Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Michael O'Keefe In 1949 a beautiful young American Melinda Greyton(Elizabeth Taylor)is visiting London. The naive Melinda falls in love at first sight with British officer Michael Curragh(Robert Taylor). The young American is a bit giddy and immature, while Major Curragh is a secretive solitary man. A whirlwind romance ends in marriage, but soon the newlywed bride becomes suspect of her husbands untimely trips. When she accidentally finds out that she is married to a Russian spy; suspicions follow. Although the Major loves his wife madly; he is given the assignment to eliminate her. This movie has a weak finale and not very surprising. Also in the cast: Robert Flemyng, Honor Blackman, Harold Warrender and Thora Hird.

RanchoTuVu 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.

bkoganbing 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.

mamalv Conspirator gives us a chance to see Robert Taylor, once again as the villain. We almost hope that he is not what he seems to be. If not for the moviegoer but for Elizabeth Taylor, who is so in love with him that she is breathless. When she first meets Michael (Taylor) she is stunned by his looks, and when they dance, she falls hopelessly in love with him. They go to the country and the first time we realize there is something not right with Michael. It is on the rabbit hunt with his niece and nephew. One of the rabbits is caught in the trap, hurt, and Melinda asks Michael to help and he says "it is only a rabbit". That evening she rejects him, as he tells her he is desperately in love with her. She forgives him and they marry. Everything seems idyllic until strange postcards, blank and unsigned begin to show up in the mail. There are mysterious trips, sullen leavings, and when she tries to tease him, he explodes. She discovers the notes with secrets written on them, and is devastated. He promises to stop, but never does, and the Party is not happy with his marriage. They want him to kill her, but he in love, and hesitates. He does try on a hunting trip, but Melinda stumbles and the gun misfires. Instead in the end, when he knows that Melinda will give him up to the authorities, he kills himself. Robert Taylor gave Elizabeth Taylor her first grown up screen kiss. He was so smitten with her beauty that he had to be filmed from the waist up in many scenes because he could not control his amorous feelings. He was always an underrated actor, and this film proves it. Another film would be "Undercurrent" with Kathryn Hepburn. Evil again, and so good.