A Lady Without Passport

By the time of "Lady Without a Passport," Hedy Lamarr had seen better days. Of course, having seen better days for Hedy Lamarr would be any other beautiful woman's ultimate moment. She was one of the great film beauties. She never was one of the great film actresses, however, although she's pretty good in this post-war film about immigrants trying to get into the U.S. illegally with the help of the always oily George Macready. Immigration operative John Hodiak is sent to Havana, where he poses as a Hungarian trying to get into the states. He falls in love with Lamarr along the way.

John Hodiak, who facially has always reminded me of Martin Landau, does a very good job. There is some magnificent Havana scenery to behold. For me the film bogs down in the protracted ending as everyone is tracing a plane, but picks up again in scenes filmed in the Florida everglades.

The movie is black and white and very atmospheric.

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.

It almost feels "A Lady Without Passport" shot today could be a comedy: John Hodiak playing half the film with a Cuban accent, Hedy Lamarr, the ice-cold Jewish princess often seeming not the least bit interested... but, it's meant serious and has a solid feel. Not badly directed by Benny Lewis' brother, Joseph, shot mostly on Lot 3 doubling for pre-Castro Havana, S. Florida and the Everglades (the swamp buggy was authentic, the café sequence, a set), the location work with doubles in Florida and Cuba cuts smoothly with principal photography, though the miniature work is a little choppy. David Raksin's atonal score pulls together the films dark 50s moods of terror and careful optimism.

Before they went wide screen MGM, had a brief period of taking on likely action movie directors and pouring more money into their work than they or the audience were used to. Anthony Mann benefited with BORDER INCIDENT. John Sturges got THE PEOPLE AGAINST O'HARA and Joe Lewis scored this sweaty thriller, where the character people who enlivened his Columbia work can be seen milling round behind Metro's contract leads.

The director was demoted to B movies after this, rather unjustly, as it's not only probably his most ambitious outing but also a very efficient entertainment. Lewis' handling breaks through the Metro gloss occasionally - the facing profiles of the death struggle, McCready firing into the fog after Hodiak has tricked him.

The immigrant smuggling story adds surprising elements like the professionalism of the bad guys. "If he is killed he will be replaced - probably by a smarter man."

One of the best aspects is the film's picture of Cuba, with Hodiak squiring Hedy's double round the real city along with studio construction which runs to a functional tramway, art director interiors and back projection. The seedy, fading opulent hotel the leads share is particularly evocative.

While the process work occasionally shows, the model plane crash is a considerable set piece.

The glamour shots of Hedy reveal the studio input, not altogether to the film's advantage. She acts well enough and looks mature-appealing with the hints of having been around enough to accept McCready's protection.

Surprisingly sympathetic treatment of aliens "A little thing like an accent, a foreign name will set you apart" relates to the Dore Schary era multi culturalism of BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK or BORDER INCIDENT again.

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.