"Foreign Intrigue," a 1956 film starring Robert Mitchum, starts out promisingly enough and peters out. Despite filming in color in France, Sweden, and Monaco, even the film's beauty can't overcome its slow pace and dull script.
Mitchum plays Dave Bishop, who works for an international man of mystery, Victor Danemore. Danemore dies of a heart attack suddenly, and Bishop wonders why every single person he encounters wants to know if Danemore said anything before he died. Even after working for him, Bishop doesn't know much about him, but he endeavors to find out. He learns that Danemore went to Vienna once a year and goes there. Danemore's home there is in a slum, his housekeeper is blind, and can only supply him with one name, Olaf Lindquist from Sweden. Bishop finds Lindquist's home, but the man himself is dead. Bishop and Lindquist's beautiful daughter Brita (Ingrid Thulin) fall for one another; meanwhile, it's obvious her mother is keeping a secret.
Soon Bishop finds himself being followed by one man, Spring (Frederic O'Brady) who won't tell him who he works for, bad-mouthed by Danemore's widow (Genevieve Page) to Brita and her mother, and approached by a group of men who want the names of the men Danemore met yearly in Vienna.
First of all, despite compliments on the music, it was totally overbearing, not to mention loud and intrusive. If you liked it, fine, it was just too over the top for me.
Secondly, this film took way too long to make its point. In the beginning, it was intriguing, but then it began to drag.
Thirdly, we think we're going to find something out and guess what, after all this, we don't.
Robert Mitchum is laid-back and sexy as usual - in this instance, I can't tell if his persona helped the movie or hurt it. He was always a very deliberate actor and perfect for noir - I realize some people call this a noir, and perhaps it was, but the payoff just wasn't there. It's hard for me to imagine Mitchum hurting a film - I think in this case, I'll have to blame the script and the fact that some time could have been edited out.
Promising start - disappointing finish - pretty to look at.
