Above Suspicion

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. With so many films in this sub-genre it's always hard to find a "great" film and this here certainly isn't one of them. While the film remains slightly entertaining from start to finish, there's really no way to deny the fact that there's just nothing overly special here and it's also incredibly uneven. I say uneven because the tone of the film seems to change from one scene to the next. Sometimes you feel as if you're watching some sort of light comedy and then the next minute everything is being handled so heavily. At times there seems to be a wink-wink going on between the two leads and then the next second everything is back to being dead serious. I thought the entire tone of the film was just wrong and it was incredibly hard for me to believe the story or take it too serious. Both Crawford and MacMurray are good in their roles, although I'm not so sure they play were together. I really didn't buy them as a married couple and I also didn't buy them working together on these missions. Conrad Veidt is good in his role as a good German and Basil Rathbone steals the film as the evil German. Reginald Owen has a good supporting part as well. Again, at just 90-minutes the film moves well enough but there's just not enough going on here to make it worth watching except for fans of the cast.

Those wonderful movies of the past. 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). Good to see two decent people doing the right thing for the right cause endangering their own lives to get away from the Nazi and back to safety. Good work and fun to watch and don't forget the inimitable Mr. Veidt. He should have been in Hollywood a decade earlier.

Barzin Samimi

Tehran, Iran

A lot of people seem to deride this film, but I found it quite enjoyable. 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. Casting of all supporting parts is excellent, and the MGM production values are faultless. The first half of the film is considerably better than the second as €"things become a bit chaotic and muddled towards the end -but its great to see a Hollywood film where the Germans actually speak German. There are also one or two quite extraordinary tracking shots, especially one in the concert hall, and in fact this whole sequence has an intensity that one wishes the entire film had. Still, if you can swallow the premise of the film and follow the logic of the "trail" you will perhaps be as entertained as I was by this one.

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. I read the novel years ago and confess I don't remember much of it.

The year is 1939, before war breaks out. 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. This weapon is a magnetic water bomb that is pulled to a ship and explodes. 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 are some suspenseful sequences. 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. It was. Louis B didn't want over the hill actresses - i.e., those over 30. There's nothing special about her part, which could have been done by any MGM stock player. And at 38, for those days, she was a little old to be a bride. Better things were on the horizon for Crawford, though she couldn't have known it at the time.

Worth seeing.

Joan Crawford has a childlike playfulness about the possibility of (and her supporting role of) being a spy. She brings a lightness to the more serious suspenseful moments - and the cast, with Fred MacMurray, Conrad Veidt and Basil Rathbone is strong. Had the movie been able to finish as strongly as it started, it could have been very highly regarded. Nonetheless, it is, for fans of 40s film making, definitely worth a watch.