Baroque film noir from M-G-M (of all places) sends undercover fed-agent Robert Taylor down Central America way to stop an airplane-engine smuggling outfit. And what a load of colorful, compromised characters are around to investigate! John Hodiak, ex-service flyboy with a bum ticker; his gorgeous wife Ava Gardner, nightclub chanteuse in a bum marriage; fat man Charles Laughton, shady facilitator with a bum foot; import/export smoothie with bum credentials Vincent Price; along with play-along locals and . . . bums. Taylor spends his time trailing people on land (in the shadows) and at sea (on a fishing boat), unable to decide between old-school Clark Gable raffish charm or new-school don’t-give-a-damn Robert Mitchum cool.* Laughton’s got the Sydney Greenstreet spot, but brings so much additional color & character to it, he steals the film as nimbly as he switches sides. Or would, if Gardner weren’t quite so devastatingly gorgeous. And if the film is often lackluster when it means to be atmospheric, the mood certainly perks up for a smash finale (a shoot-out chase in the midst of some local Carnavale, with literal fireworks used for violent punctuation). Apparently, Vincente Minnelli stepped in to helm this set piece for dull, diligent vet Robert Z. Leonard.* Likely a first collaboration for Minnelli & lenser Joseph Ruttenberg, who even manages to put up a semblance of glitter & suspense in the Leonard material.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Assuming it is Minnelli’s, this Carnavale climax is like a sketch for the powerhouse SOME CAME RUNNING/’58 fairground finale.
DOUBLE-BILL: See Bob Mitchum have a whack at this sort of thing in HIS KIND OF WOMAN/’51, with Vincent Price in uproarious, likeable form.
No comments:
Post a Comment