International Lady

Singer Ilona Massey is suspected of being a German spy, sending key information over the radio. Scotland Yard, in the person of Basil Rathbone, and the FBI, in the person of George Brent, investigate, even as Miss Massey and Brent make goo-goo eyes at each other. Is she a spy or an unwitting tool? Does she care about Brent? Can they crack this case?

Rathbone's character is not top notch; his salient features are befuddlement at American slang, his ability to operate solo or in cooperation with the FBI at will, and the overacting he and Brent perform in conversation; I suppose that is meant to be arch.

It's a competent enough movie under the direction of Tim Whelan. Miss Massey is stunningly beautiful and her costumes are magnificent. This was clearly intended by producer Edward Small as a major production.

The six-times married Brent led an interesting life. He had been an IRA runner before he was 16, came to the US, went back to Ireland to act with the Abbey Players, then back to the US. He started working for the Warner Brothers in 1930, what ere he became a useful leading man for their women stars; he costarred with Bette Davis in eleven movies. He died in 1979, aged 75.

American George Brent (Hanley) and Englishman Basil Rathbone (Oliver) are on the trail of Nazi spy Ilona Massey (Carla). Massey is a classical music performer who gives instructions during her performances through the phrasing of her music. It's a code that Brent and Rathbone need to help to crack as every time Massey gives a performance, the Nazis score a successful military strike on the Allied Forces aircraft capacity.

There is no mystery in this film as it is clear from the beginning that Massey is a baddie. This does not matter, though, as the film is fast-moving and keeps you watching. In fact, there may be a few sequences too many. The cast are good and it seems like a pilot film for a series starring Brent and Rathbone as they solve a different mystery together each week. It would have been a good idea as they have a chemistry that works between them. Massey reminded me slightly of Marlene Dietrich and her low-pitched voice is slightly freaky. I'm surprised that she didn't sound a bit more freakish when she sang.

Unfortunately, the copy I watched was poorly taped off the TV and had serious sound interference throughout the whole film. Overall, the film entertains while it runs its course but there's nothing too special going on.

This film is set during the time when the British were in WWII and the United States was not officially in the war. However, the US was aiding the British with the Lend Lease program...where the US rented surplus and not so surplus planes, ships and other war supplies.

The film is a spy yarn involving an American FBI agent (George Brent) and a British equivalent (Basil Rathbone). Both are investigating a Norwegian opera singer, as she seems to have some connection with a German sabotage program...and they've been destroying airplanes and ships from the US bound for the UK.

This film would have played well in Britain, and SOME Americans also would have enjoyed it because more and more Americans were of the opinion that the country would soon be pulled into the war. I say SOME because in the US, until the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, quite a few Americans were pro-German. However, by 1941, Hollywood was no longer worried about alienating the pro-Germans or folks interested in neutrality...and more and more films were casting the Germans as the bad guys.

So is this film any good? Well, Brent and Rathbone was good...as you would expect. As for Ilona Massey who plays the Norwegian, she was not so wonderful...and I'll say no more about that. As far as the story goes, it's almost competently written and interesting...though having Rathbone in disguise as a waiter at the dinner party was pretty dumb. Folks at the party (both friends and foes) surely would recognize him in his flimsy getup. Also, the evil opera singer's actions through the course of the story simply make no sense at all...none. But again, the good outweighs the bad and overall it's a decent film.

In this 1941 film,Illona Massey stars as a breathtakingly beautiful musician who has the eye of about every man in the audience including a duo of British and American Agents who knows she's a Nazi Spy as they chase her through the cities of London and New York which makes the movie a must see seductive spy thriller!!

I stumbled onto this movie on YouTube and was pleasantly surprised. At heart, it's a buddy flick with George Brent and Basil Rathbone double teaming George Zucco and Gene Lockhart. It's nice to see Rathbone in a light role; I wish he'd done more comedy. Remember him killing it in "The Court Jester?" George Brent was never exciting and I wonder at his success. But Ilona Massey made up for Brent's lack of appeal. The musical secret code is an ingenious plot device that affords us a couple of songs. There's also some nifty animation to demonstrate the code breaking. One final visual treat: we get to see the Lone Ranger without his mask. The young and very beefy Clayton Moore makes several entrances. Look fast!