***SPOILERS*** Rediculas war time espionage drama that in fact takes place in the early summer of 1939 when there was no war going on in Europe between Germany and Britian. We have this fun loving American couple Frances & Richard Myles, Joan Crawford & Fred MacMurray, traveling on vacation to Nazi Germany in order to obtain for Great Britian the secret blueprint for a magnetic mine that the Germans are working on.Despite the movies title-Beyond Suspicion-the two especially Richard Myles act so obnoxious and suspicious that it's a miracle that the Nazi's didn't suspect them of being spies as soon as they laid eyes on them. That's in Richard's in you face dislike of anything German to the extent of calling a Nazi Gestapo Officer a dope right to his face not once but twice within a minutes time! And getting away with it without being shipped off to the nearest Nazi concentration camp!Instead of the two "dopes" just going to the place where anti-Nazi German scientist Dr. Mespelbrunn, Reginald Owens, is staying at and getting the secret information for the magnetic mine that he invented the two American "spies" for the British Empire are given a myriad of asinine and brain twisting clues, by the British Secret Service, as well as secret hand foot and nose signals! It's these signals,like a catcher and third base coach uses in baseball, that they and their German contacts uses in what seems like every ten seconds in the movie! That to the point where they become almost meaningless to anyone that's watching! This muddles things up so much in the film that by the time the Myles' finally get to meet Dr. Mespelbrunn who's being held hostage in his own house by the Gestapo you and possibly even they forgot what they were there for, the plans for the secret magnetic mine, in the first place!There's also a nice little side plot in the movie, to make things even more confusing, with British tourist Thornley, Bruce Lester, planning to gun down the Commadaunt Col.Gerold, Frank Reicher, of the Nazi concentration camp where his wife was interned and later murdered! Thorney plans to pull this off in the middle of a standing room only Listz concert at the local opera house with hundreds of German soldiers and Gestapo agents in attendance!P.S The movie turned out to be both the last film that Joan Crawford made for the MGM studios and Conrad Veidt's, who played a good guy for once, last movie ever! Veidt died on April 3, 1943 of a massive heart attack, probably after seeing the rushes, before the movie "Above Suspicion" was released. Also check out Basil Rathbone as the mysterious Sig Von Aschenhausen who tries so hard to be what he isn't in the movie that you instinctively know what he is as soon as you get to see him!

Helen McInnes novel is the basis of this 1943 MGM film that marked the last time Joan Crawford worked at the studio after a long career as one of its most famous stars in the studio. Richard Thorpe directed the adaptation for the screen. While it is by no means a remarkable movie, it has good moments in the way the two stars, who were obviously in a light mood, make the best out of their characters.The story revolves Richard and Frances Myles, a newlywed couple, embarking on their honeymoon in the Continent. As they are about to cross the channel, a British intelligence man comes to see them about a small favor: they are asked to find one of their operatives and bring back whatever information he can give the Myles because they will not arise suspicion. Well, little prepares the Oxfor university professor and his bride for the adventure they will encounter."Above Suspicion" still is a lot of fun to watch, even if it's not a great spy movie. The easy chemistry between Fred McMurray and Joan Crawford works out fine and it's surprisingly effective. Mr. McMurray was an excellent actor as he proves here. Ms. Crawford had a lighter role as Frances Myles; she shows good sense of timing for this type of genre. Conrad Veidt is hilarious as the German that shows up in most of the places the Myles seem to go. The best thing in the film is the sequence when he dances a sort of modified tango and Richard Myles wants to get his attention on the dance floor! Basil Rathbone is also on hand to give one of his villainous performances. Reginald Owen and Peter Ainley are seen in supporting roles.

The cast is attractive, the premise is intriguing....but the film is blah. It looked like a poor man's "The Thin Man," or tried to be, but all it wound up was "poor." The humor was average at best, and it took way, way too long to get to any action and suspense. By halfway through, I can imagine most of the audience in the theater half asleep.Being a fan of classic films, especially during the 1990s when I couldn't watch enough of these old movies, I was pumped up to see a film starring Joan Crawford, Fred MacMurray, Conrad Veidt, Basil Rathbone and Reginald Owen. That's some cast. But this story is just plain ludicrous. Do they honestly believe the British Foreign Office and newlywed and her husband - with no experience - to go inside Nazi Germany and be an effective spy?Well, maybe that's where the humor came in, but it's "Thin Man" quality and Crawford and MacMurray, although fine actors, are no Myrna Loy and William Powell in playing these kind of roles. The "Thin Man" movies had far more sophistication than this film. No, this just doesn't cut it in any aspect: humor, suspense or credibility.

If you like the kind of spy-romance yarns spun out by Hollywood in the 1940s--the kind with tongue-in-cheek dialogue that lets you know you're not supposed to take any of it too seriously--you'll enjoy this amusing, yet suspenseful film in which Conrad Veidt plays a "nice guy" for a change. Honeymooners Joan Crawford and Fred MacMurray are asked by British intelligence to do some spying while on their European jaunt. The agreeable pair go along with a plan that has them on the trail of an agent and in and out of dangerous situations as they are pursued by Basil Rathbone, chilling as usual as a Nazi. Good entertainment with some amusing dialogue and light-hearted performances by Joan and Fred that indicate they should have been teamed more than once. As it is, this is Joan Crawford's last film at Metro after seventeen years with the studio and comes just two years before "Mildred Pierce" at Warners. Good cast and fine production values make it an absorbing treat.