Conspirator (1949 film)
Conspirator | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Victor Saville |
Produced by | Arthur Hornblow Jr. |
Written by | Sally Benson Gerard Fairlie |
Screenplay by | Sally Benson |
Based on | Conspirator by Humphrey Slater |
Starring | <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/> |
Music by | John Wooldridge |
Cinematography | Freddie Young |
Edited by | Frank Clarke |
Production
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Distributed by | MGM |
Release dates
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Running time
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87 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | $1,832,000[1] |
Box office | $1,591,000[1] |
Conspirator is a 1949 British thriller film directed by Victor Saville and starring Robert Taylor and Elizabeth Taylor. Based on the 1948 novel Conspirator by Humphrey Slater, the film is about a beautiful eighteen-year-old American woman who meets and falls in love with a British Guards officer who turns out to be a spy for the Soviet Union. After they are married, she discovers his true identity and forces him to choose between his marriage and his ideology. When his Soviet handlers order him to murder his young American wife, he is faced with the ultimate choice. Conspirator was made for distribution by MGM.
The film created some controversy over the age difference between Robert Taylor, who was in his late thirties, and Elizabeth Taylor, who was only sixteen at the time of production. The producers were careful to cut mentions in the film of British traitors during the Second World War, such as John Amery and Norman Baillie-Stewart, out of fear of litigation by their families.[2] An indirect mention of Baillie-Stewart remained in the film, however, with him being referred to not by name, but simply as "that fellow in the Tower". The plot of the film also bore some similarities to the later case of the Cambridge Spies, including Donald MacLean.
Contents
Cast
- Robert Taylor as Major Michael Curragh
- Elizabeth Taylor as Melinda Greyton
- Robert Flemyng as Captain Hugh Ladholme
- Harold Warrender as Colonel Hammerbrook
- Honor Blackman as Joyce
- Marjorie Fielding as Aunt Jessica
- Thora Hird as Broaders
- Wilfrid Hyde-White as Lord Pennistone
- Marie Ney as Lady Pennistone
- Jack Allen as Raglan
- Helen Haye as Lady Witheringham
- Cicely Paget-Bowman as Mrs Hammerbrook
- Karel Stepanek as Radek
- Nicholas Bruce as Alek
- Cyril Smith as Detective Inspector
- Janette Scott as Toby
Reception
According to MGM records the film earned $859,000 in the US and Canada and $732,000 overseas, resulting in a loss to the studio of $804,000.[1]
References
- Citations
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- Bibliography
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External links
- Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). Conspirator at IMDb
- Conspirator at the TCM Movie Database
- Conspirator at AllMovie
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- Pages with reference errors
- Use dmy dates from May 2016
- Use British English from May 2016
- 1949 films
- English-language films
- Film articles using image size parameter
- 1940s thriller films
- British films
- British spy films
- Cold War spy films
- Films directed by Victor Saville
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
- 1940s British film stubs
- Thriller film stubs
- British black-and-white films