User Reviews

Elizabeth Taylor is a lovely, vibrant American woman who falls in love with older Communist spy Robert Taylor in "Conspirator," a British film that was Elizabeth Taylor's entry into adult stardom. She received her first screen kiss, in fact, from co-star Robert Taylor - not bad, but then, this is Elizabeth Taylor we're talking about.

The stars and supporting players (including a very young Honor Blackman) aren't the problem. For me the script and therefore the character actions are questionable. Elizabeth is supposed to be passionately in love with her new husband, as well as insecure and naive. On learning Taylor, a British officer, is a Communist, she grows up fast. We're told. We really don't see it, nor are we given an idea of how much time has passed to give her an opportunity to reach this new maturity. We're supposed to believe he was unable to stave her off with some tall story? Also, for a superficial young woman interested in redecorating her house, she certainly is suddenly a very committed patriot. As for Robert Taylor, a man who's been involved with the party for so many years would certainly have known the trouble he'd be in for failing to carry out orders and how bad it would look to beg for help and make excuses. Come on.

There's nothing wrong with the acting, and Elizabeth Taylor is dazzlingly beautiful, though in my opinion, it will be a couple of more years before her beauty truly is at its height. But she certainly performs her adult role well. Robert Taylor is appropriately dashing and menacing, with his widow's peak, something my mother always mentioned about him, in full prominence. They certainly made a beautiful couple. But in "Conspirator," alas, they're not meant to be.

Robert Taylor was always considered a handsome actor and not a great actor. In fact he was fascinating to watch in the few color Westerns and costume dramas that he did towards the end of his career.

"Conspirator" is an exceptional film that allowed him to be a dashing villain--somewhat like his roles in "Undercurrent" and as the anti-hero in "Ride, Vaquero". What was interesting to note some 53 years after the film was made was the undeniable fact that Robert Taylor stole the scenes from Elizabeth Taylor, who undeniably proved to be a great actress in later films in her Burton years.

The Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde format of the story allowed Taylor to give a glimpse of what he could do on screen even when the story of a bumbling spy who was a senior army officer insults the average moviegoers' intelligence.

In this Cold War suspense drama from MGM and director Victor Saville, Melinda (Elizabeth Taylor) falls in love at first sight with British military officer Major Michael Curragh (Robert Taylor). They are soon wed and she couldn't be happier, only Michael has a secret: he's a spy working with the Soviets to steal British military secrets. He struggles to keep his double life a secret, but Melinda is the inquisitive sort, and Michael's handlers aren't too happy with the situation.

This is one of the first post war movies to feature the Soviets as the villains, taking the place of the usual Nazis. I guess it's appropriate that staunch conservative Robert Taylor should star. He's not too awful, still stiff as a board as usual, but a little expressive at times. His style is reminiscent of the 1930's, with his super-slick hair and pencil mustache, which only adds to one issue with the movie: the age difference between he and Liz. Robert was 38 and Liz was all of 16 years old when this was filmed, although she has the poise of an older woman. I was surprised to see Honor Blackman, later of TV's The Avengers and James Bond fame. I wasn't really aware that she acted this far back, but she was older than I thought, too; she was 23 when this was filmed. As for the movie itself, it's not terrible, but not very memorable, either. An adequate time-waster.

While on vacation in England a young American woman (Elizabeth Taylor) meets and later marries a British military officer (Robert Taylor) who turns out to be a Soviet spy. He is too deeply in with the Soviets whose agents liked him better when he was single and instruct him to get rid of her. There is not much of a sense of peril generated, but the film develops a fair degree of tension when Elizabeth Taylor's character discovers the truth about her husband, as the Soviets warned him she would. The crux of the film seems to deal more with his emotional needs that conflict with his Marxist political ideals, though those ideals and the whole existence of being a spy and traitor to one cause while being coldly manipulated by agents of the other could have been done more convincingly (see The Spy Who Came In From The Cold) or one of Carol Reed's tortured espionage tinged films. Nonetheless, it's a pretty decent part for Robert Taylor while somewhat shortchanging Elizabeth's.

Excellent young adult performance by 18-year-old Elizabeth Taylor playing newlywed American living abroad whose soldier husband is up to no good: he's living a double life and is really a communist traitor! Underpopulated, underwritten melodrama does have one strong aspect: a surprisingly strong, spunky woman at the center of the story. Robert Taylor is solid as Taylor's 30-ish husband, but any psychological conflicts are not quick to come out (there is a tense duck-hunting scene where the couple runs into trouble, but it's just shucked off). Liz looks beautiful and gives a fairly complex portrayal here--her eyes glinting with suspicion and anger. The film isn't a classic, nor is it swill, but as a quickie product from MGM, it's probably better than it had to be. **1/2 from ****

Most of the anti-Communist films of the 1940s - 1950s are crap. No doubt about that. Thrown together they had preposterous plots emanating from the Kremlin to sap our national resources or strength. For example one film has Lee Marvin heading a major atomic spy ring outside a missile range from a hamburger/hash stand! The best films of the period dealing with communist threats were the science fiction films like THE THING or THEM wherein the monster was a symbol for the threat to Americans (from an "alien" source). Occasionally a semi-documentary might attract attention, but not much.

Oddly enough this early movie was somewhat above average. First it correctly looked at our wartime friend and partner England as a possible source of leakage. This turned out to be somewhat true (but the Rosenberg Case would soon show homegrown spy rings existed as well). Secondly it showed something usually ignored or rendered minor in most of these films. Here it is developed into the issue: who are you going to show greater loyalty to, the Communist Party or your naive spouse?

What I really like about CONSPIRATOR is that Robert Taylor plays the central figure - whom American and British audiences were to hiss at. He had tackled a few ambiguous characters before World War II, most notably William Bonney in BILLY THE KID (but that screenplay, like Darryl Zanuck's film of JESSIE JAMES, whitewashed a great deal of the bad out of the central character). But after the war MGM treated Taylor (now a seasoned leading star of theirs) to a wider variety of parts, including more villainous characters. Think of him in the somewhat earlier UNDERCURRENT with Kate Hepburn and Robert Mitchum. Both of these films could not have been made with Taylor in the 1930s.

I also sort of enjoy the idea that Taylor, a friendly, but sincere witness for the H.U.A.C subcommittee against Communist infiltration into the movie industry actually did this film. It is his only chance to show what he thought of a Communist agent, and his interpretation (and the screenplay's) show he saw them as naive fools.

Also it is the first time in his career that Taylor starred with the only female star of his rank (or higher) with the same last name: Elizabeth Taylor. Just leaving such films as NATIONAL VELVET, LITTLE WOMEN, and LIFE WITH FATHER, she finally came of age here as a young bride. In some ways I have always felt that Ms Taylor's glorious beauty was at a pristine height in films of the early 1950s like this one or FATHER OF THE BRIDE. Here she is in love with her dashing wartime hero husband, whom she gradually realizes is not as heroic (for England) as she thought (though he would disagree - witness his scene telling her about how he has joined one of the great causes of all time!).

The film follows their courtship, their marriage, and the discovery of his treason by her. The issue of course is whether or not he will be turned in by her, or will he love her enough to withstand pressure by his Kremlin bosses to (errr)...eradicate his error totally.

The film (as mentioned in another recent review) is above average. Taylor does play this English "Col. Redl" (of an earlier war, in a different country - but serving another Russia) as a man torn apart, but refusing to acknowledge his error of judgment. In fact his final decision puts to stop to any type of acknowledgment. The one flaw in this film is similar to the later, wretched ROGUE'S MARCH with Peter Lawford and Leo G. Carroll. The omnipotence of the British Secret Service in ferreting out traitors is shown at the tale-end. I may add that in 1949 that Secret Service (MR5) contained such "patriots" as Burgess, McClean, and Philby. Yeah they really would have been watching Taylor closely!

In her first adult role Elizabeth Taylor was all of 17 years old, but her co-star Robert Taylor who was a most discreet man when talking about his leading ladies, couldn't help but remark about how mature Liz was when they made this first of two films together.

Her youthfulness helped because in Conspirator the part called for Liz to be young and somewhat naive. She's not too much older in the film than her real age. And the role calls for the young American visitor to London, staying with Lord Wilfrid Hyde-White, Marie Ney, and their daughter Honor Blackman. At a ball Liz can't take her eyes off officer Robert Taylor as neither could half the American female population. In a whirlwind courtship they're married. Taylor is identified as 31 in the film and in fact he wasn't too much older, being 38 when he was making Conspirator.

Taylor had played British before, no one minded his distinct American speech pattern in Waterloo Bridge. And it's not a hindrance in Conspirator either.

Not long after they're married Liz discovers her husband has been a Communist agent for years. As for Bob his marriage did not meet with party approval and he takes heat for it. And when she threatens to turn him in, Bob's given a choice, it's Liz or the party.

Conspirator is a sincere anti-Communist film, not a piece of Cold War junk like some of what was coming out of studios like RKO. The film itself was prophetic because a few years later Donald MacLean and Guy Burgess would be caught and exposed, after that Kim Philby and long after he was dead Sir Anthony Blunt, the famous fourth man in that subversive ring.

The problem with Conspirator is the lack of definition of Robert Taylor's character, we get bits and pieces about an Irish mother, a forbidding English father stuff that might make him question loyalty to king and country. But it's never really fleshed out in the script and Taylor never got a handle on his character.

Liz however really shows the promise she had as an adult actress. Two years later she was in A Place In The Sun and after that her career was assured.

Honor Blackman, the future Pussy Galore, was five years older than Elizabeth Taylor, but had made far fewer films. She was only in the third year of a career that's still going strong. She also does a very good job as Liz's wise young friend who just happens to be keeping company with one of Taylor mess-mates Robert Flemyng.

Conspirator was shot over in MGM's British studio with its two American stars and a cast of players from the UK's cinema. A little more development on Robert Taylor's character and Conspirator could have been far better than it was.

This is as much a response to samhill5215's review of CONSPIRATOR as it is a review of the film itself. Sam Hill seems to think that paranoia about Soviet infiltration of the West was unjustified, even though around the same time this film was being made (1949) the Rosenbergs were selling nuclear secrets to the Russians and Philby was funneling intel to them from his perch over in England.

Sam wonders why Elizabeth Taylor's character -- who the film paints as being naive and apolitical -- would be rattled to discover that she'd married a Soviet spy. I wonder if Sam would be making the same observation if the time line were adjusted to World War II and Taylor had learned her husband was a Nazi.

I suppose it matters not to Sam that Mao and Stalin together killed approximately 94 million people.

94. Million.

Nine-four, Sam. Million. The number is beyond staggering. It defies belief.

Adolph Hitler, one of the most evil humans of the 20th century, was a piker by comparison.

But according to Sam, regardless of this kind of unprecedented barbarity, Liz's character was just a Silly Billy to care so much.

Unbelievable.

The movie itself is okay, but far from great. It's well photographed and professionally acted... the story is intriguing... but it all feels rather insubstantial, as if several important scenes were missing.

Perhaps it got butchered in the editing room.

Too bad. Like samhill's review.

Fans of early and obscure Elizabeth Taylor vehicles can't get much more obscure than this early cold-war drama set in 1949 London. As a Yank in postwar Britain, she meets and falls for another Taylor, Robert, dashing in his uniform. Once married, however, hubby grows secretive and borderline abusive, and is forever disappearing on mysterious nighttime errands. Playfully kibitzing, young Liz stumbles onto the truth that he's a Soviet operative, possibly the clumsiest and most careless ever. Orders come down that he must eliminate her.... About two-thirds of the way through, this tepid romance decides it's going to be a Suspicion-like thriller, and not a moment too soon. But it has its moments (the male Taylor covering his tracks as he takes the tube to an assignation, for instance) and reflects the rather restrained concerns of the British Empire in the wake of the Gouzenko defection in Ottawa in 1945.

It is hard to not want to see a film with such an interesting idea for a story like 'Conspirator' has. As well as that it had beautiful Elizabeth Taylor in an early role and Robert Taylor (a hit and miss actor for me, sometimes dull and overshadowed by the supporting cast but when he's in a good role he is good) in a role that sounded like it would be perfect for him. Love "classic" film and would watch anything from any genre from any decade regardless of critical reception and how well known it is, with no bias intended. And the genre 'Conspirator' fits under.

'Conspirator' turned out to be watchable with some great things, far from being a terrible film. Couldn't help feeling disappointed though and feeling that it should have been much better, considering what it had going for it. That sounds like a very tiresome cliche to say and put in a review, talking about potential wastes and being disappointed with so much promise but when you do feel that way it is hard not to say or write it. It doesn't deserve to be the relatively obscure film it is, with far worse films being more famous and in some instances more popular, but for me there is not enough to it for it to be better known and made more accessible.

The best assets are the two leads (both cast relatively against type), with Elizabeth Taylor smouldering and although she would go on to much better things later there are signs of her maturity showing here with her excelling in giving complexity. Robert Taylor shows the right amount of intensity and surprising sincerity for his role. Their chemistry does have its intriguing moments. The rest of the cast also do very well, with the most colourful of the lot being amusing Marjorie Fielding while Honor Blackman brings class to her character.

Furthermore, 'Conspirator' looks great. Especially the atmospheric and moody photography and shadowy and quite luminous lighting. There are fleeting moments of tension while the score complements well.

However, 'Conspirator' primarily suffers from a general lack of suspense and in need of a tauter pace because too much of it came over as dull and bland. The script also jumps around too much, is very bare bones development-wise (much more fleshing out was needed) and doesn't flow at all naturally, got the sense that there was more to the film filmed but not all of it was in the final product.

Despite the two Taylors, and the whole cast, faring well, the character writing, the refreshingly conflicted main character faring best and even he could have had more flesh, felt under-explored and not delved deeply enough and motivations not always having the clarity as ought. Would have liked more consistent chemistry between the two Taylors which would have helped in giving 'Conspirator' more tension. The direction is far from incompetent but is rather unremarkable, getting the job done with not enough spark.

Summarising, watchable but on the average mixed feelings side. 5/10 Bethany Cox

I hate the word "dated", because it can only sensibly apply to a work in which the characters or plot don't reflect the era.

So, actually, what most of the internet educated IMDb users claim to be "dated" are often the only films not "dated". "Dated" means watching a movie about Wyatt Earp, and getting the feeling he has played video games instead of thinking about local events.

Here, we have a film that is definitely not dated. It deals with a handsome Communist spy who has to work his dealings around his personal life.

Robert Taylor's character is very credible, and multi dimensional. If this movie was made by one of the beavis and buttheads of today, he'd simply kill everyone who coughed when he told a lie. Yes, you're right. This would mean the world population would be zero humans within a month, and it makes no sense.

Here, in "Conspirator", he is a real person, and so is his wife, who is onto him. In dramatic style, they still want to work their relationship, and honestly, this is what people do, when they find something out about each other. Real people don't murder each other each time they find out a secret about each other.

We're shown early that the pace of the film skips over minor details, which modern writers deem so important. In one sense, some would say that "dates" this film, since it is more plot oriented, more Shakespeare than Tennessee Williams. Intricacies aren't explored as much. We're given the story line and the story, and the length of the movie allows for that.

Is it completely perfect? I don't think so. However, the characters are more credible for the time than people today can handle, so it probably isn't safe to show friends. People will have a problem with the iconoclastic attitude towards today's "everyone is a psychotic killer" philosophy.

Melinda Greyton (Elizabeth Taylor) is visiting England from America and meets Major Michael Curragh (Robert Taylor) at a fancy ball. It's a case of love at first sight for both and they end up married. First you have to set aside the discomfort of the age difference between the two. Elizabeth was 17 when this was made (playing an 18 year old) and Robert was 38 (playing a 31 year old.) It's not really that much of a problem. There's no real scenes of intimacy - or even much of affection - between them, but you certainly notice it. The story revolves around Melinda becoming gradually suspicious of some of her new husband's activities and finally discovering that he's actually a communist, and a Soviet spy, feeding information to Moscow about British and American defence plans. The movie then deals with the consequences of her discovery for them both.

As spy capers go, it's not especially thrilling. It's actually rather slow paced, and the story itself isn't all that riveting. In the first half of the movie really all that we glean is that being a member of the Communist Party is a real drag on your personal life. But both Taylors put on performances that make it worth watching. Elizabeth - in what seems to have been her first "adult" role - did a fine job portraying Melinda's evolution from a naive and innocent young girl who's completely smitten by Curragh to a more worldly woman who's suspicious of and even frightened by Curragh. She had a much more illustrious career to come, but this certainly shows her potential as an actress. Robert was effective in showing what were essentially the two different sides of Curragh - the romantic and sometimes even playful man who fell so easily in love, and the hardened communist agent whose love for his young bride was second to his devotion to his ideology. Robert did a good job of showing Curragh as a man torn between those two loyalties and his portrayal of a communist agent was somewhat ironic, given that he himself was virulently anti-communist who helped out so-called "reds" in the movie business to the House Un-American Activities Committee.

"Conspirator" certainly isn't a classic spy film, but it does do a reasonably effective job of building (albeit somewhat slowly) to its eventual climax. (6/10)

ELIZABETH TAYLOR certainly grew up in a hurry. Her studio quickly took advantage of her blossoming beauty and at the ripe old age of 17 she was shipped off to London to star opposite the studio's big heartthrob ROBERT TAYLOR in a story about espionage (during the height of the cold-war in America).

The result was not exactly a smash, but at least their fans got to see them together playing husband and wife. Neither gives a really bad performance but there's just something not quite valid about the plot that has Liz discovering her hubby is a spy for the Soviets--and soon catches on to the fact that he has been assigned to dispose of her.

It's practically a two-character film, with HONOR BLACKMAN in a supporting role as Liz's friend. Taylor is about as menacing as he was in UNDERCURRENT (which isn't saying much) but still looks great, and Liz certainly looks and acts more adult than she actually was at the time. For looks alone, they make a dream team.

It holds the interest because of the espionage angle, but isn't a distinguished piece of work in any way whatsoever and has been largely forgotten today.

This movie starts out with a beautiful, young American woman named "Melinda Greyton" (Elizabeth Taylor) attending a formal ball in London and being introduced to a British soldier named "Major Michael Curragh" (Robert Taylor). As it so happens she immediately falls in love with him at first sight. And even though he is at least ten years older, he has the same feelings for her and they get married not long afterward. At first their marriage is like a fairy tale romance but then she notices that he suddenly begins to leave unexpectedly in the afternoon for one reason or another and she begins to suspect that he is hiding something from her. Little does she know just how right she is. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film started off rather slow and only began getting interesting around the halfway mark. At least, that is how it appeared it me. Additionally, while the drama and acting were quite good, I thought the lack of suspense was clearly evident and gave the overall film a rather tepid quality. In short, although it wasn't a bad spy movie by any means, it clearly had some faults and because of that I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Great plot, great movie. I can see that the commies in Hollywood would not like it, and it was banned in Finland, which was highly influenced by the Stalinists in Russia at the time.

With a background in political science and history, I can say that there really is a lot of realism in this movie. It was not at all uncommon for lifelong spies to be betrayed by their own need for love. And, the naive attitude of the Taylor character in seeking help from the Ruskies (remember, with STALIN in charge, was not at all unusual.

The attitude of the Brits, who had been watching him all along, is also pretty typical of real situations.

My wife particularly liked Taylor cast against type, and we both thought that Liz did a great job, as well as Taylor, in this pretty exciting and dramatic film.

Conspirator gives us MGM's first on-screen pairing of Robert Taylor and Elizabeth Taylor. (They reunite a short time later in Ivanhoe.) The story is rife with political intrigue and benefits from on-location filming in Europe; a somewhat suspenseful cold war plot; and top-notch studio production values. However, doesn't the ingénue seem a bit too young to play a wife? In the story, she is meant to be 18 (but is actually 16 in real life); and Mr. Taylor's character is said to be 31 (but he is 37). At more than twice her age, he is old enough to be her father; and yet, this fact is barely even mentioned and hardly a story point. One supposes that this is what is known in the film business as dramatic license. It certainly couldn't be a case of miscasting, could it?

In London, young American teen Melinda Greyton (Elizabeth Taylor) attends a military ball. She meets and eventually marries British Maj. Michael Curragh (Robert Taylor). Unbeknownst to her, he's a Soviet spy.

This is a Red Scare film. I don't know when the Red Scare officially started. This is a relatively early one. It's an interesting take without demonizing Michael. I would think that a professional assassin would be employed cinematically. It would definitely be better for intensity. The ending is a bit of a letdown. Elizabeth Taylor was 16 at the time of filming although she does look older than her teen years. Then again, she is still playing a teenager. I have to put it down as another artifact of a bygone era. The movie is fine, but it's not much of a thriller.

(Some Spoilers) Uninteresting suspense/drama that has all-American heart throb and US government friendly witness Robert Taylor as the British turncoat and sleazy communist spy Maj. Michael Curragh. Who in order to show his loyalty to the great "Cause and Movement" is ordered to murder his gorgeous young wife Melinda, Elizabeth Taylor. Who caught on to his spying and is a threat not only to Michael but to the Communist cell in London that he's a member of.

Melinda at first going completely banana's over the handsome and dashing Major Michael after meeting him at a big social gathering in which no man there even bothered to ask her or a dance! they must have been either blind or crazy or both! Michael and Melinda hit it off right away and before you know it their married and living happily after after or so we, or they, thought. Melinda quickly caught on to Michael, and his secret life, but at first she thought that he was cheating with another woman behind her back. When Melinda took some bills from his pocket, to pay for a gift that she bought for him, she found a note going to his handler, Commie London spy chief Radek (Karel Stepanek), about the latest secret military strategy report of the UK & UK.

Michaels communist handlers ware already ticked off at Michael for marrying Melinda without telling them about it, as well as not inviting them to the marriage ceremony. Now with her snooping around into his business with them he was given a direct order to do her in once in for all and leave no fingerprints of himself or his involvement with them behind. Michael later tries to shoot and kill Melinda at a duck hunt when he took her to his Aunt Jessica's, Marjorie Fielding, place out in the country but chickened out and just shot over her head. Or was it, like he explained to his bosses, after his hunting dog distracted him only knocking Melinda out.

Were told by Michael that his dedication to the communist movement goes back to his days as a youth in Ireland where he fell under the spell of the ideas of Marx & Engles. As well as Michael's dreams of being a part of the greatest social experiment in the history of the world! Yet just one look at the beautiful Melinda showed him just how much BS that great revelation in human evolution, on his part, was. Now Michael got lost in the fog of his own muddled half-baked and self-delusional thoughts.

It later turned out that it wasn't necessary for Melinda to turn Michael in to the authorities since the British M15 already knew about his communist activities long before he even met her. All this became moot with Michael seeing himself deserted by Melinda, as well as the local commie spy cell, beat them to the punch with a self-inflicted gun-shot wound to his head.

It was hard to believe that Elizabeth Taylor was still in her teens, she was 17 at the time, when she made "Conspirator" back in 1949. She not only was beautiful beyond words but also a far more mature young woman then her age actually indicated.