Golden Earrings

Director: Mitchell Leisen
Year Released: 1947
Rating: 2.0

On a flight to Paris, Col. Denistoun (Ray Milland) tells the man seated next to him - who notices that his ears are pierced - about working as a spy in Germany pre-WWII trying to swipe a chemical weapon recipe from a scientist and getting help from - and falling in love with - a gypsy woman named Lydia (Marlene Dietrich).  The plot is pretty standard - it's nothing new or thrilling - so all that's left is to watch Milland and Dietrich's relationship blossom: she's definitely miscast in the role (she was too elegant to pull off eating fish soup with her bare hands) but she puts the work in - so does Milland to dress up like a vagabond and get into a scrap with the macho Zoltan (Murvyn Vye), who believes "washing is dangerous" (which is the last thing anyone with OCD wants to hear).  Blacklisted writer Abe Polonsky co-wrote the script, which might explain why someone of Denistoun's social standing would throw it away to journey around the woods in a rickety cart.