Based on: Above Suspicion by Helen MacInnes (1941) Studio: MGM

Newlyweds on their honeymoon get pulled into British espionage mission in Nazi Germany, with Crawford and MacMurray playing an academic couple based on original author MacInnes and her MI6 agent/classics professor husband.

The film starts promisingly - Crawford seems to be having genuine fun solving the first spy puzzles dropped into their guidebook. But the film never quite finds its rhythm.

The tension ratchets up somewhat effectively around the hour mark during their escape from the doctor's house, but then inexplicably deflates. Crawford and MacMurray never really connect, and the whole production feels oddly listless - like everyone involved was slightly bored.

It's hard to pinpoint exactly what makes this drag, but for a wartime spy thriller with Joan Crawford, it should be much more fun than it is.

IN THE DATABASE: One of two Helen MacInnes adaptations from 1943 (see also "Assignment in Brittany"). Part of Hollywood's WWII literary adaptation wave; notable for being the first anti-Nazi literary property purchased after the 1941 Senate propaganda hearings.

📚 herhollywoodstory.com/film/above-suspicion-1943

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