A Lady Without Passport

A Lady Without Passport is a suspense film directed by Joseph H. Lewis. Shot in semidocumentary style, it is considered film noir. After World War II, people try to sneak into the U.S. illegally with the help of a human smuggling ring run by Palinov (George Macready). U.S. Immigration operative Peter Karczag (John Hodiak) is sent to Havana, where he poses as a Hungarian in need of Palinov's services. During his dangerous undercover investigation,... more

A Lady Without Passport is a suspense film directed by Joseph H. Lewis. Shot in semidocumentary style, it is considered film noir. After World War II, people try to sneak into the U.S. illegally with the help of a human smuggling ring run by Palinov (George Macready). U.S. Immigration operative Peter Karczag (John Hodiak) is sent to Havana, where he poses as a Hungarian in need of Palinov's services. During his dangerous undercover investigation, he falls in love with refugee Marianne Lorress (Hedy Lamarr). When Palinov discovers Karczag's true purpose, he first tries to have the agent killed. When that fails, Palinov decides to use his own services. He flies to the United States, with Lorress one of the other passengers. However, the airplane is being tracked by the U.S. government. It is crash landed in the Florida swamps in one last desperate attempt to elude capture. Despite the fact that the film was made on a small budget, most reviews find the Casablanca-like film entertaining.... less