Stamboul Quest

Stamboul Quest is a 1934 spy film set in World War I starring Myrna Loy and George Brent.

Plot

In 1915 Berlin, the German high command is worried about ally Turkey. Recent British attacks on the vital Dardanelles shows signs of inside knowledge. Von Sturm (Lionel Atwill), the head of German intelligence, is ordered to find out if Ali Bey (C. Henry Gordon), the Turkish commander of the region, is the traitor.

As his best agent has not been heard from in several weeks, von Sturm assigns Kruger (an uncredited Leo G. Carroll) the task. Shortly afterwards, Annemarie (Myrna Loy), known by the code name "Fräulein Doktor", returns after completing her mission. She also informs von Sturm that fellow spy Mata Hari has fallen in love and therefore can no longer be trusted. She recommends that an incriminating message be sent using a code that she knows has been broken by the Allies. In addition, she uncovers Kruger as a British double agent known as K-6.

When Kruger is arrested at his dentist contact's office, another patient, American medical student Douglas Beall (George Brent), is also taken into custody, though he is later released. Just to be sure though, von Sturm orders Annemarie to make sure Beall is innocent. She arranges to be rescued from an unwanted "suitor" by Beall, who invites her to his hotel suite. During the course of the evening, he confesses he has fallen in love with her, now going by the name Helena Bohlen. Helena is attracted to him, but when she reads a coded message from von Sturm informing her that he has taken her advice regarding Mata Hari, she abruptly leaves.

Beall persists however. When Helena boards the train to Constantinople, he follows her on the spur of the moment and continues courting her, despite her half-hearted attempts to discourage him. Her assistant Karl (Rudolph Anders) watches with growing concern. As they near the Turkish border, she orders Karl to return to Germany so Beall can use his visa.

To answer Beall's persistent questions, Helena has to admit she is a German spy. This has no effect on his love. Meanwhile, she attracts Ali Bey with her beauty. When she accepts his invitation to dinner, she poses as British agent K-6 and negotiates for vital information. To gain his trust, she arranges for Beall to be framed as a spy by von Sturm (who has arrived after becoming concerned by Karl's reports) and supposedly executed by firing squad, though a French prisoner is to be substituted. His suspicions (and jealousy) allayed, Ali Bey compromises himself and is arrested by his Turkish superiors.

When von Sturm admits that he was unable to make the switch and that Beall really was shot, Helena loses her sanity and is confined in a nunnery. Refusing to accept the truth, she expects her lover to find her and take her away. It turns out that von Sturm had lied in an attempt to avoid losing his best agent. He had not dared to risk antagonizing a then-neutral America. In the final scene, Helena is reunited with Beall.

Cast

• Myrna Loy as Annemarie, aka Fräulein Doktor and Helena Bohlen
• George Brent as Douglas Beall
• Lionel Atwill as von Sturm
• C. Henry Gordon as Ali Bey
• Rudolph Anders as Karl
• Mischa Auer as Ameel Roberts, Ali Bey's assistant

See also

Other films about this German spy:

• Mademoiselle Docteur (aka Salonique nid d’espions) (1936) – G.W. Pabst
• Under Secret Orders (1937) – Edmond T. Gréville
• Fräulein Doktor (1969)

External links

• Stamboul Quest at the Internet Movie Database
• Stamboul Quest at the TCM Movie Database
• Stamboul Quest at allmovie