STAMBOUL QUEST

 

STAMBOUL QUEST is a 1934 spy adventure produced by MGM. It has plenty of famous names involved in it--Sam Wood was the director, the screenplay was credited to Herman J. Mankiewicz, and the cinematographer was James Wong Howe. 

The movie is in the same vein as DISHONORED with Marlene Dietrich and MATA HARI with Greta Garbo. Like those two earlier films, STAMBOUL QUEST is set during World War One, and it concerns the activities of a female agent (Myrna Loy) who must decide between love and duty. 

The movie begins in 1915 Berlin, where a German spy code-named "Fraulein Doktor" (Loy) receives instructions from her superior Von Sturm (Lionel Atwill) to travel to Turkey to find out if a high-ranking officer there is supplying information to the British. Along the way, the Fraulein is followed by a smitten American named Douglas Beall (George Brent). The Fraulein and Beall fall in love, despite the fact that the agent knows this will complicate her mission. The woman goes to great lengths to protect Beall while completing her task.

One expects STAMBOUL QUEST to be much better than it actually is with all the notable talent attached to it. It's not bad, but the story is hurt by the attempt to normalize Myrna Loy's character by having her get in a romance with a "regular" American. I've never understood why George Brent got to co-star with just about every major American movie actress in the 1930s--I've always found him to be rather dull. Here, he tries to be comedic as well, with his character doing the old "I'm going to pester this woman over and over again until she falls for me" routine. Brent's constant annoyance of Loy is supposed to be charming, but it's just....annoying. You don't believe that Loy's determined spy would fall for such a guy, no matter how generically handsome he might be. 

Loy is fun to watch, and it appears she had fun playing the role as well (even though you get the feeling she would have liked to pop Brent upside his head). She also gets to wear plenty of eye-catching outfits. There's a bit of Pre-Code attitude here concerning Loy's espionage tricks. At one point, she disrobes in the bathroom connected to her superior's office, because her clothes contain secrets written on them in invisible ink (and Lionel Atwill takes great glee in examining them). Toward the end of the film, she convinces one of her targets to write secrets in invisible ink on her bare back. 

Lionel Atwill gets a nice role as Loy's superior in German Intelligence. One would expect Atwill to play Von Sturm in a haughty, sinister manner, but he gives the man a well-rounded personality. What's surprising is that Atwill has better screen chemistry with Loy than George Brent does. The movie also features Henry C. Gordon and Mischa Auer as Turkish military officers, and Leo G. Carroll in a small part.

The main reasons to watch STAMBOUL QUEST are Myrna Loy and Lionel Atwill. The movie would have been much better if George Brent's character had been entirely removed from it.