Conspiracy (1939)

American Steve Kendall, a freighter's radio officer, discovers seaman Carlson sending an unauthorized message ashore as the ship approaches his war-poised homeland. Carlson is shot in cold ... See full summary »

Director:

Lew Landers

Writers:

John P. McCarthy (story), Faith Thomas (story),

Stars:

Allan Lane, Linda Hayes, Robert Barrat

Cast

Cast overview:
Allan Lane	...	Steve Kendall
Linda Hayes	...	Nedra Carlson
Robert Barrat	...	Tio / Edwards
Charley Foy	...	Studs
Lionel Royce	...	Second Lieutenant
J. Farrell MacDonald	...	Captain of the Falcon
Lester Matthews	...	Gair - Henchman
Henry Brandon	...	Carlson - Crewman
Wilhelm von Brincken	...	Second-Mate Wilson (as William von Brincken)
Solly Ward	...	Dr. Fromm

Storyline

American Steve Kendall, a freighter's radio officer, discovers seaman Carlson sending an unauthorized message ashore as the ship approaches his war-poised homeland. Carlson is shot in cold blood when he jumps ship and Kendall, implicated in the espionage, swims ashore to avoid arrest. A woman he meets at the dock hides him in her apartment, where he learns Carlson was her brother, and they both work in a sabotage ring. Nedra is a singer at Tio's Cafe, and she approaches Tio for help when both the saboteurs and the secret police try to capture Steve.

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Plot Keywords:

singer | henchman | american | dictator | secret police | 

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Taglines:

A woman's lips...a mystery cargo...terror over Europe! (original poster)

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 August 1939 (USA)

Also Known As:

Conspiradores

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

58 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

"Take The World Off My Shoulders"
Music by Sammy Fain
Lyrics by Lew Brown
Sung by Linda Hayes

User Reviews

Dark Goings On

This is a visually stunning but muddily written spy thriller. Within the first minute, the question arises: when the spy wants to send a coded message, he sets the radio to the correct channel, holds a gun on the radio operator and tells him that he know Morse Code.... so why not just slug the operator and send the message himself? It took me two viewings to begin to make any sense of the story and the second viewing was interrupted by thoughts like this. Alan Lane spends the entire movie confused and I don't blame him. It looks to me as if they were trying to do a Graham Greene movie, not realizing that Greene's work is always about moral confusion, not situational confusion. Oh, well.

The cinematography is quite lovely, but then this is the fourth RKO movie I've thought that about and discovered the DP was Frank Redman. The man started in the silents and worked through the 1960s, with over a hundred episodes of PERRY MASON -- and that was some good-looking television work. It seems to be movies like this that kept him in the Bs, though if you can find BAD LANDS -- a western he photographed in 1939 -- you'll see this one is no fluke. There's plenty of proto-Film Nor shadows in this one.

Still, this is one that, despite the lovely pictures and what sounds like a German version of "I Can't Help Falling in Love With You", I would avoid.