlier 1939.
It must have seemed a bit lightweight at the time, and it certainly is a bit breezy now, too.Joan Crawford is at her best when life is going wrong, when the screws are applied or when she has to be a tough and independent women.
The only other actor of note is the Nazi figure, played by the guy who plays Sherlock in all those B-Movie Sherlock Holmes films, Basil Rathbone, and you can't quite make him out as the evil menace he needs to be.Of course, our leading odd couple has been chosen for this mission by some knowing British officials who see the American innocence as a perfect cover for what is actually pretty dangerous stuff.
Above Suspicion (1943) ** 1/2 (out of 4)By-the-numbers WWII drama from MGM has Joan Crawford and Fred MacMurray playing newlyweds who are asked by the government to do some spying as they make their way into Nazi controlled territory.
ABOVE SUSPICION was one of the hundreds of films turned out by Hollywood to motivate or at least pursued the country to support the war and to show how evil the Nazi party was.
Both Crawford and MacMurray are good in their roles, although I'm not so sure they play were together.
Conrad Veidt is good in his role as a good German and Basil Rathbone steals the film as the evil German.
Well, if Joan Crawford didn't know the end was near for her at MGM, she knew it when she was handed "Above Suspicion," based on the novel of the same name by Helen MacInnes.
Crawford plays a newlywed, and Fred MacMurray her American husband, who teaches at Oxford.
The couple are asked by the foreign office to track down someone while honeymooning in Germany, a man who can help the Allies regarding a German secret weapon.
At first, it's fun; then it becomes dangerous.This is an entertaining film in part thanks to a good cast of Crawford, MacMurray, Basil Rathbone, and Conrad Veidt.
There is also some real stuff of spy books and films - special hats, song codes, codes on maps and in books."Above Suspicion" doesn't seem very big budget and despite some Bavarian costumes and quaint German towns, it's all Hollywood set.
Given the huge films Crawford took part in at MGM, this black and white movie must have seemed like a come-down.
"Above Suspicion(1943)" was the last film Joan Crawford made under her Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract.
She left,because she was dissatisfied with the mundane scripts she was offered.Looking at this film,we can see her point.Here's an espionage thriller that has a great premise and a good cast,but falters midway through.The plot is basically about honeymooners(Crawford and Fred MacMurray)being ask to do spy work in Nazi Germany.
They must get information about a secret German mine.Along the way,they encounter colorful characters that lead them to clues.They even witness an assassination of a German leader in an opera house.The first 45 minutes is extremely suspenseful and Crawford and MacMurray have great chemistry together.However,the rest of the film is less than plausible and the ending leaves much to be desired.The problem,though,is with the director,Richard Thorpe.Not one of MGM's best directors,Thrope puts too many unnecessary scenes in the film,that distract from the plot.In addition,he wastes the talent of some great character actors,putting them in one-dimensional roles.Basil Rathbone was great at playing sinister roles.Here he plays a conniving Nazi,but has very little to do.The major miscasting was letting Conrad Veidt play a charming spy.Veidt was marvelous at playing an acid-tongued Nazi officer,most notably in the classic,"Casablanca(1943)." In other hands like Alfred Hitchcock or Fritz Lang,this film could have been first-rate.Crawford wouldn't have a hit movie until "Mildred Pierce(1945)",where she gave perhaps the best performance of her career as a self-sacrificing mother.
They ask newlyweds Richard and Frances Myles (Fred McMurray and Joan Crawford) to try to track down the "formula" for a new German secret weapon while on their honeymoon.
Basil Rathbone and Conrad Veidt plays significant roles in this drama that was called "tongue in cheek" by TCM.
Joan Crawford and Fred MacMurray made a great team.
It was great to see Crawford work with Conrad Veidt again.
spy thriller, he is a better man than I Gunga Din. It's amazing that Richard Myles (Fred MacMurray) can remember all the details.
Robinson and Barbara Stanwyck in the film noir classic "Double Indemnity." He certainly keeps up with Joan Crawford in "Above Suspicion," although the two simply don't jell as a team.
Barbara Stanwyck would have made a much better partner for MacMurray in this film.All that aside, this is still a topnotch suspense movie from World War II.
In the opposite direction viewers may also enjoy seeing Conrad Veidt playing a good guy who assists the newlyweds Frances and Richard Myles (Joan Crawford and Fred MacMurray)in their dangerous mission inside Nazi Germany.
By halfway through, I can imagine most of the audience in the theater half asleep.Being a fan of classic films, especially during the 1990s when I couldn't watch enough of these old movies, I was pumped up to see a film starring Joan Crawford, Fred MacMurray, Conrad Veidt, Basil Rathbone and Reginald Owen.
Do they honestly believe the British Foreign Office and newlywed and her husband - with no experience - to go inside Nazi Germany and be an effective spy?Well, maybe that's where the humor came in, but it's "Thin Man" quality and Crawford and MacMurray, although fine actors, are no Myrna Loy and William Powell in playing these kind of roles.
American honeymooners (Fred MacMurray, Joan Crawford) are recruited by British government to spy on the Nazis just before WW2 starts.
It was Joan Crawfords last contract film at MGM, and far from walking through the part I personally think she sails along quite breezily and relaxed, which is just right for the character she plays.
Basil Rathbone always makes a great, charming villain, and the much underrated Fred MacMurray comes across quite well as the hero.
For what she obviously knew what would be her last film with MGM, Joan Crawford saunters through the part of a newlywed bride who thinks a little espionage on her honeymoon with Fred MacMurray would be just the thing to give it some spice.Above Suspicion finds MacMurray and Crawford as a pair of newlyweds in 1939 Great Britain.
He's a visiting American professor at Oxford and right after their visit to the preacher MacMurray is asked by someone from British Intelligence to locate some of their missing agents in Nazi Germany.
Rathbone is no fool, he's a shrewd adversary and gives the best performance in the film.The part Joan does seems to have been written with Myrna Loy in mind, possibly something to do with Bill Powell, though at Powell's age it would have been a tough sell for him as honeymooner.
Even though I am a big fan of classic film and Joan Crawford, "Above Suspicion" left me very disappointed.
This Nazi era spy film has is complete with secret codes, disguises, evil-doers and international intrigue -- all normally very fascinating stuff, except that in this case it is presented in a simplistic, juvenile way that fails to impress...in fact fails to even keep you awake at times.It's impossible to believe that the British "Foreign Office" would select Joan's character (a perky soon-to-be housewife) and her husband (played by Fred MacMurray) to carry out an urgent, covert spy operation in Nazi Germany.
I, too, have seen better spy thrillers and anti-Nazi movies, however, this movie, was, nevertheless, a good movie!
Joan Crawford and Fred MacMurray were very good in the lead roles, although I thought the chemistry between them was not that good, whereas the chemistry between Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray in their movies together, especially "Double Indemnity", was fantastic!
Bruce Lester, Reginald Owen, Richard Ainley, and, especially, Basil Rathbone all contributed very good supporting performances!
Now we come to the actor for whom, like Mark.Waltz, this movie has a special place in my heart: Conrad Veidt!
Seeing Basil Rathbone and Conrad Veidt in anything is always a joy and both Joan Crawford and Fred MacMurray have given many great films.
Culminating in the film's biggest flaw (again personal opinion), which is the ending which doesn't ring true for a second and is something of a head scratcher.It is interesting seeing Crawford and MacMurray together and there is some wit and tension between them.
To me, the chemistry between the two characters didn't quite gel.Something that is a bit of a shame, because actually Crawford and MacMurray are both very good in the roles.
They are more than complemented by the supporting cast, with notable contributions from an against type Veidt, charmingly dynamic in his final film, and especially a marvellously sinister Rathbone (no stranger to playing villains and he sure knew how to play them well).
The story much of the time is involving with some nice suspense and thrills, which is why it is frustrating that it loses its way later.Concluding, quite good and enjoyable, wish it was better though.
This Type of Thing was Rarely Done with Complete Success, but it is Nevertheless a mildly Entertaining Filler that just couldn't mesh the Suspected Approach into a Coalescing Whole.Fred MacMurray and Joan Crawford are Newly Weds asked to become involved in the search for a German Secret Weapon in Hitler's Stomping Grounds.
But Serious Fans of War-Time Films, especially involving Nazi's are going to be Disappointed and Frustrated..
Honeymooners (Crawford and MacMurray) in pre-World War II Europe are asked to be British spies, and to track down a missing agent.
This was Crawford's final film for MGM after 18 years.
Professor Myles (Fred Macmurray), an American teaching at Oxford, is sent along with his new bride Frances (Joan Crawford) to find him, the British believing that as Americans they'll arouse less suspicion as they snoop around the Third Reich.
Joan Crawford's last film for MGM doesn't exactly showcase her talents, and she soon after moved to Warner Bros.
She was just a well-dressed clothes horse for Metro by the 40s.This particular piece of hokum though teams her with the tiresome Fred MacMurray, Basil Rathbone, and, in his last film, Conrad Veidt.
Helen McInnes novel is the basis of this 1943 MGM film that marked the last time Joan Crawford worked at the studio after a long career as one of its most famous stars in the studio.
While it is by no means a remarkable movie, it has good moments in the way the two stars, who were obviously in a light mood, make the best out of their characters.The story revolves Richard and Frances Myles, a newlywed couple, embarking on their honeymoon in the Continent.
Well, little prepares the Oxfor university professor and his bride for the adventure they will encounter."Above Suspicion" still is a lot of fun to watch, even if it's not a great spy movie.
The easy chemistry between Fred McMurray and Joan Crawford works out fine and it's surprisingly effective.
Ms. Crawford had a lighter role as Frances Myles; she shows good sense of timing for this type of genre.
In 1943 Joan Crawford was dismissed from MGM (or she walked away after buying her contract out, whichever version applies) and after several years of being offered lesser and lesser starring vehicles with the exception of THE WOMEN and the minor hit A WOMAN'S FACE, and after being on the box-office poison list (in which she was not alone but in good company) she was given this last movie.ABOVE SUSPICION is one of the handful of films that came out during World War II which served as a backdrop to denounce anything remotely Nazi.
This, of course, is really mindless fluff -- much like today's ridiculous blockbusters trying to capitalize on the crisis situation of the moment (be it war or terrorism) and of course, bringing into the mix some high-power action names and some flashy but silly storytelling -- and in no moment can anyone believe that Crawford and MacMurray are British spies working undercover, no more than anything which takes place here.
Fred MacMurray plays an Oxford professor(!) and marries Joan Crawford.
Then, on the way to their honeymoon, they are approached by the British Foreign Office and asked to do a bit of spying on their trip through southern Germany and Austria (this was set in early 1939--just before the war).However, despite the odd casting and basic premise, the film worked pretty well provided you didn't think through how easy it was for them to slip through the Gestapo's fingers on two occasions.
Well, the acting was very good and they were given excellent supporting players in the form of Conrad Veidt and Basil Rathbone.
It really did work--but for fans of classic Hollywood, this is a bit strange.In addition to the acting, the plot and action were very good and the film was given the full MGM treatment--excellent music, direction, sets, etc.
Light espionage WWII thriller and Conrad Veidt's last film.
Suspense, a little intrigue, adventure and espionage make for an enjoyable World War II movie.
At one point toward the end, Fred MacMurray's character, Richard Myles, says, "At least it's not a concentration camp," referring to the detention place where the Nazis have taken his wife.Joan Crawford plays Frances Myles, the new bride of Oxford professor Myles.
Conrad Veidt, Basil Rathbone, Reginald Owen and Bruce Lester round out the list of the major supporting cast.
He has words with Richard who then answers him with a closing term, "dope." The Gestapo officer turns to a woman in the shop and asks her in German what "dope" means.This was the last film that Conrad Veidt made.
In war films, he was most often cast as a German officer or Nazi chief.
Light-hearted anti-Nazi film with delightful casting of the usual suspect..
I'll always have a special place in my heart for this film because it casts the usual Nazi villain Conrad Veidt as the good guy for a change.
But here, sadly in his last film, he is cast against type, that face and voice still imperious, but with a much lighter heart, and on the side of an American couple (Fred MacMurray and Joan Crawford) who are on the European mainland on their honeymoon.
MacMurray is an Oxford professor who was asked on his way out of England to perform a service for the Allies and new wife Crawford is game for helping him.
While this was Crawford's last MGM film under her long contract and she had been considered box-office poison, it was a nice way to leave the studio she had considered home for 18 years.
We have this fun loving American couple Frances & Richard Myles, Joan Crawford & Fred MacMurray, traveling on vacation to Nazi Germany in order to obtain for Great Britian the secret blueprint for a magnetic mine that the Germans are working on.Despite the movies title-Beyond Suspicion-the two especially Richard Myles act so obnoxious and suspicious that it's a miracle that the Nazi's didn't suspect them of being spies as soon as they laid eyes on them.
This muddles things up so much in the film that by the time the Myles' finally get to meet Dr. Mespelbrunn who's being held hostage in his own house by the Gestapo you and possibly even they forgot what they were there for, the plans for the secret magnetic mine, in the first place!There's also a nice little side plot in the movie, to make things even more confusing, with British tourist Thornley, Bruce Lester, planning to gun down the Commadaunt Col.Gerold, Frank Reicher, of the Nazi concentration camp where his wife was interned and later murdered!
Thorney plans to pull this off in the middle of a standing room only Listz concert at the local opera house with hundreds of German soldiers and Gestapo agents in attendance!P.S The movie turned out to be both the last film that Joan Crawford made for the MGM studios and Conrad Veidt's, who played a good guy for once, last movie ever!
Crawford and MacMurray traipse through Nazi Germany with the casualness of mixed pairs on a tennis court.