Conspirator (1949 film)

Conspirator

Theatrical release poster
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
Music by John Wooldridge
Cinematography Freddie Young
Edited by Frank Clarke
Production
company
Distributed by MGM
Release dates
  • 9 December 1949 (1949-12-09) (UK)
  • 24 March 1950 (1950-03-24) (USA)
Running time
 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.

Cast

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
  1. 1 2 3 The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. ↑ Walker 1991, p.78–79.
Bibliography
  • Walker, Alexander (1991). Elizabeth: The Life of Elizabeth Taylor. New York: Grove Press. ISBN 978-0802113351. 

External links

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