Above Suspicion (1943) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

The song serves as the password that identifies friendly contacts throughout the mission. In Paris, an unseen contact plants a tourist guidebook in Richard's coat with ink dots forming a musical staff that encodes the opening notes of "My Love Is Like a Red, Red Rose." This melodic password appears repeatedly, at the museum, on Dr. Mespelbrunn's piano sheet music, allowing the Myles to identify allies and confirm they're on the right track to finding the missing scientist.

Foreshadowing: The rose motif first appears when Frances receives a hat adorned with a rose as a signal from their Paris contact.

• password
• red red rose
• musical code
• clues
• signal

The clues form a carefully constructed trail: the rose hat directs them to a Montmartre café where a guidebook with musical note dots is hidden; three pinpricks on a map point to a book dealer in Salzburg (A. Werner); an annotated Liszt volume points to Pertisau in Tyrol where a doctor who collects chess pieces resides; the chess collector finally leads them to Dr. Mespelbrunn, who is revealed to be the missing scientist they sought all along.

Foreshadowing: Each location builds on the previous clue, narrowing the search from Europe-wide to a specific Austrian town.

• clues
• trail
• Salzburg
• Pertisau
• Liszt book
• scientist

Thornley killed the Nazi commandant in retaliation for the torture and murder of his Austrian fiancée by Nazi forces. During the Liszt performance, Thornley recognizes a musical passage he had previously practiced, and the tension of the moment prompts him to take action against the officer who represents the regime that destroyed his personal life.

Foreshadowing: Thornley's presence and skill with weapons suggest a personal vendetta against the Nazis from the start.

• Thornley
• Nazi commandant
• murder
• Liszt concert
• revenge

Dr. Mespelbrunn is the missing scientist who developed the countermeasure against the Nazi magnetic sea mine. Posing as a chess piece collector, he has been hiding in his home while being hunted by the Gestapo. His true identity is Dr. Smith, and he possesses the vital plans that could save Allied ships from the deadly weapon. Richard and Frances must rescue him from the Gestapo and escort him to safety in Italy.

Foreshadowing: The repeated motif of chess pieces throughout the earlier clues signals that the doctor they seek collects chess pieces.

• Dr. Mespelbrunn
• scientist
• countermeasure
• chess pieces
• sea mine

Von Aschenhausen is Richard's former Oxford classmate, which creates an initial conflicted loyalty. He genuinely helps them escape the Liszt shooting incident and warns them about being hunted. However, as a Gestapo commander, his primary duty is to Nazi authority. When he realizes they are actively working to rescue the scientist and undermine Nazi operations, his loyalty to the regime overrides his personal connection to Richard, leading to Frances's detention.

Foreshadowing: His failure to respond to the coded signal at Mespelbrunn's home reveals his divided allegiances.

• von Aschenhausen
• Gestapo
• Oxford classmate
• betrayal
• arrest

After Frances is detained, Thornley arrives in Innsbruck and joins Richard to plan a rescue. They coordinate with Seidel to breach the detention location where Frances is being held. During the assault, they kill the Gestapo guards including von Aschenhausen. Using counterfeit passports provided by the elderly Schultzes, the survivors then fool the Nazi border guards and cross into Italy, achieving freedom.

Foreshadowing: The plan to board a Milan-bound train at separate stations was meant to minimize risk but becomes complicated when Frances is caught.

• rescue
• Innsbruck
• Gestapo
• border escape
• Italy

Thornley is killed during the rescue attempt at the detention facility near Innsbruck. While Richard, Thornley, and Seidel successfully infiltrate the building and free Frances, Thornley dies in the ensuing firefight. His sacrifice enables the others to escape, making his death the heavy price paid for successfully completing the mission and reaching Italy safely.

Foreshadowing: Thornley's personal vendetta against the Nazis and his willingness to take extreme risks foreshadow his fatalistic approach to the mission.

• Thornley death
• sacrifice
• rescue
• firefight
• Allied mission

With Nazi forces controlling border crossings throughout occupied Europe, legitimate travel documents would expose them as British agents and the scientist they're protecting. The elderly Schultzes provide forged passports that allow the group to pass as ordinary travelers attempting to reach Italy. When the Schultzes are arrested by the Gestapo, the passports become even more critical, and risky, as their only path to freedom.

Foreshadowing: The separate train boarding plan was designed to distribute the risk if one group was caught.

• passports
• Schultzes
• border crossing
• escape
• forged documents

The countermeasure is a defense against the Nazi magnetic sea mine, a weapon that could sink Allied ships by magnetically attaching to their hulls. Dr. Mespelbrunn (Dr. Smith) has developed a way to neutralize this threat. The entire mission revolves around locating him and extracting the plans so British ships can be protected from the German weapon. The success of the mission is measured by their ability to deliver this scientific breakthrough to Allied forces.

Foreshadowing: The entire honeymoon mission is built around finding this scientist and his invention.

• magnetic sea mine
• countermeasure
• weapon
• scientist
• Nazi weapon

Frau Kleist's guesthouse serves as a waypoint in the clandestine network helping the Myles. Count Seidel directs them there after the museum encounter, and her annotated Liszt book contains the next crucial clue pointing to Pertisau. While seemingly a simple lodging, the guesthouse is part of the underground network providing safe houses and coded information to Allied agents navigating Nazi-controlled territory.

Foreshadowing: The Liszt book found at the guesthouse contains annotations that directly lead to the next clue.

• Frau Kleist
• guesthouse
• Liszt book
• safe house
• network