Stamboul Quest

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

MYRNA LOY uses her exotic beauty well as a German spy who finds herself being wooed by a persistent American medical student (GEORGE BRENT) who follows her (stalks her is more like it) until she finds herself succumbing to his charms. Their relationship, although it becomes intense, is played out with humor and wit, helped by a script that is totally unpredictable in the amount of twists and turns it takes to get to a rather abrupt conclusion.

C. HENRY GORDON has a prominent role as a Turkish commander and LIONEL ATWILL gets some humor out of his role as her boss in espionage. Loy is photographed with great care and looks exquisite in her Orry-Kelly costumes. She appears to be enjoying her role here almost as much as the "Thin Man" roles she would soon be playing opposite William Powell.

As with all espionage yarns, the plot gets thicker as things go on and anyone who dozes off will have a hard time getting back on track--that's how complicated the yarn gets before the happy ending.

All told, it's a trifle but a pleasant one in the careers of Myrna Loy and George Brent, who is a little livelier than usual in his playful role.

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.

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.

With a Title that will do Nothing but Alienate Modern Movie Watchers this Pre-WWI Tale of a Real Life Female Infiltrator (not Mati Hari) is a So-So, Complex, Talky, Awkward Film that has some Appealing Actors like Myrna Loy (sporting a dazzling wardrobe with Flying Saucer hats) and Lionel Atwill, Among Others (no George Brent is not appealing in any way).

The First Act is in Deep Danger of Ruining the Intent of the Film as it has Brent Stalking Loy and his Relentless Advances and her Constant Rejection becomes Intolerable. But when She Finally Succombs and takes Him on as an "Assistant" things Settle Down to Watchable.

There is some Neat Spy Stuff like Messages in Tooth Fillings, Invisible Ink, and a Very Odd Scene where Body Art takes on a New Meaning. It is All Handled with MGM's Slick Sheen and the Result is Worth a Watch but as a Whole it is too Silly at Times and too Complicated by a Half to be Anything More than just Good.