joe-pearce-1 I think this film is a lot more enjoyable than did almost any of the other reviewers. They say the Russell character is annoying, and some even seem to blame it on the actress, rather than on the script, with one even claiming that she tries to steal the film from Powell. If you don't like it, blame the writer(s), but not the performers. I had never heard of this film before, had no knowledge that Russell was put into it as a Loy substitute or as a possible threat to Loy's status at MGM, yet almost the first thing that hit me about the film while watching it is what an excellent Nora Charles Rosalind Russell would have made. Up to the point of seeing this film, I had never even thought of anyone measuring up to Loy in that role, but Russell might well have done so. The character may be objectionable to some viewers, but the performance is perfect for what is being asked of her. Powell, of course, is standing on the top of Mount Everest in a role like this; nobody could ever touch him. But the whole cast is very good, most especially Binnie Barnes, who even only two years after THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY VIII, has already done a marvelous job of shedding her British accent, but we're so used to her as a fairly high-comedienne that it comes as a surprise to see her here as a somewhat sympathetic-but-still-ruthless villainess, and she's really quite perfect (as she had been as Henry's last choppee!). I thought this a most enjoyable film throughout, mainly for the performances, true, but also for its lightness of touch.

JohnHowardReid I was going to give Rosalind Russell a thorough going over for her ridiculously heavy-handed performance in this espionage comedy-drama, but I see that the role was actually designed for Myrna Loy and that Russell was assigned at the very last moment when Loy went on strike. Anyway, Roz manages to throw the film way off balance. Incompetent direction doesn't help either, though once again, it's only Russell's scenes (of which there are many) that are incompetently handled. At some stage Sam Wood was brought into the film, but if he handled any of Russell's scenes he obviously had no more success in inducing her to tone down and stop trying to steal the movie from Powell. As for Powell, he doesn't bother to compete with Russell's aggressive scene-stealing. The rest of the movie is pretty suspenseful with some good performances from Binnie Barnes and Samuel S. Hinds. Production values are extremely lavish, even by MGM's over-the-top standards.

MartinHafer During WWII, this film was remade as PACIFIC RENDEZVOUS---a perfectly dreadful film due to one glaringly bad performance. While RENDEZVOUS is certainly better than this remake, it, too, suffers from a glaringly bad performance.In both films, you have almost two films within a film. The first is a rather exciting yarn about cryptography and an effort to smash a German wartime spy ring. The second involves an unnecessary plot with the leading character falling in love with a "kooky" girlfriend who always seems to be blundering into trouble. This combination of a serious spy story and a fluff piece just didn't work. It was very bad in this film--it was even worse in PACIFIC RENDEZVOUS. What made it bad here wasn't just the character, but that they did this with Rosalind Russell--a good actress who deserved so much better. Well, now that I think about it, leading man William Powell certainly deserved better as well. Think about it Powell and Russell and yet they still managed to make a mediocre film!

Arthur Hausner Meddlesome Rosalind Russell is positively grating in her first star billing, continually disrupting the flow of the plot and detracting from my enjoyment of the action. What idiot would spike the coffee of the chief cryptographer with sleeping pills in the midst of his trying to decode a secret enemy message with the lives of thousands of American troops hanging in the balance? "I was just trying to get you to get some sleep," was her meek response after the damage was done. And she continually does things like that! I suppose it was meant for comedy relief, but it didn't work for me. What was enjoyable was the persistent and methodical decoding methods used before computers were invented, and the follow-up in the effort to break a German spy ring, including an exciting but improbable ending. William Powell gives his usual wonderful charismatic performance, with Binnie Barnes also excellent as the femme fatale German spy and Cesar Romero very convincing as her accomplice. All other acting was uniformly good, but why was English-accented Henry Stephenson cast as a Russian ambassador?Based on a book by Herbert O. Yardley, who was the head of the U.S. Secret Service during WWI, the film has an air of authenticity.