Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Much of the action of this exotic Cold War adventure concerning the smuggling of atomic components from behind the Iron Curtain is set in various plush hotels in Istanbul, Sofia and Athens, but was actually shot at the Churubusco Studios in Mexico City. Two dudes in big suits (Gene Raymond and Mischa Auer) encounter two ladies in even bigger shoulders, comprising Raymond's wartime old flame Sigrid Gurie and shady lady Patricia Morison, who also gets to sing. The original Cinecolor for the most part now looks more like sepia, but something of the plushness of Alfred Ybarra's décor still survives, and William Clothier enhances the atmosphere with suitably noirish lighting.