A Lady Without Passport

Infobox Film | name =A Lady Without Passport


caption =A Lady Without Passport movie poster
director = Joseph H. Lewis
producer = Samuel Marx
writer = Howard Dimsdale
Cyril Hume (adaptation)
Lawrence Taylor (story)
starring =Hedy Lamarr
John Hodiak
James Craig
George Macready
Steven Geray
music = David Raksin
cinematography = Paul Vogel
editing =
distributor = MGM
released = August 3 1950 (U.S. release)
runtime = 74 minutes
language = English
budget =
imdb_id = 0042664

"A Lady Without Passport" is a suspense film directed by Joseph H. Lewis. Shot in semidocumentary style, it is considered film noir.

Plot

After World War II, people try to sneak into the U.S. illegally with the help of a human smuggling ring run by Palinov (George Macready). U.S. Immigration operative Peter Karczag (John Hodiak) is sent to Havana, where he poses as a Hungarian in need of Palinov's services. During his dangerous undercover investigation, he falls in love with refugee Marianne Lorress (Hedy Lamarr).

When Palinov discovers Karczag's true purpose, he first tries to have the agent killed. When that fails, Palinov decides to use his own services. He flies to the United States, with Lorress one of the other passengers. However, the airplane is being tracked by the U.S. government. It is crash landed in the Florida swamps in one last desperate attempt to elude capture.

Critical reaction

Despite the fact that the film was made on a small budget, most reviews find the "Casablanca"-like film entertaining.

Time Out Film praises director Lewis. "A tight little script and economically etched characters provide a strong foundation, but it is Lewis' evocative visuals that really turn this into a poverty row gem." [http://www.timeout.com/film/80039.html]

External links

*
* [http://members.aol.com/MG4273/lewis.htm Films of Joseph H. Lewis]
* [http://tcmdb.com/title/title.jsp?scarlettTitleId=2022 Film trailer at Turner Classic Movies]