(1943)
2
Hans J. Wollstein
Joan Crawford would later dismiss Above Suspicion as "undiluted hokum" and the rather frivolous espionage drama was altogether seen as MGM's less than polite farewell to a fading star. Crawford, of course, went on to even greater fame -- and an Academy award -- at Warner Bros., and Above Suspicion survives as an entertaining bit of Hollywood wartime escapism not to be taken too serious. According to some reports, the studio filmed location footage at Mt. Wilson, CA, and on Mulholland Highway, but most of the action takes place on a sound stage dressed to look vaguely Tyrolean. In fact, the screenwriters were apparently more convinced by Nazi Germany's "annexation" of Austria than the Austrian people themselves and the dialogue stubbornly refers to Salzburg and surroundings as "Southern Germany." A huge cast of expatriates adds local color to the proceedings and Basil Rathbone makes a convincingly chilling sturmbahnfuhrer. In his final role before dying suddenly of a heart attack, Conrad Veidt turns his usual coldness into an asset for the resistance and the veteran star obviously relished the sometimes choice dialogue. The film's best line, however, is awarded to Fred MacMurray, who, after the honeymooning couple makes a dangerous escape into Italy, asks the burning question: "How about some spaghetti?"
Above Suspicion on AllMovie
Above Suspicion (1943)
