George Brent and Basil Rathbone working together to debunk a Nazi sabotage enterprise to stop American help from going to England in the beginning of the war (before Pearl Harbour),being both intrigued by that lovely Hungarian singer Ilona Massey, who in the film is a Norwegian called Carla Nillson, but all her lovely songs are in Hungarian. It's actually the music which is the best in this film, beautifully composed and mainly arranged on classical pieces by Chopin and Liszt, but Ilona Massey's voice is really a wonder of beauty, like all her acting and appearance. This was before Basil Rathbone was established as the ultimate Sherlock Holmes, but George Brent is always completely reliable, whether as a hero or as a villain, but usually he was quite normal, as he is here. Of course, you could question the espionage technique going on here, appearing to be extremely advanced, but turning music into a system of code is rather far-fetched, although most intriguing and attractive, especially as the music is glorious indeed all the way through. Great entertainment with even some excitement and a few murders on the way, but of course, Ilona Massey as an international lady of exceeding culture, beauty and integrity objects from the start to any murders done for the cause.

What a pleasant surprise to accidentally tune in to this movie on late night television, a film totally unknown to me.

Ilona Massey is the sophisticated spy, Carla Nillson, in this suspenseful drama who succeeds in subtle deceptions throughout by camouflaging her real identity behind her singing engagements and exquisite good looks, a beauty that ordinarily puts her beyond suspicion. But it doesn't last. George Brent (as Tim Hanley) and Basil Rathbone (as Reggie Oliver) are federal agents who become alerted to her actions and pursue the trail of her activities.

She displays a beautiful singing voice in a few instances. It's quite ingenious of her as a spy to pass on messages of important information through her singing in a foreign language for radio broadcast during an evening soirée. Her sheet music subsequently comes under considerable scrutiny, something about sabotage, etc. and is painstakingly dissected to break the code. And so the story unfolds. Eventually she is suspected of serious incriminating activity and must face the consequences.

Ah, to be blonde and beautiful! I remember as a youngster seeing her in a comedy film where she was walking on an elevated fence wall with the wind blowing her evening gown seductively. I always thought of her as surrounded in mystery, such are the memories of a young mind.

George Brent as always plays the suave romantic lead, attentive and caring. And leave it to Basil Rathbone to get caught up in the intrigue firsthand! It's nice to see a youngish Gene Lockhart, here as Sidney Grenner, involved in the plotting and scheming.

The story does hold one's attention to the end, wondering how it will be resolved. All in all, a very good early movie prior to the onset of the war films that followed. Well worth watching.

I can only wonder why they don't have this available on video. It would be great to have it in one's collection.

Director: TIM WHELAN. Screenplay: Howard Estabrook. Original screen story: E. Lloyd Sheldon and Jack DeWitt. Photo¬graphy: Hal Mohr. Supervising film editor: Grant Whytock. Film editor: William Claxton. Music composed by Lucien Moraweck, directed by Lud Gluskin. Art director: John DuCasse Schulze. Set decorator: Edward G. Boyle. Costumes: Gwen Wakeling. Production manager: Max Golden. Assistant director: Sam Nelson. Sound editor: T.K. Wood. Sound recording: Earl Sitar. Western Electric Sound System. Associate Producer: Stanley Logan. Producer: Edward Small.

Copyright 24 September 1941 by Edward Small Productions, Inc. Released through United Artists. Presented by Edward Small. New York opening at Loew's Criterion: 10 November 1941. U.S. release: 16 October 1941. Australian release: 22 January 1942. 9,209 feet. 102 minutes.

COMMENT: Even contemporary critics regarded these spy highjinks as utter nonsense, but International Lady is a fun picture all the same. Just look at that cast! Admittedly George Brent is stiff as a board, but the rest of the players have a grand time. Ilona Massey is delightfully seductive as a spy with flair, attended by a marvelous gallery of acolytes including Gene Lockhart's suavely vicious millionaire, George Zucco's sinister butler-in-disguise and Martin Kosleck's ruthlessly over-cautious contact man.

Basil Rathbone also has a made-to-order part, complete with a clever disguise that fooled even me! True, the dialogue is often cliched and the pace - particularly in the early stages - somewhat slow. But the players (and production values) make such considerable headway against the sticky currents of comic-book plotting, that watching even the most superficial or laughably impossible of these proceedings is a delightful way to spend 102 minutes.

Production values are amazingly lavish. Director Whelan makes the most of some numblingly large and enormously atmospheric sets (superbly lit by ace photographer Hal Mohr) stretching from a realistically bombarded street scene in the London blitz to a toweringly cobwebbed granary over the Canadian border.

Despite the critical thumbs-down, International Lady was quite successful at the boxoffice. If fans had any complaint, it wasn't the silliness of the story but the fact that the requirements of the plot both curtailed and constrained Miss Massey's singing. Never mind, that plot did give her the opportunity to slink around in some appealingly exotic Gwen Wakeling gowns. You can't have everything.