Above Suspicion (1943 film)

1943 American spy film

This article is about the 1943 film. For the 1995 film starring Christopher Reeve, see Above Suspicion (1995 film). For the TV drama based on the novel by Lynda la Plante, see Above Suspicion (TV drama).

Above Suspicion

1943 US theatrical poster

Directed by| Richard Thorpe
Written by| Keith Winter
Melville Baker
Patricia Coleman
Leonard Lee (uncredited)
Based on| Above Suspicion (1941 novel)
by Helen MacInnes
Produced by| Victor Saville
Starring| Joan Crawford
Fred MacMurray
Conrad Veidt
Basil Rathbone
Cinematography| Robert Planck
Edited by| George Hively
Music by| Bronislau Kaper

Production
company

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Distributed by| Loew's Inc.[1]

Release date

* May 1943 (1943-05)

Running time

| 90 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English

Above Suspicion is a 1943 American spy film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Joan Crawford and Fred MacMurray. The screenplay was adapted from the 1941 novel Above Suspicion by Scots-American writer Helen MacInnes, which is loosely based on the experiences of MacInnes and her husband Gilbert Highet.

The plot follows two newlyweds who spy on the Nazis for the British secret service during their honeymoon in Europe.

## Plot[edit]

In the spring of 1939 in England, Oxford University professor Richard Myles and his new bride Frances spend their honeymoon in continental Europe. They are commissioned by the British secret service to find a scientist who has developed a countermeasure against a new Nazi secret weapon, a magnetic sea mine.[2] Without knowing his name, what he looks like or where to find the scientist, the couple look upon the search as an adventure and cross Europe seeking clues from clandestine contacts.

In Paris, Frances is given a hat decorated with a rose as a signal for their first contact, who silently instructs them to go to a café in Montmartre. An unseen contact plants a tourist guidebook to southern Germany in Richard's coat. The couple notice a series of ink dots on a map in the book, which, linked together, form a musical staff with the opening notes to the song "My Love Is Like a Red, Red Rose." They deduce that this is their password. Three pinpricks in the same map direct them to the book's seller, A. Werner, in Salzburg. Werner instructs them to go to a certain museum, where a man named Count Hassert Seidel, calling himself a "guide," suggests that they check into a guesthouse run by Frau Kleist. She provides them with a book on Franz Liszt with annotations that reveal that their next stop should be the village of Pertisau in Tyrol, where they should inquire about a doctor who collects chess pieces.

Some days later, Richard and Frances attend a performance of Liszt's music. During a passage that Thornley had been practicing earlier, a Nazi commandant is shot and killed. Officials insist on questioning each member of the audience. Richard and Frances are rescued by Gestapo chief Count Sig von Aschenhausen, a former Oxford schoolmate of Richard's. Thornley killed the Nazi colonel as revenge for the torture and murder of his Austrian fiancée.

Frances and Richard visit the home of chess collector Dr. Mespelbrunn and von Aschenhausen is there. They notice sheet music for "My Love Is Like a Red, Red Rose" on the piano. But when von Aschenhausen fails to respond to a code signal that Richard gives him, the couple become suspicious. They hear thumping noises upstairs and discover that von Aschenhausen is holding Mespelbrunn prisoner. Mespelbrunn tells them to run and that they are being hunted by the Gestapo. Frances and Richard leave the house just in time, and Count Seidel arrives to help them free Mespelbrunn. He is revealed as the missing scientist, Dr. Smith. All four head for Innsbruck, and Mespelbrunn gives Richard the plans for the countermeasure.

The couple obtain counterfeit passports from the Schultzes, an elderly couple. They are planning to catch the train to Milan at separate stations, but, when the Schultzes are arrested by the Gestapo, the police are on the lookout for the Americans. Frances is detained and questioned by the Gestapo, but Thornley, in Innsbruck to catch the same train, finds Richard. Richard, Thornley and Seidel gain entry to where Frances is being held and kill her captors, including von Aschenhausen, but Thornley is also killed. After fooling the Nazi border guards, Seidel and the American newlyweds reach freedom in Italy.

## Cast[edit]

* Joan Crawford as Frances Myles
* Fred MacMurray as Richard Myles
* Conrad Veidt as Hassert Seidel
* Basil Rathbone as Sig von Aschenhausen
* Reginald Owen as Dr. Mespelbrunn
* Richard Ainley as Peter Galt
* Cecil Cunningham as Countess

* Ann Shoemaker as Aunt Ellen
* Sara Haden as Aunt Hattie
* Felix Bressart as Mr. A. Werner
* Bruce Lester as Thornley
* Johanna Hofer as Frau Kleist
* Lotte Palfi-Andor as Ottilie
* Lisa Golm as Frau Schultz
* Ludwig Stossel as Mr. Schultz
* Peter Lawford Oxford student

|

This film marked the end of Crawford's 18-year career with MGM before she signed with Warner Bros.[3] It was Veidt's last role, as he died from a heart attack several weeks after shooting had ended.[4]

## Reception[edit]

Variety wrote: "Both MacMurray and Miss Crawford completely handled their roles, despite drawbacks of script material", and T.S. in The New York Times commented, "Joan Crawford...is a very convincing heroine."[5]

Critic Howard Barnes wrote in the New York Herald Tribune: "There are so many floral, musical and cryptographical passwords in the film's plot that the whole show becomes a sort of super treasure hunt... Unfortunately, neither Joan Crawford nor Fred MacMurray looks quite bright enough to unravel the tangled skeins of this screen melodrama."[3]

## Home media[edit]

The film was released on Region 1 DVD on April 6, 2010, as part of the Warner Bros. Archive Collection.

## References[edit]

1. ^ Above Suspicion at the American Film Institute Catalog
2. ^ Higham, Charles; Greenberg, Joel (1968). Hollywood in the Forties. London: A. Zwemmer Limited. p. 92\. ISBN 978-0-498-06928-4.
3. ^ a b "Above Suspicion". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
4. ^ Bret, David (2006). Joan Crawford: Hollywood Martyr, Da Capo Press, ISBN 0-306-81624-5, pp. 149–151
5. ^ Quirk, Lawrence J.. The Films of Joan Crawford. The Citadel Press, 1968.

## External links[edit]

* Above Suspicion at IMDb
* Above Suspicion at the TCM Movie Database
* Above Suspicion at AllMovie
* Above Suspicion at the American Film Institute Catalog
* Above Suspicion at Basil Rathbone.net

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Richard Thorpe

Films|

* Fast and Fearless (1924)
* Battling Buddy (1924)
* Bringin' Home the Bacon (1924)
* Thundering Romance (1924)
* Rough Ridin' (1924)
* Double Action Daniels (1925)
* Full Speed (1925)
* Gold and Grit (1925)
* Galloping On (1925)
* The Desert Demon (1925)
* A Streak of Luck (1925)
* The Saddle Cyclone (1925)
* Fast Fightin' (1925)
* On the Go (1925)
* Double Daring (1926)
* The Bonanza Buckaroo (1926)
* Deuce High (1926)
* The Twin Triggers (1926)
* College Days (1926)
* The Bandit Buster (1926)
* The Dangerous Dub (1926)
* Rawhide (1926)
* Twisted Triggers (1926)
* Josselyn's Wife (1926)
* The Meddlin' Stranger (1927)
* The First Night (1927)
* The Obligin' Buckaroo (1927)
* Ride 'em High (1927)
* The Galloping Gobs (1927)
* The Desert of the Lost (1927)
* Tearin' Into Trouble (1927)
* The Ridin' Rowdy (1927)
* Roarin' Broncs (1927)
* White Pebbles (1927)
* Skedaddle Gold (1927)
* The Cyclone Cowboy (1927)
* Pals in Peril (1927)
* The Soda Water Cowboy (1927)
* The Ballyhoo Buster (1928)
* The Flyin' Buckaroo (1928)
* The Cowboy Cavalier (1928)
* The Valley of Hunted Men (1928)
* Saddle Mates (1928)
* Desperate Courage (1928)
* Border Romance (1929)
* The Utah Kid (1930)
* The Dude Wrangler (1930)
* Wings of Adventure (1930)
* Under Montana Skies (1930)
* The Thoroughbred (1930)
* Grief Street (1931)
* The Lawless Woman (1931)
* Murder at Dawn (1931)
* Forgotten Women (1931)
* The Devil Plays (1931)
* Neck and Neck (1931)
* Forgotten (1931)
* Beauty Parlor (1932)
* Escapade (1932)
* Forbidden Company (1932)
* Cross-Examination (1932)
* The King Murder (1932)
* The Midnight Lady (1932)
* Probation (1932)
* Slightly Married (1932)
* The Secrets of Wu Sin (1932)
* Thrill of Youth (1932)
* Women Won't Tell (1932)
* A Man of Sentiment (1933)
* Murder on the Campus (1933)
* Rainbow Over Broadway (1933)
* Love Is Dangerous (1933)
* City Park (1934)
* Stolen Sweets (1934)
* Green Eyes (1934)
* Cheating Cheaters (1934)
* Secret of the Chateau (1934)
* The Quitter (1934)
* Strange Wives (1934)
* Last of the Pagans (1935)
* The Voice of Bugle Ann (1936)
* Tarzan Escapes (1936)
* Dangerous Number (1937)
* Night Must Fall (1937)
* Double Wedding (1937)
* Man-Proof (1938)
* Love Is a Headache (1938)
* The First Hundred Years (1938)
* The Toy Wife (1938)
* The Crowd Roars (1938)
* Three Loves Has Nancy (1939)
* The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939)
* Tarzan Finds a Son! (1939)
* The Earl of Chicago (1940)
* 20 Mule Team (1940)
* Wyoming (1940)
* The Bad Man (1941)
* Barnacle Bill (1941)
* Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941)
* Apache Trail (1942)
* Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942)
* White Cargo (1942)
* Three Hearts for Julia (1943)
* Above Suspicion (1943)
* Cry 'Havoc' (1943)
* Two Girls and a Sailor (1944)
* The Thin Man Goes Home (1944)
* Thrill of a Romance (1945)
* What Next, Corporal Hargrove? (1945)
* Her Highness and the Bellboy (1945)
* Fiesta (1947)
* This Time for Keeps (1947)
* On an Island with You (1948)
* A Date with Judy (1948)
* The Sun Comes Up (1949)
* Big Jack (1949)
* Challenge to Lassie (1949)
* Malaya (1949)
* Black Hand (1950)
* Three Little Words (1950)
* Vengeance Valley (1951)
* The Great Caruso (1951)
* The Unknown Man (1951)
* It's a Big Country (1952)
* Carbine Williams (1952)
* Ivanhoe (1952)
* The Prisoner of Zenda (1952)
* The Girl Who Had Everything (1953)
* All the Brothers Were Valiant (1953)
* Knights of the Round Table (1954)
* The Student Prince (1954)
* Athena (1954)
* The Prodigal (1955)
* The Adventures of Quentin Durward (1955)
* Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1957)
* Tip on a Dead Jockey (1957)
* Jailhouse Rock (1957)
* The House of the Seven Hawks (1959)
* Killers of Kilimanjaro (1959)
* The Tartars (1961)
* The Honeymoon Machine (1961)
* The Horizontal Lieutenant (1962)
* Follow the Boys (1963)
* Fun in Acapulco (1963)
* The Golden Head (1964)
* The Truth About Spring (1965)
* That Funny Feeling (1965)
* The Last Challenge (1967)
* The Scorpio Letters (1967)

Serials|

* Vultures of the Sea (1928)
* The Vanishing West (1928)
* The Fatal Warning (1929)
* The King of the Kongo (1929)
* The Lone Defender (1930)
* King of the Wild (1931)

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