Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 1, 1992 TAG: 9202010328
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRIS GLADDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
NEW SPY MOVIE SHINES AS SLICK FANTASY
"Shining Through" is a slick, romantic spy yarn that plays more like Nancy Drew than John Le Carre.Based on the novel by Susan Isaacs, it's an homage to World War II melodramas with all of the cliches and gimmicks intact. But if you approach it as fantasy and don't scrutinize it too closely for logic or factual detail, it turns out to be pretty entertaining.
A large part of the reason is Melanie Griffith, who makes her feisty character completely likable if not entirely convincing.
The character's name is Linda Voss. As the movie begins, she's an aging woman who recalls her World War II adventures for a TV documentary. After that, the story is told through flashback.
On the brink of World War II, Linda is a half-Jewish secretary living in New York City. Linda's main passion is old war movies, and her greatest ambition is to rescue her Jewish relatives who are living in Berlin. Because she can speak German, she edges out a bunch of Vassar grads to become the secretary of Ed Leland. Played by Michael Douglas, Leland is a handsome spy working for the OSS. Before long he and Linda are an item.
When one of his agents bites the dust, Ed needs a replacement, and Linda raises her hand. Leland is reluctant but he puts her in harm's way her after she convinces him that her culinary skills will win her a place in the household of a high-ranking Nazi. One of the many plot head-scratchers is that Linda manages to ruin the big meal. But as has been noted, it's best not to scrutinize the plot too closely, or the dialogue for that matter. Sometimes it's hard to figure whether it's intentionally corny or not, given director-screenwriter David Seltzer's fondness for golden oldies.
However, the movie is attractively photographed in a way that recalls the shadowy look of older espionage movies. It's more entertaining in the early rounds when Seltzer goes for more of an arch tone than when it gets down to the spy business. But it builds a reasonable amount of suspense despite the knowledge that Linda obviously survived the war or she wouldn't be on TV. Griffith is at once vulnerable and determined and she does a good job of evoking Linda's sense of mission. Even at the most contrived moments in the plot can you fail to pull for her.
`Shining Through': **1/2 A Twentieth Century-Fox picture at Salem Valley 8 (389-0444) and Valley View Mall 6 (362-8219). Rated R for language, nudity, sexual content and violence; 135 minutes.