Gefährliche Partnerschaft

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.