CONSPIRATOR (MGM 1949) Warner Archive Collection

The outset of Elizabeth Taylor’s foray into adult-themed picture-making was fraught with artistic ambiguities. Fair enough, most teenagers go through their ‘ugly period’ before childhood gives way to the burgeoning features of youthful attractiveness. Miraculously, Taylor never went through this period, transitioning from an absolutely stunning, violet-eyed child star to an even more astonishingly handsome young lady. The difficulty therefore was not in Taylor’s screen presence, but in the roles being offered at MGM to make the transition from kid to culture stick as it should.  Prior to WWII, Louis B. Mayer - then head of MGM - solidified a joint Anglo-American alliance that basically served a twofold purpose for his studio. On the one hand, it made the British pool of talent readily available for his talent scouts to sign, mine, and, thereby cross over to international fame and fortune - as was the case with discoveries like Greer Garson. On the other, it afforded MGM a distribution apparatus in England where American directors could utilize skilled trades to make their product overseas with American stars in the leads on an infinitely cheaper pay scale.  With the onset of WWII, the British operation was suspended, resulting in a mass migration of British stars to the U.S. to continue their work.  For a brief period after the war, MGM resurrected its overseas operations to make movies in England. But it was no use. MGM and the world had moved on, and, shortly, the British studio would be rented out to British productions exclusively, with only the occasional picture made for MGM and released internationally thereafter.

From this latter output came Victor Saville's Conspirator (1949) a turgid spy caper with few thrills that seems, at least in hindsight, to illustrate the glaring awkwardness of Elizabeth Taylor's acting skills as she left behind her years as a child star to move into more adult melodrama. Production wise, the movie had much to recommend it, not the least, Freddie Young's evocative cinematography and Alfred Junge's production design, creating an atypically fog-laden and moody backdrop and atmosphere. The chief problem, however remained the story, so utterly stilted, it rarely rose beyond a level of rank mediocrity. Working from a fairly intriguing novel by Humphrey Slater, the screenplay by Sally Benson and Girard Fairlie made the least of every prime opportunity to challenge the viewer with chills, suspense and drama. What emerged instead was more a mannered comedy of errors between a would-be communist who cannot make up his mind whether to be a die hard 'red' or devote his life to the sultry young thing he has since made his bride.

Conspirator opens on a lavish Embassy ball where wallflowers Melinda Greyton (Elizabeth Taylor) and her good friend, Joyce (Honor Blackman) are patiently awaiting their first dance with some British officers. Melinda is an American staying with Joyce for an extended period. The two have become quite close in fact, enough for Melinda to be able to crawl into bed with Joyce after being inexplicably terrorized by a rather quaintly timed thunderstorm. At the party, Melinda is introduced to Maj. Michael Curragh (Robert Taylor in a rather fruitless attempt to resurrect his pre-war image as a dashing male pin-up for the post-war generation). Melinda is instantly smitten. Before long the two are inseparable, spending long hours in the tall grass along the Thames (very warm there), dreamy-eyed and haplessly in love. After incurring Melinda's wrath by leaving for a brief weekend retreat in the country to discuss his future with devoted Aunt Jessica (Marjorie Fielding), Michael proposes marriage to Melinda who - no kidding - accepts. However, their storybook ending is short-lived. Soon after being installed in Michael's fashionable home, Melinda begins to suspect her new husband may be having an affair. He inexplicably cancels dinner engagements and often skulks off into the night, only to return in the wee hours of the next morning. The truth, however, is much more sinister. It seems Michael is a communist sympathizer who is bleeding British intelligence secrets to his two contacts in the North Country - Alek (Nicholas Bruce) and Radek (Karl Stepanek). The secrets are smuggled in-between counterfeit British pound notes.

Exonerated of having an affair, Melinda learns the unholy truth about Michael's dealings with the communists after attempting to re-pay Michael's good friend, Capt. Hugh Ladholme (Robert Flemyng) for a birthday gift of some golf clubs with one of Michael's phony bills. Heartbroken, but nevertheless determined, Melinda gives Michael an ultimatum. He must choose between the communist party and her. The party, however, knows how to play hardball. They order Michael to murder his wife in order to silence her from exposing them. At a duck hunt, Michael does indeed take a pot shot at Melinda. Alas, his heart is not in it. She is superficially wounded and thereafter confides the truth about Michael's communist activities to Joyce, who swiftly alerts Hugh. A group of British officers and a Scotland Yard detective descend on Michael's home only to learn he has already committed suicide. To preserve the integrity of British Intelligence for the public at large, Hugh pleads with Melinda to make the official cause of Michael's death one of lovelorn depression - presumably because Michael had learned Melinda was going to leave him. For the sake of the British empire, Melinda willingly agrees.

Conspirator is a real heavy-handed affair, further bludgeoned in its sloppy editing by Frank Clarke, who literally cuts away, dissolves or interrupts various scenes right in the middle of dialogue to move the action forward. Robert Taylor is a poor choice here. As a man conflicted, he is wholly unsympathetic and tends to play his hand with the sort of devilish nonchalance that was good enough while his own good looks held out in those early feather-weight comedies one was apt to find him in during the war. Now, expected to carry the load as the ‘red’ menace of this puff piece, he instead stumbles, seemingly from a desire to maintain his ‘image’ as a leading man rather than the villain. Elizabeth Taylor spends much of her time as a petulant flirt, so utterly insecure and simpering she never makes us care about her character one way or the other. Undeniably, the eye-candy of this movie, Taylor’s acting leaves a hell of a lot to be desired and derails the suspense at every possible plot twist and turn. Neither Taylor is served best in this movie – a real/reel clunker.

Conspirator is part of the burn-on-demand Warner Archive Collection. As no restoration work has been performed on this deep catalog release, the B&W elements are about what one might expect. Age-related artifacts abound, but are not terribly obtrusive. The real distraction is 'breathing' of the image, with wavy lines of distortion glaringly distracting during darker scenes. As for the rest, the image can be rather sharp, with good contrast throughout. Transitions, fades and dissolves all exhibit temporarily advanced grain levels. The audio is Dolby Digtal 1.0 mono as originally recorded and adequate for this presentation. The only extra is a theatrical trailer. Not recommended!

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

2

VIDEO/AUDIO

2.5

EXTRAS

1