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The problems with A Lady Without Passport start when one realizes that the eternally glamorous Hedy Lamarr is being asked to portray a poor refugee from a concentration camp. Lamarr doesn't begin to look the part, either in her physical frame or in her make-up, and so credibility is struck a blow from the start. Lamarr, though a sensational beauty, did not have a great dramatic range, and the acting demands of Passport are also not suited to her talents. Compounding the problem is the casting of John Hodiak opposite her. Hodiak looks good, but he's a dull performer and that dullness is damaging here. George Macready is good as the villain, but he can't hold up the acting end of the picture all by himself. M The screenplay is also only serviceable; it's not bad, but there's nothing special about it. What does raise Passport a few notches is Joseph H. Lewis' direction. It's not in the same league as his work on Gun Crazy, but it has flair and imagination and he makes the material work far better than it should. His filming of the everglades finale is especially noteworthy.