Guet-apens

Fans of early and obscure Elizabeth Taylor vehicles can't get much more obscure than this early cold-war drama set in 1949 London. As a Yank in postwar Britain, she meets and falls for another Taylor, Robert, dashing in his uniform. Once married, however, hubby grows secretive and borderline abusive, and is forever disappearing on mysterious nighttime errands. Playfully kibitzing, young Liz stumbles onto the truth that he's a Soviet operative, possibly the clumsiest and most careless ever. Orders come down that he must eliminate her.... About two-thirds of the way through, this tepid romance decides it's going to be a Suspicion-like thriller, and not a moment too soon. But it has its moments (the male Taylor covering his tracks as he takes the tube to an assignation, for instance) and reflects the rather restrained concerns of the British Empire in the wake of the Gouzenko defection in Ottawa in 1945.

Elizabeth Taylor is a lovely, vibrant American woman who falls in love with older Communist spy Robert Taylor in "Conspirator," a British film that was Elizabeth Taylor's entry into adult stardom.

She received her first screen kiss, in fact, from co-star Robert Taylor - not bad, but then, this is Elizabeth Taylor we're talking about.

The stars and supporting players (including a very young Honor Blackman) aren't the problem. For me the script and therefore the character actions are questionable.

Elizabeth is supposed to be passionately in love with her new husband, as well as insecure and naive. On learning Taylor, a British officer, is a Communist, she grows up fast. We're told. We really don't see it, nor are we given an idea of how much time has passed to give her an opportunity to reach this new maturity.

We're supposed to believe he was unable to stave her off with some tall story? Also, for a superficial young woman interested in redecorating her house, she certainly is suddenly a very committed patriot.

As for Robert Taylor, a man who's been involved with the party for so many years would certainly have known the trouble he'd be in for failing to carry out orders and how bad it would look to beg for help and make excuses. Come on.

There's nothing wrong with the acting, and Elizabeth Taylor is dazzlingly beautiful, though in my opinion, it will be a couple of more years before her beauty truly is at its height. But she certainly performs her adult role well.

Robert Taylor is appropriately dashing and menacing, with his widow's peak, something my mother always mentioned about him, in full prominence. They certainly made a beautiful couple. But in "Conspirator," alas, they're not meant to be.

This is as much a response to samhill5215's review of CONSPIRATOR as it is a review of the film itself. Sam Hill seems to think that paranoia about Soviet infiltration of the West was unjustified, even though around the same time this film was being made (1949) the Rosenbergs were selling nuclear secrets to the Russians and Philby was funneling intel to them from his perch over in England.

Sam wonders why Elizabeth Taylor's character -- who the film paints as being naive and apolitical -- would be rattled to discover that she'd married a Soviet spy. I wonder if Sam would be making the same observation if the time line were adjusted to World War II and Taylor had learned her husband was a Nazi.

I suppose it matters not to Sam that Mao and Stalin together killed approximately 94 million people.

94. Million.

Nine-four, Sam. Million. The number is beyond staggering. It defies belief.

Adolph Hitler, one of the most evil humans of the 20th century, was a piker by comparison.

But according to Sam, regardless of this kind of unprecedented barbarity, Liz's character was just a Silly Billy to care so much.

Unbelievable.

The movie itself is okay, but far from great. It's well photographed and professionally acted... the story is intriguing... but it all feels rather insubstantial, as if several important scenes were missing.

Perhaps it got butchered in the editing room.

Too bad. Like samhill's review.

In her first adult role Elizabeth Taylor was all of 17 years old, but her co-star Robert Taylor who was a most discreet man when talking about his leading ladies, couldn't help but remark about how mature Liz was when they made this first of two films together.

Her youthfulness helped because in Conspirator the part called for Liz to be young and somewhat naive. She's not too much older in the film than her real age. And the role calls for the young American visitor to London, staying with Lord Wilfrid Hyde-White, Marie Ney, and their daughter Honor Blackman. At a ball Liz can't take her eyes off officer Robert Taylor as neither could half the American female population. In a whirlwind courtship they're married. Taylor is identified as 31 in the film and in fact he wasn't too much older, being 38 when he was making Conspirator.

Taylor had played British before, no one minded his distinct American speech pattern in Waterloo Bridge. And it's not a hindrance in Conspirator either.

Not long after they're married Liz discovers her husband has been a Communist agent for years. As for Bob his marriage did not meet with party approval and he takes heat for it. And when she threatens to turn him in, Bob's given a choice, it's Liz or the party.

Conspirator is a sincere anti-Communist film, not a piece of Cold War junk like some of what was coming out of studios like RKO. The film itself was prophetic because a few years later Donald MacLean and Guy Burgess would be caught and exposed, after that Kim Philby and long after he was dead Sir Anthony Blunt, the famous fourth man in that subversive ring.

The problem with Conspirator is the lack of definition of Robert Taylor's character, we get bits and pieces about an Irish mother, a forbidding English father stuff that might make him question loyalty to king and country. But it's never really fleshed out in the script and Taylor never got a handle on his character.

Liz however really shows the promise she had as an adult actress. Two years later she was in A Place In The Sun and after that her career was assured.

Honor Blackman, the future Pussy Galore, was five years older than Elizabeth Taylor, but had made far fewer films. She was only in the third year of a career that's still going strong. She also does a very good job as Liz's wise young friend who just happens to be keeping company with one of Taylor mess-mates Robert Flemyng.

Conspirator was shot over in MGM's British studio with its two American stars and a cast of players from the UK's cinema. A little more development on Robert Taylor's character and Conspirator could have been far better than it was.

Excellent young adult performance by 18-year-old Elizabeth Taylor playing newlywed American living abroad whose soldier husband is up to no good: he's living a double life and is really a communist traitor! Underpopulated, underwritten melodrama does have one strong aspect: a surprisingly strong, spunky woman at the center of the story. Robert Taylor is solid as Taylor's 30-ish husband, but any psychological conflicts are not quick to come out (there is a tense duck-hunting scene where the couple runs into trouble, but it's just shucked off). Liz looks beautiful and gives a fairly complex portrayal here--her eyes glinting with suspicion and anger. The film isn't a classic--nor is it swill--but as a quickie product from MGM, it's probably better than it had to be. **1/2 from ****