Love Under Fire
Cast & Crew
George Marshall
Loretta Young
Don Ameche
Borrah Minevitch And His Gang
Frances Drake
Walter Catlett
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Tracy Egan, an English vacationer, meets Myra Cooper, an attractive Englishwoman, on a train from Paris to Madrid. At the Hotel Nacional, they have dinner and go dancing, and by the end of a romantic evening, plan to continue seeing each other. When Tracy returns to his room, however, he gets a call from Scotland Yard, where he works, and learns that Myra is suspected of having stolen a pearl necklace from Lady Cumber, the woman for whom she told him that she worked. As gunshots and explosions from the ongoing civil war erupt, Myra enters Tracy's room and rushes into his arms. When Tracy asks her about the pearls, she says that she didn't steal them. Meanwhile, General Montero castigates his subordinate, Lieutenant Chavez, for losing the Paralta necklace, one of the most valuable collections of jewels in the world, with which the general hoped to raise money for his army. He orders Chavez to be shot, but Chavez escapes. Impersonating a waiter, Chavez interrupts Tracy and Myra, and after Tracy leaves the room to arrange for a car to take him and Myra to the airport, Myra, realizing that Chavez is not a waiter, makes a pact with him to escape. When Tracy returns, Myra tricks him into drinking from a bottle that she has drugged. Chavez then demands the pearls from Myra and explains he learned that a young Englishwoman recently called for the safe deposit box in which they were kept. The military escort whom Tracy called then arrives, and Chavez, wearing Tracy's clothes, goes with Myra into a car in which another Englishwoman, Pamela Beaumont, is waiting. At the airport, Captain Delmar, on orders from General Montero, has his men fire on an airplane that is attempting to land. On its descent, the plane hits the car carrying Myra, Chavez and Pamela, and as Pamela gets out of the car, Myra takes the necklace from Pamela's opened purse. When Tracy arrives at the airport, Delmar orders him to be shot until Myra reveals that Chavez is the impostor. Chavez then pulls a gun and, taking Pamela's purse, escapes. Pamela reveals to Tracy that she is an agent sent to get the jewels and escapes with him and Myra in a plane. Chavez is apprehended, but he gets General Montero on the phone to vouch for him. Delmar then tries to have the plane carrying Tracy, Myra and Pamela shot down, but it survives a hit, and the three board a British ocean liner. Meanwhile, Chavez is given a chance by Montero to retrieve the jewels. On the boat, Myra confesses to Tracy that she did not take the jewels until she read in the newspaper that she was accused of the crime, whereupon she panicked and ran. Although Tracy believes her, he says that it is still his duty to take her back to England. She then angrily takes the pearls from him and says that she will use them to buy the boat in order to keep her freedom, but after they both confess their love for each other, she returns the pearls to Pamela. Chavez and his men then board the ship from a gunboat and threaten to blow up the boat unless they give him the necklace. Upset that Tracy is too honest and will see that she will go to prison even though he loves her, she tells Chavez that Pamela has the pearls in exchange for his guarantee of complete safety for her. After Chavez retrieves them, Tracy forces him at gunpoint to leave without Myra. Myra is irate, until Pamela reveals that Tracy saved her life because the necklace Chavez took was a fake and that she still has the real necklace. Myra apologizes to Tracy, who vows to quit the service so that they can escape together. After Chavez shows the jewels to Montero, the general promotes him to brigadier general, but when the jewels are discovered to be worthless replicas, Montero says that it will be a pleasure to shoot Chavez himself. Back on the ship, Myra tells Tracy that she realizes that she must go back to England and stand trial. He then reveals that the moment he saw the second set of jewels, he knew that they also were fakes and then realized that Lady Cumber was trying to cash in on her insurance policy and that Myra could not be prosecuted because she stole worthless jewels. Although Myra berates him for leading her on, her protestations end in a kiss.
Director
George Marshall
Cast
Loretta Young
Don Ameche
Borrah Minevitch And His Gang
Frances Drake
Walter Catlett
John Carradine
Sig Rumann
Harold Huber
Katherine De Mille
E. E. Clive
Don Alvarado
Georges Renavent
Clyde Cook
George Regas
Claude King
Francis Mcdonald
David Clyde
Egon Brecher
Juan Torena
Holmes Herbert
George Humbert
Martín Garralaga
Raoul Lechuga
John Bleifer
Demetris Emanuel
Art Dupuis
Jose Luis Tortosa
Victor Lewis
Tony Merlo
Alfonso Pedroza
Frank Leyva
Paul Ellis
Manuel Peluffo
Julian Rivero
Francesco Maran
Carlos Montalbán
Gennaro Curci
Louis Mercier
Franco Corsaro
Agostino Borgato
Alphonse Martell
Crew
Joseph Aiken
Harry Brand
Gene Fowler
Roger Heman
Nunnally Johnson
Arthur Lange
Jack Lawrence
Thomas Little
George Marshall
Booth Mccracken
Barbara Mclean
Ernest Palmer
Ernest Pascal
Samuel Pokrass
Allen Rivkin
Rudolph Sternad
Gwen Wakeling
Darryl F. Zanuck
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles of this film were Fandango and Spanish Fandango. According to Los Angeles Examiner, Darryl Zanuck purchased the play as it was in its eleventh week on the London stage. In correspondence in the files for this film in the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library, Joseph Breen, Director of the PCA, objected to the portrayal in the final script of the Spanish officers as insurgents, buffoons and villains, based on the provision of the Production Code which states, "The history, institutions, prominent people and citizenry of other nations shall be represented fairly." Breen insisted that the references "to Loyalists, Rebels, or anything that would give your picture a partisan flavor" should be omitted, and for the studio to change the portrayal of the officers "so as to play them as straight military officers, going about their duty without any attempt to either poke fun at them or to show them as cold-blooded murderers." Specifically, the actions objected to by Breen in this script included the terrifying and murdering of harmless citizens, a radio announcer and a mayor by soldiers, and the sadistic portrayal of the "Captain Delmar" character. Breen also insisted that the studio "Modify the line 'Keep your pecker up.'" According to studio publicity, some scenes were shot seven miles off San Pedro, CA harbor. After principal shooting was completed, the film was put back into production for revisions and additional scenes, according to information in the PCA files and news items. According to a Hollywood Reporter news item, John Carradine replaced Peter Lorre in the role of "Delmar" due to Lorre's recuperation from an illness. Joseph Schildkraut is listed as a cast member in Hollywood Reporter production charts, but his participation in the final film is doubtful.
