THE LAST TRAIN FROM MADRID (1937)

As Hollywood subject matter goes, pre-WWII Spanish Civil War is nearly as ‘forgotten’ a war as post-WWII Korea.  Perhaps because, as with the Russian Revolution, the studios couldn’t decide what side to take.  So this little film with a big cast of (mostly) Paramount contract players, shot on the lot (naturally), but during the conflict, is quite the outlier.*  And a fun one at that.  Fun, no doubt, an adjective not properly associated with the horrors of war!  But fun it is, with a carousel of a plot spinning four or five tales of love & death, loyalty & betrayal, honorable & dishonorable soldiers as our players attempt to get their papers in order and make that eponymous train out of town on time as war presses into the heart of Madrid.  Standouts include ridiculously fit/handsome Gilbert Roland, an escaped prisoner on the lam from authorities, hooking up with ex-love Dorothy Lamour (now paired with Gilbert’s BFF Anthony Quinn, excellent in a career breakout as an honorable army man) and wily gal with papers Karen Morley.   Lew Ayres a reporter using his U.S.A. privilege to help a local girl with a father on execution row; Lionel Atwill pulling strings as top Colonel; leaving only Robert Cummings, as a soft-hearted soldier branded a coward, to seriously disgrace himself in the acting department.  With strong-molded portrait-oriented lensing from Harry Fischbeck who like director James Hogan spent most his career churning out genre programmers, both trying to make something special here.  And they do, while only getting so far on a script that knows just how seriously (or not) to take things.  Only a hapless editor mistakes the level of dramatic integrity with a brief montage of actual war footage gracelessly tossed in the mix.  Elsewise, pretty good . . . er, fun.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *The film opens with a title-card stressing how the film takes no sides on the political conflict.  But with the bad guys all Nationalists, it does, it does.

DOUBLE-BILL: *The Spanish Civil War exception-that-proves-the-rule another Paramount film, FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS/’43, which, aside from the absurd beauty of a cropped-haired Ingrid Bergman, has dated poorly.  Something that might well have pleased unlikely director Sam Wood, a leading right-wing anti-Commie Hollywood booster.