ACTION OF THE TIGER (1957)

Five years before directing him to James Bond fame in DR. NO/’62, Terence Young gave Sean Connery a splashy early supporting role as rough shipmate to contraband Captain Van Johnson in this ratty adventure pic.  Pity they didn’t swap roles.  Johnson, in career decline, trying for the sort of tough guy Connery was born to tackle, looks to his inner Humphrey Bogart and comes up empty.  Grouchy about as close as he gets, reluctantly sneaking sexy Martine Carol (bared breasts restored in current editions) into Communist Albania to rescue a blinded brother and an ever increasing gaggle of refugee kids.  Handsomely shot by Desmond Dickinson in WideScreen/TechniColor, the locations (and drunken, swarthy Sean) just enough to keep you watching until the film bursts into life in the third act with a smash action set piece: a charge on horseback against modern army vehicles & equipment with bold bandit leader Herbert Lom showing cunning & Old World bravado.  Thrillingly fast, the battle lasts but two or three minutes, Lom is soon pursuing the fair Ms. Carol with proposals, local color and his chieftain father’s goat herds.  A tempting offer since he’s blackmailing Carol with safe passage out of the country for her band.  Young packs in more action, scenery, local customs, plot twists & double-crosses until the expected (if none too satisfying) finish.  Where has all this good stuff been hiding?  Even Connery makes a return appearance right at the end.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY:  Director Young made some of the best early Bonds (see FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE/’63), but his rep was flattened after three late career disasters: THE KLANSMAN/’74; BLOODLINE/’79; INCHON/’81.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID/DOUBLE-BILL:  *The very popular Carol was fresh off a rare box-office dud, Max Ophüls’ LOLA MONTES/’56, this problematic near masterpiece now the only thing she's remembered for.  But go back two more years for a film she should be remembered for, Alberto Lattuada’s LA SPIAGGIA/’54 (aka RIVIERA; THE BEACH; LA PLAYA).

CONTEST: Ironic, that a film that gets its title out of Shakespeare (HENRY V) should let Van Johnson misquote The Bard.  A common error, name the play and correct the famous line to win a MAKSQUIBS Write-Up of a streaming film of your choice.