Background to Danger

Background to Danger (1943)

On the uncertain fringes of the European War are countries like Morocco, Syria, and Turkey, where the intrigues of diplomats and expatriates can become complicated and colorful, several movies were made about WWII. One of those, obviously, is "Casablanca," released to full distribution in 1943. And in this one we have Peter Lorre (as a shadowy character of course), Sydney Greenstreet (as a Nazi leader), and Bogart-wannabe George Raft, who takes the leading role.

Unlike Casablanca, however, this one, set in Syria and Turkey, is filled with action, chasing, fear, and trickery. The shadows are not glamorous and romantic, but dangerous. It's a Warner crime film adapted to the war. Raft plays an American archetype a little like Bogart would have, independent and a little sassy, though he is always more eager to be liked, both by the other characters and the audience.

Director Raoul Walsh is one of the greats of early Hollywood (he even assisted Griffith on "Birth of a Nation"). He makes this story intense, fluid, dramatic, and physical in the best ways. In particular, the huge range of sets and scenes (almost entirely on the studio lot) is impressive and effective. The camera moves, the light is harsh when it isn't pure shadow, and music swells and twirls, and most of all the characters are always on the movie.

The kinetic essence of the whole enterprise is in keeping with the first scary years of the real war, and that's on every audience member's mind. Unlike "Casablanca," set in the days before Pearl Harbor (though filmed after), this movie was planned and shot as the U.S. was already sending troops to Europe. The message here is clearly anti-Nazi, and desperate. Lorre is duplicitous and fabulous in his large role. The leading woman, Brenda Marshall, is no Ingrid Bergman, nor quite an effective action figure.

"I'm American. America's at war," Raft's character says halfway through. And Lorre lays out for him some of the complications of the real war, and how Russia is an ally with complicated intentions. And in a slightly opportunistic way, the movie makes clear that Russia (which is rarely called the Soviet Union, its real name) is a friend. It becomes clearer and clearer as it goes, until the last line of the movie nails it down.

A great movie this is not, but it's actually really good, worth seeing, a thrilling ride even if you have to swallow the kind of facile way the plot is kept intact at times. You can almost watch it for ambiance alone, as cinematographer Tony Gaudio pulls out the stops in the same way (visually) he famously did for Wyler in "The Letter." What Raft lacks in intensity Lorre makes up for in brilliance. Give it a chance.

Background to Danger (1943)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Propaganda piece from Warner with an all-star cast to take us home. George Raft plays an American who meets a strange woman (Brenda Marshall) on a train and soon finds himself being chased by Nazi agents. Turns out there's a German (Sydney Greenstreet) in Turkey who is trying to get the neutral country to join the Nazi party and it's up to Raft to try and stop it. Considering the fact that our country was at war, all these WWII pieces coming from Hollywood was understandable but one wishes a little more time was spent on their screenplays. This one here was apparently written in 1937 but then updated to add in the Nazi plot but very little else was actually done. There were times when the story seemed to forget where it was going as it's pretty much all over the place and the actual going ons are rather boring and not that believable. The "background" in the title is exactly what the film needed because it's like we're put in the middle of a story yet we're never given any idea of how it started or why. In the end, the story comes off rather weak and rushed. Another problem is that the producer's were obviously trying to cash-in on the recently released CASABLANCA. Thanks to TCM you can watch countless movies that have been forgotten or overlooked the past few decades and it's rather amazing to see how many times Warner went to the CASABLANCA well in such a short period of time. The film does benefit from a rather short running time, which helps keep things moving. The main reason to watch the film is because of its attractive cast with Raft leading the way as our tough talking hero. Raft is pretty much what you'd expect from him as he walks hard and punches even tougher. The screenplay does allow him a couple good one-liners, which he puts to go use. Greenstreet is brilliant as usual and even though he's playing a Nazi you just want to love the guy. Peter Lorre plays a Russian spy and manages to mix it up with the rest of the cast quite nicely. Marshall, on the other hand, left me pretty cold as I never cared for her character or the performance. I'm not sure if she was just bored by the material or if Walsh wanted her to act this way just there's just no life to her. This is far from a horrible movie but there's just not enough heart and soul to carry the thing and in the end you'll feel as if you've seen this story several times before and in much better quality.

International intrigue in hot spot Ankara, Turkey, during World War II is the center of this secret agent tail. Nasty Nazi Dr. Robinson (Sydney Greenstreet) plots to use lies in the press to push Turkey to ally itself with Germany against Russia. American Joe Barton (George Raft) is posing as a businessman when he falls into possession of falsified documents the Germans want printed in a sympathizing newspaper. Barton is soon mixed up with the Zaleshoffs (Peter Lorre and Brenda Marshall), a brother and sister claiming to be Russian spies who are after the same documents. Barton has trouble believing anyone, because they all attack him at various times and at least one of them is a cold-blooded killer. The plot had potential, but director Raoul Walsh did not seem to know quite what to do with a story of this nature and there is a complete lack of real emotion in the proceedings. He also seemed to be saddled with a low budget (the miniature train is painfully obvious). His three male stars all but play caricatures of themselves. Raft is all buttoned up and monosyllabic, Greenstreet is almost a cartoon, and Lorre chews the scenery and comes out best. Yet it is still a pretty good movie (if you can withstand being yelled out for the first five minutes and the overcooked musical scoring.) There is a great aura of suspicion over everyone, which leaves you guessing at everyone's connection with everyone else. There is also a great car chase, noir cinematography from Tony Gaudio that caresses Raft's closeups fondly, and some good visual bits that will make you smile.

Yes, it's definitely not a work of art. It doesn't spend much time on character development. However, it moves very fast, never staying in one place for too long. Some good action sequences and scenes on a fast moving train, hotel rooms, in a German headquarters, etc. make this a fun film. The acting is not at all bad despite what you may have read elsewhere. Of course, Sidney Greenstreet plays his usual pompous rearend character that seems to be his one and only characterization but, he pulls it off well, causing the audience to dislike him appropriately. Peter Lorre obviously had fun with his role and George Raft was much better than I expected. Turhan Bey did a great job and his character was very welcomed indeed. All in all, if the viewers don't expect this movie to be the second coming of Casablanca and just sit back and watch the action, they will be rewarded with approximately 80 minutes of a suspenseful and fun movie.

It's 1942. The main powers are trying to persuade neutral Turkey on their side. There is a bomb attempt on German ambassador Franz von Papen. It's actually a scheme by Nazi Colonel Robinson and it fails when the Russians show their airtight alibis. Now, he comes up with another scheme. Meanwhile on a train to Turkey, American businessman Joe Barton (George Raft) is taken with mysterious stranger Ana Remzi who pulls him into a world of espionage with Soviet spy Nikolai Zaleshoff (Peter Lorre) and his sister Tamara Zaleshoff (Brenda Marshall).

I love that I can't trust or distrust Peter Lorre at any time. The only thing that I can trust is that everybody has their own interest at heart. Lorre is the best part of this movie. He is stealing every scene he's in. There are evil Nazis. Raft is a functional everyman. The action could be better but it's par for the course in its time. The scheme is not nearly complicated enough. Quite frankly, fake news could be done in many ways. Overall, it's a solid wartime spy thriller.