ID

FBW000964      Fiction

Country / Year

USA, 1943

Original Title

Background to Danger

Directed by

Raoul Walsh

Produced by

Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc., Burbank, CA / New York, NY

Staff

Producer: Jerry Wald; Script: W.R. Burnett; Based on: Eric Ambler (Novelle "Uncommon Danger"); Camera: Tony Gaudio; Editing: Jack Killifer; Art direction: Hugh Reticker; Set decoration: Casey Roberts; Special Effects: Warren Lynch (Kamera), Willard Van Enger (Kamera); Music: Frederick Hollander; Musical direction: Leo F. Forbstein

Cast

George Raft (Joe Barton); Brenda Marshall (Tamara); Sydney Greenstreet (Col. Robinson); Peter Lorre (Zaleshoff); Osa Massen (Ana Remzi); Turhan Bey (Hassan); Willard Robertson (McNamara); Kurt Katch (Mailler); Daniel Ocko (Rashenko); Pedro de Cordoba (Old Turk); Frank Puglia (Syrian Vendor); Steven Geray (Raeder); Curt Furberg (Von Popen); Frank Reicher (Rudick); Jean De Briac; Georges Renavent; Paul Porcasi; Demetrius Emanuel; Michael Mark; Kurt Kreuger; Ray Miller; William Yetter, Sr.; Otto Reichow; Charles Irwin; Antonio Samaniego; Irene Seidner; Lisa Golm; Manart Kippen; William Edmunds; William von Brincken (als William Vaughn); Nestor Paiva; Charles La Torre; Lou Marcelle; Dave Kashner

Length

80'

Format

35mm/sw/1:1,37

Abstract

American agent Joe Barton, pretending to be a machinery salesman, travels to Turkey via train, where he meets sophisticated Ana Remzi , who thrusts secret documents on him before she is murdered in an Ankara hotel room adjoining his. The envelope she has entrusted to him contains oddly marked maps; just after she hides them, agents burst into Barton's room and take him at gunpoint to see Nazi master spy Col. Robinson. He demands the maps, which show where German troops will invade Turkey, just after that neutral government has been alienated from its unofficial ally, Russia, through another series of plots. When Barton refuses to turn over anything, he is mercilessly beaten, but before Nazi goons kill him he is rescued by Zaleshoff and his sister, Tamara, who tell him they are Russian agents, also seeking the maps. But Barton no longer has them; they have been stolen by Col. Robinson's agents. The American invades the fat spy's lavish estate, where he finds Zaleshoff and Tamara held prisoner. Barton manages to free himself and Tamara from the Nazi clutches with the help of Zaleshoff, who sacrifices himself so they can escape at the last minute. A curve-slicing car chase ensues with Barton racing after Col. Robinson, catching him and then sending him on his way back to Berlin, where all know he will be imprisoned, perhaps executed, for his failure. The fat man goes off, wincing at his fate and Barton, with Tamara on his arm, "cements Russian-American relations" by heading for Cairo.

Subject Terms

Anti-Nazi films (US)

Bibliography

- Nash, Ray R. / Ross, Stanley R. / Conelly, Robert B. (Ed.): Motion Picture Guide. Chicago, IL: Cinebooks, 1987