Michael_Elliott Passport to Suez (1943) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Warren William is back as Michael Lanyard, aka The Lone Wolf, in his final entry in the series. This time out he's taking on a group of Nazis who decide to send him on a wild goose chase while they take care of the business they're really wanting to do and that's disable the Suez Canal. PASSPORT TO SUEZ isn't the best film in the Columbia series but I think there are enough good moments to where fans should remain entertained from start to finish. As with the previous entries, the main reason to watch the film is for the performance of William who was clearly in top form by this time in the series. As usual he has that cool, laid back style that works perfectly well for the material and he has no trouble bringing everything to life. Sheldon Leonard is pretty good in his part of the nightclub owner (a clear rip of CASABLANCA) and Eric Blore is back as the valet. We even have Lloyd Bridges showing up in the series yet again and playing yet another different character. The direction for the most part is pretty good as we get some nice style along the way and visually the film is quite good as well.

bkoganbing With a long bow to Casablanca Warren William as Michael Lanyard The Lone Wolf gets an espionage assignment of which we're never quite sure because the Nazis capture him and valet Eric Blore.William has joined the war effort and the bad guys try to decoy him and the British authorities away from their actual purpose which is to bomb and disable the Suez Canal, lifeline of the British Empire. They've recruited no one less than Blore's daughter-in-law to be Ann Savage as one cool spy. Is there no end to their scheming?The film is set in Alexandria and it tries to be a cut rate Casablanca with Sheldon Leonard as nightclub owner Johnny who runs a café like Rick's where intrigue is an appetizer on the menu. Leonard usually a villain, is William's stalwart friend as the spies come real close to making a fool out of him.This was the last of Warren William's films starring him as the Lone Wolf. But the best was definitely not saved for last.

sol **SPOILERS** The "Lone Wolf" Michael Lanyard, Warren William, does his bit here in "Passport to Suez" for the allied, or good guys, cause. Lanyard prevents a plot by the Nazis to take over the rich oil fields in the Middle and Far East in an elaborately planned Pearl Harbor-like sneak attack.It's the Nazis plan to make a back door attack from the North on the Iraq Iran oil fields by invading natural Turkey! Thus outflanking the British 8th Army who's holding off Rommel's Afrika Corps at the Egyptian border in the South. The one thing that can make the Nazi plan successful is getting vital information on where the British 8th Army's armored and infantry units are stationed on the Egyptian/Libyan battlefront. Even more important is to get their hands on the layout-or map-of the minefields that the British had planted in the Western Desert in order to prevent an 8th Army counter-attack!Called on a secret mission to Alexandria Egypt by top British counter espionage man Sir. Robert, Frederick Warlock, Lanyard and his good friend the bumbling Bozo-like Jameson, Eric Blore, are told that the Nazi's plans for the conquest of the Mddle and Near-East will go into effect as soon as they get their hands on the secret plans, of British troop movements and minefield layouts, from the British Naval Admiralty in the city. It becomes very obvious to Lanyard that there's a Nazi spy, or spies, high up in the British foreign office here in Egypt! It's only later that Lanyard finds out that the spy is a lot closer to both him and Jameson then he could have ever thought!Somewhat more exciting "Lone Wolf" movie then what you would have expected with the smooth as silk and brainy Lanyard using his fists in him throwing devastatingly short left hooks, that could floor a Joe Louis or Billy Cann, instead of his wits to take on a gang of Nazi spies. Lanyard also gets to show off his flying skills by hopping on a WWI biplane and chasing and finally gunning down the fleeing Nazis. That's before they can make it back to preordained spot outside Alexandria Harbor, with the secret plans they stole from the British Admiralty, and be rescued by an awaiting German U-Boat.***SPOILERS*** It was the Nazis sinister plan to get to Jameson's son British Naval Officer Donald Jameson's, Robert Stanford, to unknowingly have him get the secret plans for them. Using Nazi Agent Valerie King, Ann Savage, posing as a British foreign correspondent to get romantically involved with Donald worked up to a point until Lanyard smelled a rat in their not so perfect "Perfect Plan": Valerie's forged passport!Knowing that time is very short with the Nazis about to put their invasion plans into action Lanyard together with Jameson now made to look by the Nazis as being in bed with them, due to young Jameson affair with Nazi spy Valerie King, have to work fast before the sh*t, the Nazi invasion, hits the fan! Lanyard & Jameson have to prevent not just the Nazis, who set them up, from carrying out their invasion plans but also keep the British Army, who have been given orders to shoot on sight, from shooting the two for being Nazi spies!

dexter-10 The importance of the Suez Canal in World War II cannot be overstated, except in this movie where it seems grossly understated. Correspondent/spy Valerie Blore (as played by Ann Savage) correctly appraised the situation when she says: "Whoever wins Africa wins the war." The Suez Canal was pivotal to the shipping of petroleum from the oil rich nations to Germany, which required fuel both for production and for keeping its armor moving and its airplanes flying. Control of North Africa meant control of the Suez. Even more so, it would solidify the grandiose plan of physically linking Japan with Germany, a plan not likely to be effectuated. Still, this movie loosely addresses the problem of Axis control if certain secret information is leaked to the enemy.As a film, if never quite stresses danger, with most of the action related to incidental elements: the engagement of Donald Jameson (Robert Stanford) to Valerie King, the bar owned by Johnny Booth (Sheldon Leonard), and the silly activities of the three counted-spies, whose movie names just happen to be Whistler, Rembrandt, and Cezanne. Most of the time the acting seems preoccupied with something other than what is happening. All in all, it seems a typical Lone Wolf movie where the danger of a nazi submarine lurking to get secret information is only slightly more important than the flowers in the hotel room. A major saving grace for this film is the acting of Eric Blore (as Jameson) who putters around as a sort of mini Winston Churchill.