Product Details

• Actors: George Raft, Brenda Marshall, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Osa Massen
• Directors: Raoul Walsh
• Writers: Daniel Fuchs, Eric Ambler, W.R. Burnett, William Faulkner
• Producers: Jack L. Warner, Jerry Wald
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Language: English, French, German, Turkish
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Warner)
• VHS Release Date: September 1, 1998
• Run Time: 80 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302717671
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #16,268 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Come for the cast; stay for the story., June 19, 2001

By	Doghouse King "eddie_denman" (Omaha, NE United States) - See all my reviews

Set in neutral Turkey circa WW2, this nearly-forgotten film is a fast-paced tale of espionage. Its great cast includes coin-flipping tough guy George Raft, the elegantly duplicitous duo of Lorre and Greenstreet, Brenda Marshall as a comely commie and Turhan Bey (The Mummy's Tomb) as a confidant of Raft.

Ankara is portrayed as the dangerous, exotic city it must have been in those tenuous years, with bombings and stealthy dealings in darkened alleys. All the world's powers had converged upon that strategic point, engaging in covert knifings and more overt misinformation. The Germans in this movie plan to leak out a map alleging that the Russians plan to invade, hopefully tilting Turkey to the Axis. Therefore the Nazis, Russians and Allies seek this map at all costs. Raft may be just a travelling salesman, or is he something more? Who can be trusted? Can Truth, Justice and the American Way prevail? Rock on, brother.

Raoul Walsh has never gotten the credit he deserved as director. He helmed some of the best suspensers in the first half of the 20th century: Thief of Baghdad (1924), High Sierra, Pursued and White Heat, to name a few. Here again he is up to the task of providing a crisp, actionful movie, with a brisk car chase spicing up the latter sections. (Not up to the latter-day stunt standards of Lethal Weapon 4, definitely, but well-done.)

The only thing realy lacking is an abundance of the razor-sharp dialogue some other 40's programmers possess, but if you like studio genre films from Hollywood's golden age (shot, as the box says, in glorious black and white) you will very likely enjoy this one, too.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Who To Believe?, January 2, 2003

By	James L. (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

George Raft is a self described salesman travelling throughout Asia who gets tangled up in a Nazi plan to bring neutral Turkey into the war on their side. He encounters spy Osa Massen on a train. She's being followed, so she gives him an envelope containing forged plans to invade Turkey supposedly by the Russians so that Turkey will want to side with the Axis. When she turns up dead later in Ankara, he finds himself the centre of attention, with various spies and plotters like Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Brenda Marshall after the envelope. Raoul Walsh directs with his customary gusto, bringing lots of action to the twisting and turning spy story, culminating with a terrific chase scene. The film is well plotted, with surprises thrown in to keep the viewer guessing. Any film with Greenstreet and Lorre in it is usually worth watching, and they are as engaging as ever. The action helps to mask Raft's typically colourless performance (Bogart would have been great in this one). I love a good spy story, and this film did not disappoint me.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A B Movie Gets a C Grade, October 8, 2004

By	C. O. DeRiemer (San Antonio, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Another intrigue/noir from the Forties, but this one is a disappointment. George Raft is a businessman travelling from Lebanon to neutral Turkey during WWII. A mysterious woman on the train gives him some seemingly innocent papers to deliver to her in Ankara. At the same time, a Nazi spymaster (Sydney Greenstreet) in Berlin travels to Ankara determined to create a situation which will inflame Turkey against the Soviets. Two Soviet spies in Ankara, Peter Lorre and Brenda Marshall, however, are determined to stop this.

Raoul Walsh directed and I doubt he'd have put this effort at the top of his resume. There are some action scenes and car chases that are fun, but the movie suffers from George Raft's leaden acting and a cliche-ridden script. Some examples: "You take us there or I'll bat your brains out!" "We Nazis do not relish failure!" "If your hands move one fraction I'm gonna blast!" Watching a new thought cross Raft's face is painful.

The movie has a nice look about it, with night scenes and shadows. If you're a noir Forties film fan, this is one to possibly add to your collection if it ever comes out on DVD. But I doubt if you'll watch it more than once.

The movie is based on Eric Ambler's novel of intrigue, Background to Danger. Don't let the movie put you off the book. The book is excellent. Not a cliche in sight.