diff --git a/Lib/packaging/tests/test_util.py b/Lib/packaging/tests/test_util.py
--- a/Lib/packaging/tests/test_util.py
+++ b/Lib/packaging/tests/test_util.py
@@ -388,6 +388,18 @@ class UtilTestCase(support.EnvironRestor
                                  def baz(self):
                                      pass
                             """))
+        self.write_file((tmpdir, 'syntaxerror.py'), 'mport unittest')
+        self.write_file((tmpdir, 'a', 'syntaxerror.py'), 'mport unittest')
+        self.write_file((tmpdir, 'importerror.py'), 'import MAGIC')
+        self.write_file((tmpdir, 'a', 'importerror.py'), 'import MAGIC')
+        customerror = textwrap.dedent("""\
+            class Error(Exception):
+                pass
+
+            raise Error('very useful error message')
+            """)
+        self.write_file((tmpdir, 'customerror.py'), customerror)
+        self.write_file((tmpdir, 'a', 'customerror.py'), customerror)
 
         # check Python, C and built-in module
         self.assertEqual(resolve_name('hello').__name__, 'hello')
@@ -415,6 +427,21 @@ class UtilTestCase(support.EnvironRestor
         self.assertRaises(ImportError, resolve_name, 'a.b.Spam')
         self.assertRaises(ImportError, resolve_name, 'a.b.c.Spam')
 
+        # make sure exceptions pass through instead of being wrapped into
+        # ImportErrors which would lose useful information
+        for name, exc, msg in (
+            ('syntaxerror', SyntaxError, 'invalid syntax.*line 1'),
+            ('a.syntaxerror', SyntaxError, 'invalid syntax.*line 1'),
+            ('importerror', ImportError, "No module named '?MAGIC'?"),
+            # see docstring of resolve_name and the XXX comment in the source
+            # for an explanation of why the following error message is an
+            # exception to the rule
+            ('a.importerror', ImportError, "has no attribute 'importerror'"),
+            ('customerror', Exception,  'very useful error message'),
+            ('a.customerror', Exception, 'very useful error message'),
+                ):
+            self.assertRaisesRegex(exc, msg, resolve_name, name)
+
     def test_run_2to3_on_code(self):
         content = "print 'test'"
         converted_content = "print('test')"
diff --git a/Lib/packaging/util.py b/Lib/packaging/util.py
--- a/Lib/packaging/util.py
+++ b/Lib/packaging/util.py
@@ -630,16 +630,20 @@ def find_packages(paths=(os.curdir,), ex
 def resolve_name(name):
     """Resolve a name like ``module.object`` to an object and return it.
 
-    This functions supports packages and attributes without depth limitation:
+    This functions supports packages and attributes without depth limit:
     ``package.package.module.class.class.function.attr`` is valid input.
     However, looking up builtins is not directly supported: use
     ``builtins.name``.
 
     Raises ImportError if importing the module fails or if one requested
-    attribute is not found.
+    attribute is not found.  May also raise other types of exceptions
+    caused by importing a module, such as SyntaxError.  Due to an
+    implementation detail, if a submodule raises an ImportError the error
+    message will mention a missing attribute instead of giving the name of
+    the module that wasn't found.
     """
+    # fast path for simple module names
     if '.' not in name:
-        # shortcut
         __import__(name)
         return sys.modules[name]
 
@@ -649,17 +653,29 @@ def resolve_name(name):
     module_name = parts[:cursor]
     ret = ''
 
+    # try to import as much as possible
     while cursor > 0:
+        name = '.'.join(module_name)
         try:
-            ret = __import__('.'.join(module_name))
+            ret = __import__(name)
             break
-        except ImportError:
+        except ImportError as exc:
+            # XXX ImportError may mean (1) all modules are imported, now get
+            # attributes or (2) one of the modules raised an ImportError which
+            # should propagate immediately, if we could make the difference
             cursor -= 1
             module_name = parts[:cursor]
+        # if importing the module causes an exception, let it
+        # propagate immediately
+        except Exception:
+            raise
 
+    # if we did not even import one part, raise now
     if ret == '':
         raise ImportError(parts[0])
 
+    # modules and submodules are imported, now use getattr to go
+    # through attributes
     for part in parts[1:]:
         try:
             ret = getattr(ret, part)