Passport to Suez

Passport to Suez
Directed by André De Toth
Produced by Wallace MacDonald
Written by Alden Nash (story)
John Stone
Starring Warren William
Ann Savage
Eric Blore
Production
company
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
  • August 19, 1943 (1943-08-19)
Running time
 72 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Passport to Suez (1943) is the tenth film in the Lone Wolf series, the last to star Warren William as the character. The Lone Wolf battles Nazi spies in Egypt in an arcane and less than credible narrative.

Plot

Michael Lanyard (Warren William), the Lone Wolf, agrees to go to Alexandria to help the Allied cause during World War II. There, he and his valet, Llewellyn Jameson (Eric Blore), are met by his old friend, nightclub owner Johnny Booth (Sheldon Leonard).

Fritz (Lloyd Bridges) comes to drive him, supposedly to see Sir Robert Wembley, head of the British secret service in the region. However, he is actually taken to meet Karl (Gavin Muir), the leader of a Nazi spy ring. Karl threatens to kill Jameson (whom he has kidnapped) unless Lanyard does some as yet unspecified work for him. When Lanyard reluctantly agrees, the two men are released. After they leave, Karl reveals to Fritz that he expects the Lone Wolf to try to trap him, but that is all part of his plan. When Lanyard meets with Wembley, the spymaster makes clear that he does not want an amateur's help, but reluctantly agrees to let the Lone Wolf play along in order to gather more information.

Complicating matters further, Lanyard and Jameson encounter the latter's son Donald, a British naval officer, and his fiancée, reporter Valerie King (Ann Savage) in Booth's nightclub. Lanyard soon suspects that she is not all she appears to be. In Booth's private office, he also meets freelance spies or informers (more or less on friendly terms with Booth), who call themselves "Rembrandt" and "Cezanne" (Jay Novello). Cézanne shows him that the lace King was knitting contains a secret message. When the two spies leave, Rembrandt shoots Cézanne; he dies in front of the nightclub, at King's feet.

When King returns to her hotel room, Karl is waiting for her. She is one of his agents, currently extracting information from Donald for their real goal: the plans for the minefields and defences of the Suez Canal.

Meanwhile, the Lone Wolf is approached by "Whistler" (Sig Arno), yet another unscrupulous man with information to sell. Whistler sells him lace that King had sent to a laundry; the hidden message indicates that whatever the Nazis plan to do is to be finished by midnight.

Karl visits Lanyard and gives him his assignment: break into a safe at British Intelligence and steal some documents. However, it eventually becomes clear to all that Lanyard's part is merely a distraction. The plans have already been stolen. Wembley orders the arrest of the Lone Wolf for treason, but Lanyard escapes.

He and Jameson head for the laundry. Along the way, they come upon the unconscious Donald. They revive him and take him along. Inside, they find secret rooms and overpower Karl. They also discover the body of Whistler and a clue, shards of a distinctive watch crystal, just like the one King has, microfilming equipment, and ashes of the defence plans. Lanyard deduces that the plans have been transferred to King's watch. When she telephones, Lanyard pretends to be Karl and learns that she is at the hotel. Before they get there, however, Rembrandt kills her and takes the watch to Karl.

Fortunately, Booth has an airplane with machine guns. Lanyard pilots it, finds the speeding car taking Karl and Rembrandt to the submarine, and guns them both down.

Cast

External links

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