i have see the emperor candlesticks twice now and i be still try to figure it out . why be the russian secret police so intent on get their grand duke kill be beyond me . polish patriot kidnap a romanov grand duke while he on a holiday in vienna . the grand duke be play by robert young and he with frank morgan a his protector . that alone should tell you romanov security stink big time . young seduce and lead to his kidnapper by the lovely maureen osullivan . she get a good reason for do it and her father in a czarist prison await a death sentence . the idea be to swap young for dad . but for some reason i absolutely can not fathom and the pole be afraid their note explain their demand to the czar would not reach him . the pole get william powell to deliver the message and the russian have their own agent luise rainer . the note be to be deliver in one of a pair of louis xv candlestick and powell and rainer run all over europe and vienna and paris and london and finally st. petersburg . naturally of course the opposing spy be fall for each other . the same plot gambit be use by mgm in operator 13 with gary cooper and marion davy in the american civil war and also in the firefly with allan jones and jeanette macdonald . those be pretty good film and but mgm come up short with this one . the emperor candlesticks waste a pretty good cast in a very trite and incoherent story that powell and rainer can not save no matter how much they turn on the charm .