I especially like stories made during the war about Nazis in America; Americans straddling the fence between right and wrong; and of course, a memorable villain who gets brought down in the end. The villain in this one is played by Edmund Gwenn and some other reviewers seem to be surprised that the actor, fondly remembered as Kris Kringle in a film made two years later at another studio, could be so nefarious on screen. Obviously they are forgetting his bad guy turn in Hitchcock's FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (1940).
The leads are played by Metro contract player James Craig and European import Signe Hasso who this same year scored a hit playing a Nazi spy in THE HOUSE ON 92ND STREET (1945). Here she is not as deadly, but still just as cunning in a role as a confidence woman. I've written about Miss Hasso before, and she is without a doubt one of my most favorite actresses of the 1940s. There's something sneaky, or should I say sly, about her performances.
Nobody really can play deviousness the way she does and this gives her an edge in romantic scenes. Mainly because while she is falling head over heels for Craig in this picture, she still cannot be fully trusted until she experiences a complete change of heart. So we have a unique taming as it were, but can we be sure that she will stay a reformed woman?
The plot comes from a book called 'Paper Chase' in which a confidence couple on their way back to the U. S. from Mexico stumble upon a racket carried out by the Nazis. Miss Hasso's husband in the story is played by John Warburton, and this guy seems fairly mild. But the book reveals he was the mastermind of their various schemes in several countries and that he had taught his wife all the tricks of the trade. These tricks involved theft, blackmail, cheating at cards and other forms of dishonest behavior.
They meet up with a Nazi (Gwenn) on the way to the midwest, and they they lift some documents off him when their plane crashes. The papers are written wills in which the Nazi man will inherit four million dollars in bonds and securities. The money will be turned over to the Germans to help Nazi officials evade their crimes at the end of the war.
The book was written in 1940, and I suspect part of the story was updated by MGM since this picture was made at the end of the war. It plays quite realistically because I am sure Nazis were developing escape routes when Hitler's Germany started to fall. The wills are a clever way for them to bring their money into America, and this confidence couple are on to their scheme.
However, Mr. Gwenn and his cohorts (played by Mabel Paige and Grant Withers) will do everything they can to stop the crooked duo from getting in the way of operations. Miss Hasso's husband is murdered shortly after arriving in Ohio, so she ends up joining forces with Mr. Craig. He is playing a lawyer that had been hired to revise one of the wills by a Nazi conspirator that had a pang of conscience and was suddenly bumped off.
Since Hasso is now a widow, she is free to pursue a romance with Craig. She wastes no time doing this. The way she doesn't shed a single tear over her late husband's body and quickly refocuses her energies on obtaining the Nazi loot gives us an indicator of her character. Later she begins to see the light while on the run with Craig, especially when she starts to realize what it means to keep American interests safe from foreign threats to democracy.
The leads are played by Metro contract player James Craig and European import Signe Hasso who this same year scored a hit playing a Nazi spy in THE HOUSE ON 92ND STREET (1945). Here she is not as deadly, but still just as cunning in a role as a confidence woman. I've written about Miss Hasso before, and she is without a doubt one of my most favorite actresses of the 1940s. There's something sneaky, or should I say sly, about her performances.
Nobody really can play deviousness the way she does and this gives her an edge in romantic scenes. Mainly because while she is falling head over heels for Craig in this picture, she still cannot be fully trusted until she experiences a complete change of heart. So we have a unique taming as it were, but can we be sure that she will stay a reformed woman?
The plot comes from a book called 'Paper Chase' in which a confidence couple on their way back to the U. S. from Mexico stumble upon a racket carried out by the Nazis. Miss Hasso's husband in the story is played by John Warburton, and this guy seems fairly mild. But the book reveals he was the mastermind of their various schemes in several countries and that he had taught his wife all the tricks of the trade. These tricks involved theft, blackmail, cheating at cards and other forms of dishonest behavior.
They meet up with a Nazi (Gwenn) on the way to the midwest, and they they lift some documents off him when their plane crashes. The papers are written wills in which the Nazi man will inherit four million dollars in bonds and securities. The money will be turned over to the Germans to help Nazi officials evade their crimes at the end of the war.
The book was written in 1940, and I suspect part of the story was updated by MGM since this picture was made at the end of the war. It plays quite realistically because I am sure Nazis were developing escape routes when Hitler's Germany started to fall. The wills are a clever way for them to bring their money into America, and this confidence couple are on to their scheme.
However, Mr. Gwenn and his cohorts (played by Mabel Paige and Grant Withers) will do everything they can to stop the crooked duo from getting in the way of operations. Miss Hasso's husband is murdered shortly after arriving in Ohio, so she ends up joining forces with Mr. Craig. He is playing a lawyer that had been hired to revise one of the wills by a Nazi conspirator that had a pang of conscience and was suddenly bumped off.
Since Hasso is now a widow, she is free to pursue a romance with Craig. She wastes no time doing this. The way she doesn't shed a single tear over her late husband's body and quickly refocuses her energies on obtaining the Nazi loot gives us an indicator of her character. Later she begins to see the light while on the run with Craig, especially when she starts to realize what it means to keep American interests safe from foreign threats to democracy.