La dame sans passeport

The lady from the title refers to Hedy Lamarr. However, although her character is referred to in the title of the film, she really is not the star of this picture. Instead, John Hodiak is the star and he does a very nice job playing dual roles--an American immigration agent as well as a stateless Hungarian.

When the film begins, a man is accidentally run over when escaping from someone. Why folks are chasing him isn't certain...and you learn more about this as the film progresses. It seems that this unknown dead man is an illegal alien...and clues on his body point to his having just been in Cuba. So, Peter (Hodiak) goes down to this island nation to investigate...with the help of the local police. The trail then leads to a smooth but deadly jerk, played very well by George Macready (he played snake-like characters very well). So how is pretty Hedy involved? Watch the film.

I think for Ms. Lamarr, this film was a letdown and didn't do a lot for her career. Now it isn't because it's a bad film at all...it's very good. But she isn't given a lot to do but look pretty...even, inexplicably, during a trek through the Everglades near the end of the film...and her makeup and hair look superb!!! I live in Florida and even if this had been in the middle of winter, she sure COULDN'T have looked that perfect! Well worth seeing...and an interesting and unusual plot.

Hedy Lamarr is the Lady Without a Passport, stuck in Havana and looking to get to the USA by any means necessary. George Macready is willing to help for a hefty price. John Hodiak is an immigration cop who is undercover investigating Macready's activities. Both have taken an interest in Lamarr and who could blame them for that.

Hedy's career had been sliding downhill until her film just prior to A Lady Without a Passport. She had just come off Cecil B. DeMille's Samson and Delilah which was a comeback film for her.

So from a mammoth multimillion dollar Cecil B. DeMille film, Hedy went into this? Don't get me wrong, A Lady Without a Passport is a good low budget crime drama. But I would have thought Hedy must have gotten better offers after Samson and Delilah.

Anyway though it's worth a look. George Macready is always one of the most fascinating villains the screen has ever produced.

Not the best film that Hedy Lamarr has been in, but certainly another chance to enjoy this incredibly beautiful and talented actress. She made this semi-documentary film noir after Samson and Delilah. Supposedly, she got paid some big bucks as she was a hot property at the time.

The story takes place in pre-Castro Cuba, but it is basically the same as today. It was a jumping off spot for refugees from Europe who wanted to come to the US. Hedy plays a Buchenwald concentration camp victim that has been bouncing around, is broke, and only 90 miles from her dream.

She runs into an INS agent (John Hodiak) that is working undercover to find out about the smugging into the US. Director Joseph H. Lewis was more familiar with westerns, and you can see that here as Hodiak ends up playing Dudley Do-right and rescuing Nell (Lamarr) from Snidely Whiplash (George Macready, who plays a great cultured bad guy).

A quality story, it's not, but. hey, we came here for Hedy.

Hedy wanted to go back to her old studio, MGM with some pride after her great success in Samson and Delilah. Mayer wanted her so badly, he first offered her the role of Poppea in Quo Vadis with her old co star Robert Taylor from Lady of the Tropics. Fortunately she refused that role. Then Mayer offered her this role when it was originally titled "Visa". She didn't think much of it either, but she was quite satisfied as bleeding Mr Mayer of $90000.00 for the role. He wanted to capitalize on her 'comeback' and he reluctantly agreed. Getting money out of him was like getting water out of a rock. It was quite a feat for Hedy. It was a very high price for an actress at that time. Today, even starlets get that amount. But it turned out to be a nice little film, mainly because of her beauty. Hodiak was not the ideal leading man. Mcready was his typical nasty self and very good.

Good film noir with Hedy Lamarr and John Hodiak. I think John Hodiak was a weak choice for this film; but I think that piece of casting was due to the low budget of this film; Hedy was reputedly paid $90,000, because of 'Samson and Delilah' This film could have obviously been better. However, I am a big Hedy Lamarr fan, and I thought 'Lady Without Passport, A' was a good film.