L'espionne Fräulein Doktor

I watched this more for Myrna Loy than for George Brent, whom I'd always considered wooden and stolid. Imagine my surprise to see a playful, puppyish Brent, with only a few small foreshadowings of his priggish side.

Myrna Loy is even more beautiful than usual, in a series of spectacular gowns (most notably one that is backless, nearly sideless, with a front that consists mostly of a flower, two rhinestone straps, and good intentions). She plays a German counter-espionage spy, Fraulein Doktor, who is notorious in many countries for her skill at getting information. It is clear that she didn't mind using sex to do so, which must have made negotiations with the Hays Office more fraught than usual.

There was a real Fraulein Doktor, who had run a school for spies in Belgium. She was still alive when the film was made (though suffering from drug addiction in a Swiss sanitorium), so the writers and producers had to tread carefully in their depiction of her. Loy's trademark sang-froid serves her well as she jokes about missions with her boss (the excellent Lionel Atwill), manipulates targets, and deals with the smitten Brent. The plot twists and twists and then twists a final time (just when you think you've anticipated the double-crosses, there's one last to surprise you). The cautionary references to Mata Hari help ground the story in its historical context.

The cast is great fun, with Mischa Auer as an efficient aide-de-camp, Leo G Carroll as a double-agent, and the wonderfully villainous C. Henry Gordon as Fraulein Doktor's main target.

The end, however, is simply odd. One hardly knows what to make of that final scene--it seems almost like an hallucination. Its unsatisfactory cap to the movie led me to give it a lower rating than I would have otherwise.

There is a brief scene in Stamboul Quest, as Leo G. Carroll's character stops by the entrance to a building in Berlin to look at the metal plaques attached by the entrance, identifying the business occupants. In German, the signs identify a notary, a lawyer and, in German and English, an American Dentist. Carroll paused for only a few seconds, and if not for a screen capture I made, I would not be able to check out the attention to detail that the art director or prop man put into this minor set piece. When I visited Berlin, I saw business plaques just like those in this movie, made in Culver City, which is a long way from Berlin. From the prologue at the start, describing in general terms the difference between espionage and counter-espionage, to Lionel Atwill's fine portrayal of a spymaster, Stamboul Quest is a picture ahead of its time. Transmitting coded messages in a tooth filling is not a procedure you see in many movies. There is also a love story, Myrna Loy's character, Fraulein Doktor, falling in love with the American medical student (George Brent) who gets entangled with the spies by going to the American Dentist when the counterespionage agents raid the office. 25 years later, Leo G. Carroll was the spymaster who takes advantage of Cary Grant being mistaken for George Kaplan, a fictitious agent created to catch real spies. Carroll and company notice the gallows humor in Grant's predicament, just as Atwill also finds humor in George Brent's character mistakenly getting locked up for being a spy. George Brent, on loan to MGM after going on suspension at Warners (Jack Warner must have liked Brent, since Warners was a studio that had a track record ruining actor's careers by refusing to loan them out to other studios on reasonable terms e.g. Wayne Morris blocked from working in The Killers, in the role that made Lancaster a star), is great as the medical student. As he and Myrna Loy check into the hotel in Turkey, Brent tosses into the air the coin that is the tip for the porter. The porter reaches for the coin, Brent says you mustn't reach, catches the coin first and gives it to the porter. Sort of a mean joke, but an action Herman J. Mankiewicz, the screenwriter or maybe the director, Sam Wood, saw in real life and put into the movie to make Brent's character look authentic. The effort MGM's professional staff put into this fine spy movie shows up on the screen

This film tickled me. Myrna Loy plays the real-life Germany spy 'Fraulein Doktor' who is in Constantinople (aka Istanbul, aka Stamboul) during WWI, trying to snoop out who in the Turkish chain of command is selling information to the British. The prelude to sending her there may remind you a bit of 007 meeting M before a mission, minus the sophisticated gadgetry, but including the description of various codes and signals. It's clear early on that this film just made it in before the Hays Code began enforcement in 1934, as Loy takes a bath and dries with a towel that's a little too small, and we learn that part of her duties as a spy involve seducing those she wants information from. There's a great scene where she helps stop a traitor in their ranks who is delivering information via a false tooth that's hollowed out, and that's how the American (George Brent) gets involved in it all.

Brent is charming and has some funny banter with her, but gets a little annoying in how aggressive and possessive he becomes when the two start falling for one another. I confess I would have been happier had she remained stronger and aloof. However, with that said, I loved how intricate the plot was, and the twists and turns along the way. With deception the order of the day, it's fun to watch all involved manipulate their way through situations, and as 'out there' as the premise is, the film has an authenticity to it, and feels ahead of its time.

There are several cute scenes with Loy, who shows at least a little bit of an edge as well as a playful and loving side. Is she completely believable as a spy? Probably not, but she is fully engaging and a delight to watch. Lionel Atwill and C. Henry Gordon are also strong in the roles as the German chief of spies and Turkish high commander, respectively. The film's pace is right and Director Sam Wood includes some nice touches with his cuts, streets scenes, and even a brief exotic dancer. Herman J. Mankiewicz's screenplay is smart, and holds together.

I may have given the film an even higher rating, as after its strong start and 'ok' middle, it had a number of fine moments down the stretch, but I have to say, I hated the ending, which was a shame. Overall though, it's hard to fathom the negative reviews and low average rating – this one is quite enjoyable.

It's unusual in that the story is about espionage and counter espionage (and perhaps counter counter espionage) among the Germans during World War I, at a time before America entered the war.

Myrna Loy plays a German spy, sent by her spy boss (Lionel Atwill) to find out whether the head of the Turkish forces (very well played by C. Henry Gordon) is a double agent, spying for the British. The Dardanelles are involved, and military secrets. Myrna's life and mission are complicated by the fact that George Brent, an American studying medicine in Germany, is accidentally arrested in a dentist's office, during the ambush of Leo G. Carroll, who is also a double agent. Rudolph Amendt (who would play the mad doctor in She Demons nearly 25 years later) has a small role.

There are nuns in this movie, and a convent, at the opening and closing. Myrna, having outed Mata Hari as a double agent, herself falls in love, jeopardizing her work. There is some very clever dialogue in this film, as well as a little bit of well placed humor, and a great scene in which C. Henry Gordon writes secrets in invisible ink on Myrna Loy's naked back.

Before her sophisticated flair for comedy was discovered, Myrna Loy played many roles that relied on her exotic beauty.

One is Stamboul Quest from 1934, also starring George Brent. Loy plays a German spy, Annemarie, a sort of Mati Hari, a love 'em and leave 'em type adept at gathering information.

In 1915, her boss, German Counter-Intelligence Chief Von Sturm (Lionel Atwill) asks her to go to Turkey, as he believes Ali Bey, a Turkish Comannder for the Dardenelles, is selling secrets to the British.

While she is attempting to carry out this mission, she meets Douglas Beall (Brent) and although she fights it, she falls in love with him, helping him to get into Turkey as her servant under her passport. This makes for many complications.

Melodramatic, with Loy luminescent as well as resplendent in her various outfits. Brent is mustacheless and lively, though in later years we would see a mustached and more somber version.

The plot is a little complicated, but the two stars are worth seeing.