A good cast scrambles to try to make sense of this dark espionage drama dealing with the sale of ships to evil foreign powers. Being pre-war America, it never really states the name of those countries, but it is obvious through the casting (and a bit of knowledge of other anti-Nazi films) which countries they are. J. Edward Bromberg gives a complex, disturbing performance as the ship manufacturer, always seemingly on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and it is fascinating to watch him implode.
Osa Massen, best known for getting the Joan Crawford slapdown in "A Woman's Face", plays his confused wife, alternately cheerful and perplexed, and thus has an interesting well rounded character to play. The third billed William Wright is the real lead, pulled out of skid row by his former military commander for the secret mission of discovering who is behind the sale of these ships. His leading lady is the pretty but ultra obscure Margaret Tallachet who gets a few amusing lines, especially when seen with Massen who apparently once was involved with Wright. The presence of character actor Martin Kosleck indicates a Nazi connection, as do several minor supporting players with harsh German accents. I tried watching this twice back to back to understand the motivations and structure, but even after the second viewing, came to the conclusion that I could watch this a dozen times and still be frustrated over how ridiculously convoluted this is.
Osa Massen, best known for getting the Joan Crawford slapdown in "A Woman's Face", plays his confused wife, alternately cheerful and perplexed, and thus has an interesting well rounded character to play. The third billed William Wright is the real lead, pulled out of skid row by his former military commander for the secret mission of discovering who is behind the sale of these ships. His leading lady is the pretty but ultra obscure Margaret Tallachet who gets a few amusing lines, especially when seen with Massen who apparently once was involved with Wright. The presence of character actor Martin Kosleck indicates a Nazi connection, as do several minor supporting players with harsh German accents. I tried watching this twice back to back to understand the motivations and structure, but even after the second viewing, came to the conclusion that I could watch this a dozen times and still be frustrated over how ridiculously convoluted this is.
