Above Suspicion (1943)
director: Richard Thorpe
Basil Rathbone, Conradt Veidt and Joan Crawford together in one war thriller sounds quite promising. However, the first half of the film unfortunately recalled “The Thin Man” cycle. The same kind of slightly annoying humour, though husband and wife are playing spies instead of detectives. But luckily things get more interesting when Rathbone comes into action. The film takes a darker, more thrilling turn and the jokes (mostly courtesy of Herr Veidt – in his last role ever) become more sophisticated and political. Quite an entertaining film, though this might be a slight disappointment when one is expecting a really tense, adventurous spy war thriller.
@Bearfan, I just read what you're reading and later I thought of these two posts:
bearfan said:
3. Do you have favorite directors?
..., Ford, ...
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bearfan said:
I have a general interest in East Germany/Eastern Europe post WWII.
I am not sure what in films and books on Eastern Europe attracts you (maybe the dark past?) but it looks like you have interest in "real" history of places and people in a dark past.
Perhaps you have the same interest but then looking at the USA. Since you are a film buff this might be cool to check:
Have seen the Canadian documentary
Reel Injun which is a portrayal of Native Americans in film?
I ask this especially because you mention Ford as one of your favourite directors. If there was ever one filmmaker on this planet who depicted Indians in a wrong way (and in a racist manner) it was John Ford.
I'd say if you're into Westerns, have interest in (the treatment of) native Americans or just wish to explore a dark side of Hollywood, and its huge impact on society, go and check it, if you haven't yet. It's a confronting film but with humour as well.
From wiki:
The film was inspired, in part, by (director) Diamond's own experiences as a child in Waskaganish, Quebec, where he and other Native children would play cowboys and Indians after local screenings of Westerns in their remote community. Diamond remembers that although the children were in fact "Indians," they all wanted to be the cowboys. Afterwards, when he was old enough to move south to study, he would be questioned by non-Native people about whether his people lived in teepees and rode horses, causing Diamond to realize that their preconceptions about Native people were also derived from movies.
