Above Suspicion
Nazi villains were a staple of early 1940s Hollywood movies, especially after the United States’ entry into World War II following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.
Above Suspicion, a 122-minute film released by MGM in 1943 and broadcast on the Turner Classic Movie channel recently, was model of this fairly short-lived phenomenon, which included movies such as The Mortal Storm (1940) and Man Hunt (1941).
Directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Fred MacMurray and Joan Crawford, two of the most popular actors of that era, Above Suspicion was one of Hollywood’s contribution to the anti-Nazi crusade.
An espionage thriller set in Britain, France and Germany on the eve of World War II , it stars MacMurray and Crawford as a newly-wed couple, Richard and Frances Myles, who look forward to a honeymoon on the European continent.
Their trip is suddenly interrupted by a British Foreign Office functionary, who asks Myles, an Oxford University professor, whether he would be amenable to carrying out a “little errand.” In fact, the mission is risky: to find a German scientist who has developed a secret weapon that Nazi Germany would presumably use should war break out.
A newspaper headline telegraphs tensions building between Germany and Poland. Adolf Hitler, the German chancellor, demands Danzig and a land corridor through Polish territory leading to this heavily ethnic German city that once belonged to Germany.
The task conferred on Myles is complex. The scientist’s name remains unknown and a photograph of him is unavailable. Myles will have to decipher clues, signals and passwords to complete the assignment. The screenplay is top-heavy with these signs, weighing down the film.
Myles, an adventurous American, accepts the secret mission. Frances does not object, feeling confident they are both “above suspicion.”
This black-and-white film definitely leaves the impression that they have placed themselves in danger. After Myles and Frances leave their hotel room in Paris, a maid rummages through their suitcase. Something is obviously amiss.
On their second stop, in the northern Austrian town of Salzburg, they visit an antiquarian bookshop. Members of the Gestapo soon descend on it, further heightening the air of menace.
As they take in the sights, a local man named Hassert Seidel contacts Myles, introducing himself as a tour guide. Seidel is portrayed by the German actor Conrad Veidt, who died several months after his appearance in this workmanlike movie.
In short order, a German general is fatally shot at a classical music concert and a suave Oxford graduate named Sig von Aschenhausen (Basil Rathbone) appears, adding a further element of uncertainty and intrigue.
Apart from being resolutely anti-Nazi, Above Suspicion seems to be anti-German, as a brief exchange between Myles and his wife illustrates.
“Germany is a beautiful country,” says Frances.
“It is if you don’t mind Germans,” replies Myles.
Myles’ animus toward Germans per se is unusual. In most such movies of this genre, at least one fine and upstanding German character normally shows up, reinforcing the idea that Germany, a civilized and cultured nation, has been hijacked by a gang of miserable lowlifes and scoundrels who are besmirching its name.
As the film glides toward its denouement, Myles gets closer to reaching his goal, while the Gestapo launches a manhunt for him. During these scenes, Myles and Frances don disguises to blend in with their surroundings. In one striking sequence, MacMurray, an all-American type, incongruously wears a black SS uniform.
MacMurray and Crawford work well together and turn in fine performances, as do the rest of the cast. The backdrops of the German Alps, which appear to have been filmed in a backlot Hollywood studio, look painted and unreal.
By any yardstick, Above Suspicion is of middling quality. In comparison to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1946 thriller Notorious, starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, it never reaches stellar heights. But as a utilitarian film designed to celebrate the wartime Allied cause, it achieves its objective.
