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With America just entering WWI, Bill Gordon (William Powell) joins the army as a lieutenant, ready to deploy to France and fight. Right before he deploys he "meets cute" a girl at a cocktail party, Joel Carter (Rosalind Russell). They have a bit of a whirlwind courtship, and Joel begs him to stay. Gordon refuses, but along with that refusal admits to Joel a secret about himself - He wrote the ultimate book on cracking codes under a pen name, and the War Department has been moving heaven and earth trying to find out who the author really is. The next morning, getting ready to board his boat, he is ordered to a desk job. Apparently, Joel is the niece of the assistant head of the War Department, and she has ratted him out as an ace code cracker in order to keep him around Washington. Complications ensue.

This was Rosalind Russell's first starring role, so she doesn't really have her screen persona down which she finally develops in "The Women" four years later. So MGM has her playing this annoying creature who causes trouble for Gordon every time she appears. No way do I believe he'd want her around after all of her frustrating antics.

This is almost like a movie actually made in 1917 - it is such an anachronism. First off, by 1935 when this was made, WWI was considered a waste of blood and treasure, and here Europe was feauding with Germany AGAIN. That is why Congress passed some laws to keep us out of any potential war there. Yet Gordon is practically George M. Cohen here, he is just so anxious to land in a trench in France. Then there are the German spies. Remember these are NOT the Nazis and the Nazis won't be taken seriously for another three years or so. But MGM has them acting exactly like Nazis - ready to turn on each other, ready to kill to save their spy ring.

Finally there is the cryptography issue. There were no computers in WWI, and so I'm sure standard blackboards and cryptography wheels were used as shown to crack codes, but the method that Gordon uses to crack the code - mainly a variation on the primitive Vigenère cipher - would be cracked relatively quickly and it would not take an ace cryptographer to do so. Forgive that digression into geekdom.

This is very much worth your time with great performance by William Powell as always and a look at Rosalind Russell in the beginning.

I'm a big fan of William Powell, Rosalind Russell, screwball comedies, and old spy flicks. Wouldn't it have been nice for the two stars to have been in the same movie? After their amusing meeting near the beginning sets up a fine romantic comedy to follow, Powell glides into a serious espionage drama, while Russell goes full-throttle Gracie Allen ditz, with a side order of lovestruck Ginger Rogers.

Film series about The Thin Man, Bulldog Drummond or the lesser-known Torchy Blane, manage to blend the comedy and mystery elements into a harmonious union. This one plays out like a double bill that got spliced into a single mismatched plot. What a waste of talent and opportunity to start with such a promising pairing and end up with Russell's character so woefully out of place for the last 3/4 of the production.

WILLIAM POWELL and ROSALIND RUSSELL have good chemistry here--although Russell gets the short end of the stick with an annoying "comic" character who disrupts everything in sight, including the plot.

The spy ingredients are nicely handled and there's a lot of behind-the-scenes decoding efforts going on in the World War I era that add interest to the storyline.

Nice to see Lionel Atwill on the good side for a change and Binnie Barnes is fine as a femme fatale heavily involved in the spy network. Cesar Romero keeps a poker-face as one of the ring members but is convincing enough in a minor role.

None of it makes for a great movie, but it passes the time quickly with an interesting glimpse of Russell before she perfected her comedy technique and Powell already at the peak of his comic timing. Cast includes Samuel S. Hinds and Charley Grapewin (Dorothy's uncle in 'The Wizard of Oz').

A rather uneasy mixture of comedy and suspense--but a stronger script would have helped considerably.

Meddlesome Rosalind Russell is positively grating in her first star billing, continually disrupting the flow of the plot and detracting from my enjoyment of the action. What idiot would spike the coffee of the chief cryptographer with sleeping pills in the midst of his trying to decode a secret enemy message with the lives of thousands of American troops hanging in the balance? "I was just trying to get you to get some sleep," was her meek response after the damage was done. And she continually does things like that! I suppose it was meant for comedy relief, but it didn't work for me. What was enjoyable was the persistent and methodical decoding methods used before computers were invented, and the follow-up in the effort to break a German spy ring, including an exciting but improbable ending. William Powell gives his usual wonderful charismatic performance, with Binnie Barnes also excellent as the femme fatale German spy and Cesar Romero very convincing as her accomplice. All other acting was uniformly good, but why was English-accented Henry Stephenson cast as a Russian ambassador?

Based on a book by Herbert O. Yardley, who was the head of the U.S. Secret Service during WWI, the film has an air of authenticity.

Have always appreciated comedy and try to appreciate all types. One can't go wrong with anything that incorporates suspense, being a fan of thriller and mystery which is full of it if done right 'Rendezvous' certainly did appeal to me. If done right too, romance can work great too and there have been films that have mixed comedy, suspense and romance very well (i.e. 'Charade'). There is a lot of talent in the cast too so there was a lot going for this film.

The good thing about 'Rendezvous' is that a lot of it does work, there are many things that work very well indeed and it is definitely well worth seeing, with most of the cast being the main reason. At the same time, it doesn't live up to full potential and a couple of the things that easily could have worked brilliantly disappoints quite badly which is pretty frustrating. Sorry but part of me does get a little narked when something has a good deal of potential but either doesn't live up to full potential or completely wastes it.

'Rendezvous' does have a good deal of good things. It is very nicely filmed and has the right amount of grit without looking under-budgeted. William Axt's score is a mix of jaunty and ominous, which worked very well with the film's tone(s). The script does amuse and thought provoke and the direction on the most part is well judge. The story generally compels, but works best in the spy elements which were intriguing and clever as well as with the right amount of suspense.

Some of the comedy was amusing and cleverly interpolated. William Powell is in a part perfect for him and manages to show an expert mix of funny, debonair and intense. Binnie Barnes is also a delight and steals all her scenes while Cesar Romero is also in a role well suited to him. Seeing Lionel Atwill in a non-villain role was a pleasant surprise and he doesn't look taxed at all.

On the other hand, not everything in 'Rendezvous' works. There could have been less going on, a little too much goes on and parts are more tangled than they should have been which gives the film an at times over-complicated feel. Not all the comedy gels, more subtlety was needed and some of it distracts from the plot rather than moves it along.

Do agree too that Rosalind Russell, replacing Myrna Loy who would fitted the part perfectly, has an extremely annoying and sometimes implausibly written character and tries too hard, so she becomes annoying as well sadly. She and Powell's chemistry doesn't really sparkle and doesn't really gel either, actually didn't think they looked completely comfortable together.

In conclusion, interesting but decent but had the ingredients to be great. 6/10