Passport to Suez

Passport to Suez (1943)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Warren William is back as Michael Lanyard, aka The Lone Wolf, in his final entry in the series. This time out he's taking on a group of Nazis who decide to send him on a wild goose chase while they take care of the business they're really wanting to do and that's disable the Suez Canal. PASSPORT TO SUEZ isn't the best film in the Columbia series but I think there are enough good moments to where fans should remain entertained from start to finish. As with the previous entries, the main reason to watch the film is for the performance of William who was clearly in top form by this time in the series. As usual he has that cool, laid back style that works perfectly well for the material and he has no trouble bringing everything to life. Sheldon Leonard is pretty good in his part of the nightclub owner (a clear rip of CASABLANCA) and Eric Blore is back as the valet. We even have Lloyd Bridges showing up in the series yet again and playing yet another different character. The direction for the most part is pretty good as we get some nice style along the way and visually the film is quite good as well.

Warren William as Michael Lanyard, the Lone Wolf, tries to keep the Nazis from getting control of the Suez Canal in "Passport to Suez," a 1943 film, and William's last as the Lone Wolf.

As with many of this type of film, the mission is a mcguffin in this well-directed mystery that is filled with humor and atmosphere. The cast is particularly good - besides William and Eric Blore as his butler, Anne Savage is the femme fatale, Sheldon Leonard a nightclub owner, and the cast is rounded out by Jay Novello as a spy, Frederic Norlock as an intelligence officer, Sig Arno, and Lou Merrill.

Most of the humor comes from Blore, and he starts the film off with some great comedy over a phone call. William takes his assignment seriously; this is a slightly more sober Wolf. A fitting ending to a great run.

I'm not familiar with the Lone Wolf series, but am happy enoufh to search out the others after this. I thought the cast a solid one, even if the lead sounds a little too Basil Rathbone as Holmes. The storyline about Nazi attempts to steal minefield plans was decent and I liked at least a couple of exciting scenes which I won't describe here. The finale was also well-handled and impressive.

The importance of the Suez Canal in World War II cannot be overstated, except in this movie where it seems grossly understated. Correspondent/spy Valerie Blore (as played by Ann Savage) correctly appraised the situation when she says: "Whoever wins Africa wins the war." The Suez Canal was pivotal to the shipping of petroleum from the oil rich nations to Germany, which required fuel both for production and for keeping its armor moving and its airplanes flying. Control of North Africa meant control of the Suez. Even more so, it would solidify the grandiose plan of physically linking Japan with Germany, a plan not likely to be effectuated. Still, this movie loosely addresses the problem of Axis control if certain secret information is leaked to the enemy.

As a film, if never quite stresses danger, with most of the action related to incidental elements: the engagement of Donald Jameson (Robert Stanford) to Valerie King, the bar owned by Johnny Booth (Sheldon Leonard), and the silly activities of the three counted-spies, whose movie names just happen to be Whistler, Rembrandt, and Cezanne. Most of the time the acting seems preoccupied with something other than what is happening. All in all, it seems a typical Lone Wolf movie where the danger of a nazi submarine lurking to get secret information is only slightly more important than the flowers in the hotel room. A major saving grace for this film is the acting of Eric Blore (as Jameson) who putters around as a sort of mini Winston Churchill.

Not a whodunit, but a programmer about foreign intrigue. That's not surprising since the year is 1943, and WWII's outcome still hangs in the balance. So, can the Lone Wolf (William) thwart Nazi plans to close the vital Suez Canal, the lifeline to Allied war efforts in North Africa. To find the spies, he's got a lot of characters to sort through, including a stylish Ann Savage, who's already showing why Detour's (1945) Tom Neal is fatefully attracted. And catch the weird technology the Nazis are using to communicate, like threads in a handkerchief. All in all, it's an entertaining hour with the aristocratic William in fine form, along with Blore as comic relief. I just wish William were better remembered today. He could command the screen like few others. In fact, his pre-Code films, (Employees Entrance {1933}, et. al), remain recognized classics. Probably, the actor died too soon after the war (1948) to establish himself in later films. Too bad. Anyway, the movie's a solid and sometimes stylish programmer without being anything special.