Dangerous Partners (1945) User Reviews

Convoluted B picture

[blanche-2 · 5/10 · 30 December 2005]

I confess to having a hard time following "Dangerous Partners," a strange little B movie starring James Craig, Signe Hasso, and Edmund Gwenn, with a short appearance by Audrey Totter. Part of the problem for me was that the plot seemed to have no context. The film begins with the survivors of a plane crash, and two people trying to get inside a man's briefcase. It was like coming in at the middle, and I spent the rest of the time trying to figure out who was who trying to do what to whom and why. By the time I had it all straight, it didn't seem worth it.

Anyway, the plot concerns four wills, each of which leave $1 million to the same man. People go around reciting a menu backwards, which is some sort of code for, you're one of us. A lawyer for one of the four who winds up dead joins forces with a woman interested in intercepting the millions, Hasso.

Signe Hasso was an excellent actress who for some reason never rose above B movie leads or small parts in A films, and it's really a shame. Throughout her 65-year career, she consistently handed in good performances. Everything about her was interesting - her look, her voice, and her characterizations. Hollywood possibly didn't know what to do with her.

moidah mystery.... starts slow. Minor spoiler

[ksf-2 · 6/10 · 30 September 2019]

MINOR spoiler...Signe Hass and John Warburton are the Ballisters, survivors of a plane crash. One of the other airplane passengers is full of mystery, and even has a briefcase with more mysterious papers. Wills. Four of them. When a body turns up dead, Lieutenant O'Neill shows up to figure out how the wills, the accident, the Ballisters, and the body are all connected. Stars James Craig as Caighn, attorney for the dead guy. and keep an eye on Ed Gwenn ( he had won the oscar for Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street)... Gwenn seems to be the bad guy at the center of all this. Audrey Totter is the nightclub singer who performs "His". she does okay, i guess. the song didn't really need to be there. this one has the usual MGM supporting players. Chester Clute, King Baggot, Felix Bressart. they showed up in just about every mgm film in the 1940s. This was released right near the end of WWII, so of course, the nazi's are involved somehow. plot gets kind of cutesy near the center... and i was beginning to wonder why we were supposed to feel so much sympathy for two people committing fraud. but as long as they are taking advantage of the nazis, i guess now its all okay. When Caighn and Mrs. Ballister are taken prisoner, can they get themselves out of this mess? turns out to be a pretty good WW II spy story. just takes a while to get there. Directed by Ed Cahn; made at about the midpoint of his career.

A Genuine Surprise

[OneView · 7/10 · 21 December 2020]

A real surprise that showed the advantages of coming across a film completely cold with no knowledge of its plot or reputation. A random discovery on You Tube on a wet afternoon that proved exhilaratingly different.

Starting in the immediate aftermath of a horrendous plane crash a surviving couple consisting of a greedy, soulless wife (Signe Hasso) and her frightened husband (John Warburton) seek to rob an unconscious man and discover details of seemingly disparate people with legal wills promising large sums of money to a man with the wonderful name of Albert Richard Kingby (played by Edmund Gwenn.)

A series of attempts are made to illicitly obtain the money, one resulting in the death of Warburton's character. Hasso continues dispassionately on with her aims, now in the company of a very corrupt lawyer played by James Craig. Their criminal enterprise continues with little concern for anyone else until dramatic revelations give them pause to think about the true nature of criminality.

An unusual production for MGM of the period this crime thriller lacks the usual polish that the biggest of studios could provide and appears little rough edged at times, perhaps an illustration of the directorial input of Edward L Cahn who spent a career knocking out B films in under a week (some, like It! The Terror From Beyond Space are genuinely extraordinary.) The normally artsy photography of Karl Freund is here mostly point and shoot though the plane crash aftermath is wonderfully handled.

What it also benefits from is very good performances. Signe Hasso uses her strong accent as an effective shield and presents a special patina of evil contrasted with the Edmund Gwenn, generally the player of affable, ingenous characters here is effective as the quintessence of wickedness. The sequence where a character is tortured for information is played quite convincingly and there is a real dark edge to proceedings.

My summary is that this is a solid outing with enough plot surprises and deviations to make it interesting throughout. All credit as well for the careful script and the very strong performances. Notable supporting players such as King Baggot (star of the early silent goes uncredited) whilst Grant Withers and Stephen McNally are sterling additions.

Interesting B-film...good performances by Signe Hasso and Edmund Gwenn...

[Doylenf · 12 December 2002]

A real curiosity piece is this little thriller mixing a pair of unethical thieves (James Craig, Signe Hasso) with some shady characters and adding a Nazi spy twist at the end. It's all very improbable but with something happening every moment it's hard to turn away.

James Craig was at his handsomest but, unfortunately, this kind of film needed someone like Bogart to bring it alive. But Signe Hasso makes up for his bland performance by giving her all to the role of a woman who resorts to all sorts of tricks in her efforts to get her hands on some hefty amounts of money, even if it means double-crossing her partner in crime. And Edmund Gwenn is surprisingly effective as a bad guy, so far removed from his usual kindly old self. Audrey Totter hasn't much to do but does it well. Mabel Paige reminds us what a good character actress she was in good supporting roles.

And watch for Stephen McNally in a small role as the pilot of a plane crash that starts the story rolling (billed as Horace McNally).

An MGM B-picture that reminds us how interesting some of these little programmers could be. Enough plot twists to keep you watching until the end.

Crime thriller with a dash of politics intrigue

[MovieStakes · 7/10 · 11 July 2021]

A plane crashes and of the survivors, a not so scrupulous woman (Signe Hasso) and her husband (Mr and Mrs Ballister) make the most, exploring the persons of others for something to salvage. They come across four wills bequeathing bonds worth a million each to one Albert Richard Kingby (Edmund Gwenn) . They also find that the wills can be set aside if the bonds are handed over to the bearer by revealing a passcode. As Kingby, in whose case they find these wills is unconscious, they steal the wills and set upon the quest to explore further. Meanwhile, the survivors are rescued and Kingby also starts his quest. The first of these "millioners" dies when he tries to evade Kingby and the circumstances take a twist introducing a smart lawyer (James Craig) who isn't averse to cutting corners, into the chase. What happens subsequently when the lawyer and the lady are thrown together in this adventure and who really is this Alber Richard Kingby forms the main plot. Probably as this is a war time movie, there is an unexpected change of heart for both Craig and Hasso when they come to know the source of the wealth.

Craig with his easy manners and acting plays the lead in this film noir and is ably supported by Hasso as the greedy woman. But Edmund Gwenn steals the show with his sauve presence.

Intriguing mess

[utgard14 · 6/10 · 10 September 2023]

What a weird movie. There are no "good guys" which itself is rare for the time period. The protagonists are slimeball crooks. Of course they are up against Nazis - the only way they could possibly be rootable. The plot is a bit of a disaster. We're dropped right into the aftermath of a plane crash at the beginning of the film, left to piece together from context clues who is who and what is what. There are mysteries and murders and misdirects. I would rate this so much lower but a nice pace and some moody atmosphere in key scenes kept me interested. Edmund Gwenn is excellent. Wish he was in it more. I also wish Audrey Totter had played the Signe Hasso part. A more playful rogueish sort in the James Craig role wouldn't hurt either. While we're at it a script rewrite. I know it sounds like I hate this picture but I don't. It is a mess but at least it's not boring.

4 unsigned wills

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 26 September 2019]

I'm in agreement with the reviewer who said that when he watched Dangerous Partners he felt like he came in to the story in the middle and had some trouble figuring out who was who. I suspect that portion was mistakenly left on MGM's cutting room floor.

James Craig, a lawyer whose ethics are only as good as they have to be and Signe Hasso your typical mysterious woman survive a plane crash and Hasso picks EDmund Gwenn's pocket where she find 4 unsigned wills that leave government bonds to the bearer who would be Gwenn. Only these folks haven't died.....yet.

The two are out to investigate and they come up with another dastardly Nazi scheme. A nice bit of reverse casting making Gwenn the chief villain.

This one sure could have used Hitchcock to put it together right.

Santa Claus is the bad guy?

[HotToastyRag · 4/10 · 15 December 2023]

The premise of Dangerous Partners was very intriguing: survivors of a plane crash find a dying man carrying four separate wills naming him the beneficiary. However, after the first five minutes, that premise transitions into something else. If you're looking for a disaster flick, this isn't it. It's more of a cat-and-mouse, Nazi-conspiracy mystery where you don't know which characters you can trust.

Edmund Gwenn, in the only role I've seen him in where he has brown hair, plays the dying man in the first five minutes. He doesn't die, and instead, he and the two leads, James Craig and Signe Hasso, are in a race to track down the wills and claim the money. James tries to impersonate Teddy so he can get rich instead, but there are double-crossings, political subterfuge, and tons of confusion. And while James thinks Signe is falling in love with him, perhaps she's only pretending so she can get half (or more) of the inheritance money. The biggest question of all, however, is why the normally jolly Edmund Gwenn would take on the role of the villain. He's a very convincing bad guy! He's cold and callus, ordering henchmen to beat up women and pulling guns on innocents. All in all, this wasn't my favorite movie, and it's not one I'd really recommend if you have a free afternoon; but if you're anxious to see it, it won't hurt you.

Edmund Gwenn plays a killer?! Say it isn't so!

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 27 September 2019]

"Dangerous Partners" has some very unusual casting, as Edmund Gwenn of all people plays a ruthless murderer!! Say it isn't so...the sweet guy who played Santa in "Miracle on 34th Street" a killer?!

The story begins just after a plane crash. Two rogues find a dead man with four wills in his possession....and the names of four different people on the wills...and each for $1,000,000! Without knowing more, the pair decide to track down these four people and find out if they can squeeze the money out of them.

Someone else is also looking for these four people....and Albert Kingby (Edmund Gwenn) is willing to do anything to get the $1.000,000 in bonds. He first kills the partner...leaving the lady (Signe Hasso). Then, he chases her and her new partner (James Craig) and you wonder WHO he is and WHY is he killing people to get the money. See the film and find out why.

While the relationship between Hasso and Craig is tough to believe in parts, the film still works very well because it's well written and there is a nice payoff at the end. Well worth seeing...tense and exciting throughout.

By the way, some reviews called this a 'B-movie'. While having secondary actors like Hasso and Craig in the leads might make you believe this, at 79 minutes it's much too long to be considered a B....a quickie film designed as a second feature and usually running 50-65 minutes.

A contrived political thriller as convoluted as the messy lives of the characters.

[mark.waltz · 2/10 · 28 December 2013]

Signe Hasso and John Warburton are survivors of a plane crash who somehow end up mugging the unconscious Edmund Gwenn, finding the key to his briefcase taped to his back and locate four wills and an order for dinner inside the case. The fact that they are able to tape the key back on Gwenn (who ultimately wakes up) and not be discovered shows the ridiculousness of the concept which takes most of the film's short running time to get to the point of what's going on. James Craig somehow gets involved in the picture and after Warburton ends up a murder victim, his grieving widow doesn't take much time in getting over him with Craig and on the path to solving the intrigue involving these wills.

What it's all about, so late in the war, is so messed up and comes out of left field. Audrey Totter gets to warble a brief song and that old character actress Mabel Paige gets involved too as one of the benefactors of one of the wills. To see Gwenn, just on the brink of an Oscar for playing Santa Claus, playing a nefarious character, is intriguing in itself, but the whole set-up and denouncement just wreaks of too many implausibilities. Hasso and Craig share absolutely no chemistry and there's certainly no revelation of why Hasso and Warburton were rolling Gwenn in the first place.

Ah, Signe

[Hypnotape · 9 November 2005]

This was a tight, neat little thriller, better than most of its kind at the time. I guess you would call it a true noir, which the House on 92nd Street was not quite. It wasn't totally plausible, but it was close enough for what it was. The supporting cast was all good with what they had to do, especially lovable Edmund Gwenn in an against-type villainous role. I would like to comment on Signe Hasso. I fell in love with her in The House on 92nd Street, and saw this movie not long after that. She was a good actress, very unappreciated I felt, and never looked more gorgeous than she did in this film. I find even now that most people have never heard of her and am glad to find from various postings about her movies on this website that she had other fans. The last minute change of heart for her character in the movie, who had been well portrayed as a rather cold, scheming adventuress was a bit unrealistic, but that's Hollywood of old. All in all I liked the flick. James Craig was a hunk, sort of Clark Gable, but not quite.

Bewildering nonsense.

[teachermarkthailand · 4/10 · 19 August 2021]

For some reason, the opening exposition scenes were edited out of this movie, so we start with the plane crash and are expected to pick up the pieces from there.

From then on it's just a confusing mosaic of wordy scenes. Nothing makes sense and trying to figure it out isn't worth the payoff. There's just too much to keep track of.

Even as nostalgic value, this clunker is heavy going... except for the scenes featuring the wonderful Edmund Gwenn.

Contrived and convoluted

[polite-45692 · 2/10 · 26 July 2021]

Contrived and convoluted, the actors playing the dangerous partners do not seem particularly dangerous. Their acting is poor, their chemistry is poor, and they are limited by a plot that seems that is a weak effort at seeming mysterious. The sudden insertion of political propaganda makes the movie approach ridiculousness.

Looking back at the war, looking forward to freedom

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 16 February 2022]

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.