Movie Review: The White Tower (1950)

Genre: Mountaineering Adventure

Director: Ted Tetzlaff

Starring: Glenn Ford, Alida Valli, Claude Rains, Oskar Homolka, Cedric Hardwicke, Lloyd Bridges

Running Time: 98 minutes

Synopsis: Carla Alten (Valli) arrives at a Swiss Alps village inn nestled at the base of the imposing White Tower mountain. She wants to conquer the summit in memory of her father, and recruits a climbing team consisting of fading author DeLambre (Claude Rains), aging geologist Radcliffe (Cedric Hardwicke), and local guide Andreas (Oskar Homolka). Hein (Lloyd Bridges) joins them despite displaying Aryan superiority tendencies, while American Martin Ordway (Glenn Ford), a laidback retired Air Force pilot, is more interested in pursuing a romance with Carla.

What Works Well: The Paul Jarrico script (based on a book by James Ramsey Ullman) works hard to create well-rounded characters, with an overarching objective of uncovering the individual reasons for each party member to embark on the climb. The ascent scenes capture the hazards and exhilaration of navigating imposing vertical terrain.

What Does Not Work As Well: The romance elements between Carla and Martin are never not clunky, and both Hein's proud Nazi tendencies and DeLambre's tortured author agonies are overplayed. Despite the relatively short length, tedium creeps in.

Conclusion: Admirably seeks to answer the timeless why-climb-the-mountain question, with mixed success.



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Movie Review: They Made Me A Criminal (1939)

A drama about a boxer forced to abandon his life then discovering a new way to live and love, They Made Me A Criminal is a hard-boiled and uneven split-decision.

In New York, boxer Johnnie Bradfield (John Garfield) wins the championship title. Publicly he pretends to be a clean-living model of good behaviour, but privately he is a cynical womanizer and heavy drinker. At a private party, his manager gets involved in a scuffle and kills a reporter then flees with Johnnie's girlfriend Goldie (Ann Sheridan), pinning the blame on Johnnie.

The boxer is forced to disappear and drifts across the country, finally arriving at the Arizona palm tree and dates ranch run by Peggy (Gloria Dickson) and her grandmother (May Robson). Peggy also houses a group of ex-New York juvenile delinquents (the Dead End Kids). Johnnie befriends the boys, getting them in and out of trouble, while trying to spark a romance with Peggy. Meanwhile, detective Phelan (Claude Rains) is determined to catch up with the fugitive boxer.

Only six years after 1933's The Life Of Jimmy Dolan, Warner Bros. dusts off the same script and produce a remake, this time as a showcase for John Garfield and the Dead End Kids. The story carries inherent power and Garfield is effective and more than sufficiently caustic in the leading role. But despite many scene-for-scene recreations, this version stumbles upon weaknesses exposed by suspect choices.

Song and dance extravaganza maestro Busby Berkeley somehow ends up in the director's chair for a mostly grim drama. A few high-angle shots are impressive, but otherwise Berkeley demonstrates no interest in artistically enhancing the intensity of Johnnie's predicament. Gloria Dickson as the main love interest is an unfortunate non-entity in a de-emphasized role. More damaging is the casting of a clearly disinterested and therefore over-indulgent Claude Rains as Phelan, his role whittled down to a handful of scenes and losing much of its impact.

But perhaps the fluffiest deficiency resides in the remake's raison d'etre. Once the Dead End Kids enter the movie at the start of the second half, Johnnie is relegated to the sidelines of the boys' antics and escapades. The fledgling romance with Peggy is shoved far to the background and becomes a clumsy afterthought dealt with in boorish strokes. For fans of the Kids this is all well and good, but otherwise They Made Me A Criminal deflates for a substantial stretch until the climax picks back up.

Despite still delivering a decent punch, They Made Me A Criminal is also on the receiving end of some solid self-inflicted blows.



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Movie Review: Notorious (1946)

A romantic drama and spy adventure, Notorious is a gripping and multi-faceted thriller.

In Miami, Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman) is a hard-drinking party girl. After her Nazi-sympathizer father is imprisoned for treason, she is recruited by government agent Devlin (Cary Grant) to infiltrate a dangerous Rio de Janeiro-based ring of former Nazis. During the journey to South America Alicia and Devlin start to fall in love, although she is conscious of her libertine reputation and he is trying to not get emotionally involved.

In Rio, Alicia reconnects with Alexander Sebastian (Claude Rains), a former family friend, and now a key member of the clandestine Nazi cartel. Alex always harboured a crush on her, and now she exploits his love to get into his house and start observing and reporting on his nefarious business associates. But Alex is jealous of Devlin, who in turn is conflicted between love and duty. The spy mission becomes much more complicated when Alex proposes marriage as a test of Alicia's loyalty.

Perhaps Alfred Hitchcock's most perfect film, Notorious is an exquisitely constructed romantic triangle residing within an espionage mystery. Written with devious clarity by Ben Hecht, the story offers three conflicted and sympathetic characters struggling against personal demons and larger existential forces. The romance crashes against imperatives of duty, commitment to others, and matters of personal and professional survival.

After efficiently establishing the context of Alicia as a fun-loving but conflicted woman caught between her father's legacy and patriotism, Hitchcock pours the foundation of a deeply complex love story with one of cinema most celebrated and sensual kisses. At her Rio apartment Alicia and Devlin kiss, nuzzle and nibble for approximately three minutes, with Hitchcock unapologetically getting around the Hays Code's three second rule by introducing brief interruptions that only serve to heighten the scene's elegant eroticism.

But this is not a straightforward love triangle. Devlin is unimpressed with Alicia's promiscuous tendencies and desperate to maintain focus on his assignment. Alicia is quite unsure if she deserves to be loved by a man of integrity, upset at how easily he deploys her to pretend to love another man, and conscious of how quickly she can acquiesce to pleasure with others. And Alex's love of Alicia is perhaps the most pure, blinding him to her true purpose and distracting him from the business at hand. They will circle each other with a combustible mix of passion and doubt.

Despite the fascinating romantic triangle, the spy elements are not shortchanged. With Alex's coldly villainous mother (played to perfection by Leopoldine Konstantin) lording over all her son's affairs and the Nazi co-plotters quick to reveal their ruthless streak, Hitchcock conjures up one of his classic tense sequences. A swanky party at Alex's mansion, a supply of champagne running low, a stolen wine cellar key and a broken bottle come together at exactly the wrong time, with Alicia and Devlin tantalizingly close to uncovering the heart of the Nazi conspiracy while risking both her carefully constructed cover and their troubled illicit romance.

Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains make for a dream cast filled with texture and self-doubt, all three delivering the requisite mix of delicate courtship, surrender to affection and callous focus on self preservation. Ted Tetzlaff's cinematography features sparkling use of black and white saluting many noir fundamentals, with Alex's cold mansion providing opportunities for playful use of space from imposing and grand to close-up and personal.

Notorious is a collision of multiple agendas, and a dazzling example of weary characters grappling with difficult dilemmas and deliciously dangerous outcomes.

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Movie Review: The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)

A slow-moving version of Jesus' life story as described in the Gospel, The Greatest Story Ever Told lacks cinematic heart and soul. The film best resembles a well-intentioned but creatively challenged Catholic high school play on a big budget.

Jesus is born in a Bethlehem barn, in the presence of three elderly men who traveled a long distance guided by a bright star. The Roman client king Herod the Great (Claude Rains), fearing a prophecy about the birth of a great leader, orders the killing of all infants in Bethlehem, but Jesus is smuggled to safety. More than thirty years later John the Baptist (Charlton Heston) is proclaiming the imminent arrival of God's messenger, calling on all to repent and baptizing them in the Jordan river.

Jesus (Max von Sydow) appears and is baptized by John, before heading to the hills and meeting the Dark Hermit (Donald Pleasence), a personification of Satan. Jesus then returns to civilization and starts preaching his teachings of love, tolerance and humility, gaining followers including James, Matthew, and Judas (David McCallum). King Herod Antipas (Jose Ferrer) starts to hear of Jesus, his followers and his healing miracles, as does the prefect of Judaea Pontius Pilate (Telly Savalas). With Jesus' followers multiplying and his reputation spreading, King Herod and Pontius Pilate conspire to arrest him.

A grand, costly film produced and directed by George Stevens, The Greatest Story Ever Told arrived late in the cycle of Hollywood's historical epics, and helped bring to an end the popularity of the genre. For all its good intentions, the film is stiff, overly reverential, and awkwardly staged. At close to three and a half hours (there are also longer and shorter versions), it is also protracted and tiresome, with a snoozy Alfred Newman music score.

Adding to the sense of stagey aloofness, the film was shot with the single camera Cinerama process. The already slow pacing suffers from the resultant stiff character placement and interactions, with very few close-ups and characters seemingly never facing each other even when exchanging dialogue. Many scenes feature static postcard-style arrangements, and most of the film suffers from Every Spoken Word Is Important And Shall Be Recorded In A Future Film syndrome.

The film runs through most of the highlights of Jesus' life, although surprisingly his walk on water and feeding the multitudes occur off-camera. The raising of Lazarus is a highlight, but Stevens focuses on reactions rather than the event itself.

Continuing the trend previously seen in The Longest Day and How The West Was Won, Stevens employed pretty much every star name in Hollywood. A familiar face appears in almost every role, including Van Heflin, Dorothy McGuire, Martin Landau, Roddy McDowall, Michael Ansara, Carroll Baker, Angela Lansbury, Robert Loggia, Shelley Winters, Sal Mineo and Sidney Poitier. Most of the stars get one scene, and some have literally a few seconds of screen time. And it only takes about two seconds for John Wayne's cowboy drawl to ruin the film's emotional highlight.

Faring better are Max von Sydow and Charlton Heston in the two most prominent roles. von Sydow was cast because he was a relative unknown, and brings a quiet dignity to the proceedings, doing his best in difficult circumstances. Heston knows a cheesy epic when he sees one, and tears into the role of John The Baptist with venom.

The Greatest Story Ever Told is useful as a straightforward history lesson on a familiar topic, but is much less engaging as a movie.

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Movie Review: The Sea Hawk (1940)

An Errol Flynn swashbuckler, The Sea Hawk combines swordplay, pirates and politics in a story loosely inspired by the contest between England and Spain to rule the world in Elizabethan times.

King Philip II of Spain (Montagu Love) dispatches his ambassador Don José Álvarez de Córdoba (Claude Rains) to the court of Queen Elizabeth (Flora Robson). Philip wants Don José to distract Elizabeth into thinking that Spain has no evil intentions, while in reality he is plotting to expand Spain's influence using a powerful armada. England's navy is weak, and Elizabeth is reliant on a small group of independent war ships known as the sea hawks to defend the English channel.

Geoffrey Thorpe (Flynn) is one such gentlemanly hawk, and his ship Albatross intercepts and destroys Don José's vessel, and delivers the ambassador and his entourage including Captain López (Gilbert Roland) and niece Doña María (Brenda Marshall) as prisoners to Elizabeth. Despite being on opposing sides, Thorpe and María start to fall in love. But Spain has a powerful ally in the form of Lord Wolfingham (Henry Daniell) embedded in Elizabeth's inner circle, and Philip's plan remains intact. Nevertheless, Elizabeth trusts Thorpe's instincts and agrees to his covert mission to sail to Panama and intercept crucial supplies used by the Spaniards to equip their navy. Thorpe's ambitious ambush goes awry, creating a vacuum in Elizabeth's defences and an opportunity for the Spaniards to strike.

The tenth collaboration between star Errol Flynn and director Michael Curtiz, The Sea Hawk does not disappoint. By now the formula of adventure, sword fights, romance and politics was perfected, and the film breezes through its 127 minutes without a wasted moment. The script credited to Howard Koch and Seton I. Miller keeps the action hopping from sea to shore, and balances the boisterous naval battles with plenty of court intrigue and political maneuvering.

Only loosely based on historical events, The Sea Hawk started life as an adaptation of Rafael Sabatini's 1915 novel, and ended up borrowing inspiration from the exploits of Sir Francis Drake. By the time the film was competed and released in 1940, it became a useful opportunity to rally British morale in the early days of World War Two. The film ends with the Queen giving a rousing speech in which she commits to defend freedom at all costs.

Errol Flynn is at his smoothly charismatic best, although there are elements of going-through-the-motions that do creep into his performance. And even he can't spark the romance, which emerges as the film's weakest link. The underwhelming Brenda Marshall struggles for relevance, the role of Doña María simply not developed enough to generate the required passion, and Flynn's eyes seem to ache for Olivia de Havilland. Thorpe and María share the one meaningful romantic scene together, and the rest of their relationship consists of longing from afar and brief moments stolen amidst the unfolding action.

Unexpectedly, the more complicated relationship between Thorpe and Elizabeth piques the interest quite a bit more, with Flora Robson biting into the monarch's role with obvious relish. Claude Rains is a reliable conniving politician, while Gilbert Roland and Henry Daniell give the enemies of Thorpe some sharp edges. The supporting case includes Donald Crisp as Sir John, a loyalist member of Elizabeth's circle, Alan Hale as Mr. Pitt, Thorpe's second-in-command, and James Stephenson.

The Flynn / Curtiz collaborations are rightly remembered for their impressive action scenes and The Sea Hawk lives up to expectations. The opening attack by Albatross on Don José's ship is a masterpiece of thrilling execution, while the climax features plenty of sword fights to showcase Flynn at his swashbuckling best. Less well acknowledged is how much attention Flynn's adventures invested in events unfolding far from the battlefields. The Sea Hawk delves into the high stakes games played by Kings, Queens, and their power hungry advisors. As history it may be mostly imaginative, but The Sea Hawk takes the time to reveal the hands that move the chess pieces.

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Movie Review: The Adventures Of Robin Hood (1938)

One of Hollywood's best swashbuckling adventures and the first in glorious Technicolor, The Adventures Of Robin Hood is a non-stop thrill fest with plenty of romance, swordplay, archery stunts and general joviality.

With King Richard the Lionheart held hostage in Austria, his evil brother Prince John (Claude Rains) makes his move to seize power in England by fermenting the divide between Normans and Saxons, helped by Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Basil Rathbone). The charismatic Sir Robin of Locksley (Errol Flynn), an ace archer and soon to be known as Robin Hood, is loyal to Richard and launches a rebellion, using the dense Sherwood Forest in Nottingham as his base. Robin collects a merry band of men including Will Scarlett (Patric Knowles), Friar Tuck (Eugene Pallette) and Little John (Alan Hale Sr.), and they take to ambushing Prince John's tax convoys, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.

As he mercilessly taunts his enemies, Robin meets Maid Marian (Olivia de Havilland), a beautiful member of the royal court. Marion and Robin fall in love, after she learns about his cause and believes it to be just. When Robin competes in an archery tournament and is finally captured by his enemies, Marion has to find a way to save him, but her betrayal of John lands her in trouble. As Prince John gets ever closer to the throne, Robin has to return the favour and save Marion, while the unexpected return of a King again threatens to tilt the balance of power.

Directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley for Warner Bros., The Adventures Of Robin Hood is a dazzling kaleidoscope of vivid colours, lively characters and lavish sets. Packed into 102 minutes, the film moves at an agile pace, finding action set-pieces at regular intervals and still taking the time to recount an involving and character-rich story of revolution and romance.

The characters are admittedly coloured in pretty basic black or white, either all good or all bad, and some of the combat scenes, particularly a major ambush in the forest, are stiffly staged by modern standards. But the film rides Errol Flynn's irresistible magnetism through any rough spots, and the fluid cinematography makes the most of the expansive sets. The final sword fight between Robin and Sir Guy is brilliantly choreographed and oozes energetic athleticism, setting the gold standard for climactic duels.

At his commercial peak, Flynn makes for a dashing Robin Hood, filled with confidence and deploying a mischievous grin and loud laugh to rally support and woo Marion. In relative terms Olivia de Havilland gets the most complex role, as Maid Marion is the only character faced with choices and divided loyalties. de Havilland revived her flagging career by giving Marion plenty of moxie, transitioning from a sharp tongued ally of the evil plotters to a secret weapon for the revolutionaries. This was de Havilland's third teaming with Flynn, and their natural on-screen chemistry and the film's success launched a further five collaborations.

The supporting cast members have plenty of fun, Basil Rathbone and Claude Rains creating a worthy one-two punch of evil as they plot their takeover of the crown. They are backed by the likes of Montagu Love as the Bishop of the Black Canons, while Ian Hunter makes a late but crucial intervention. Hundreds of extras populate many of the scenes, to enliven sumptuous royal feasts, large scale forest battles and bring to life the villages and taverns of twelfth century England.

The Adventures Of Robin Hood is one of modern Hollywood's crucial early milestones, a grand action-packed and fast-paced adventure with a dashing hero and a damsel in distress, the perfect template for ridiculously enjoyable fun.

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The Movies Of Claude Rains

All movies starring Claude Rains and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

The Adventures Of Robin Hood (1938)

They Made Me A Criminal (1939)

Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)

The Sea Hawk (1940)

Now, Voyager (1942)

Casablanca (1942)

Passage To Marseille (1944)

Notorious (1946)

The White Tower (1950)

Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)

The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)

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Movie Review: Now, Voyager (1942)

An impossible romance set against the psychological drama of a convoluted mother-daughter relationship, Now, Voyager is an opus of grand emotions, elevated by a perfect Bette Davis performance.

In Boston, the wealthy and widowed Mrs. Windle Vale (Gladys Cooper) rules her household with an icy grip, and torments her youngest daughter Charlotte (Davis) into emotional oblivion. Mrs. Vale treats Charlotte like a lowly servant, dictating every detail of her life and preventing her from blossoming into an adult. On the verge of a nervous breakdown, Charlotte is rescued by psychologist Dr. Jaquith (Claude Rains), who admits her into his mental treatment facility. After many weeks of therapy Jaquith instills in Charlotte the self-confidence to become her own person.

On a South American cruise to explore her new-found independence, she meets Jeremiah (Jerry) Duvaux Durrance (Paul Henreid), an unhappily married father of two. Jerry and Charlotte spend many days getting to know each other, and endure a memorable taxi mishap on a remote mountain rode in Brazil. They fall deeply in love, but he has to return to his wife and daughters, while the now empowered Charlotte has to return to Boston and establish new rules for the relationship with her mother.

The well-meaning but bland Elliot Livingston (John Loder) soon emerges as a serious suitor for Charlotte's heart, but it will not be easy for her to forget Jerry, who has family troubles of his own, with his young daughter Tina (Janis Wilson) suffering from extremely low self-esteem.

Now, Voyager does go on, the final 30 minutes of the two hour running time stretching into what starts to feel like a serialized, crisis-of-the-week drama, while the ending gropes for a resolution to the doomed but eternal love. By introducing Tina late in the third act, the Casey Robinson script (adapting the book by Olive Higgins Prouty) is keen to show that Charlotte now has the wisdom and confidence to know how a mother is supposed to love, breaking the generational chain of emotional abuse. But in striving for a bittersweet ending, Dr. Jaquith, earlier established as a man of wisdom, is dumbed down and allowed to make some bewildering decisions, releasing Charlotte to secure part, but not all, of what she yearns for.

While imperfect, the ending cannot diminish the overall quality of the film. Director Irving Rapper assembles an engrossing examination of a woman in transition, Charlotte progressing from bullied daughter to hesitant adult and then confident society hostess, guided by Dr. Jaquith's sage advice and the healing power of love. From the lowly status of a blatantly unloved daughter, Charlotte earns her small victories as her emotional health is gradually reconstructed, and the film thrives on the challenges of the long emotional journey to recovery.

Robinson finds the best moments in Charlotte's return to her mother's house, the daughter having to walk the finest possible line between respecting her frail mother and asserting her own independence. Using Dr. Jaquith's techniques, Charlotte avoids the route of angry confrontation and instead explores the area where assertiveness and civilized refinement intersect.

Davis finds all the junctures of inflection in Charlotte's transformation, delivering a flawless performance where emotion is conveyed by fleeting but poignant expressions that pass across her face. Cooper, as Charlotte's crusty mother, is perfectly despicable. A selfish mother feeding her miserly needs by degrading her daughter's mental health, Cooper drips delicious self-absorption and expert manipulation.

Henreid is capable if slightly bland as Jeremiah, but his overall acting is overshadowed by the lighting-two-cigarettes-in-the-mouth trick, a signature move that Jerry develops (and repeats often) to light his and Charlotte's cigarette simultaneously. Henreid's silky execution of the sexy hand-off is all that needs to be remembered about his performance. Rains is reliably good as the well-meaning Dr. Jaquith.

Now, Voyager crosses the oceans in search of the ingredients that can transform Charlotte into a complete human being. Some ports naturally remain just out of reach, but the expedition is a deeply enriching experience.

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Movie Review: Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)

Frank Capra's classic political drama is a sweet fable about one honest man trying to make a difference. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington remains as relevant today as the day it was made, an unheeded cry for the overhaul of an entrenched system.

When a senator from an unnamed state unexpectedly dies, Governor Hopper (Guy Kibbee) has to choose a successor. Hopper is just a puppet controlled by wealthy industrialist Jim Taylor (Edward Arnold), who owns everything and everyone worth owning in the state, including the sitting senior senator Joseph Paine (Claude Rains). Hopper eventually appoints Jefferson Smith (James Stewart), the popular head of the Boy Rangers, to the empty senate seat. An admirer of United States history and a believer in the values of the founding fathers, Smith knows nothing about politics.

Taylor and Paine expect Smith to do as he is told, and in particular they need him to not oppose an upcoming senate vote that would release federal funding to build a dam in a pristine area of the state. Smith is mesmerized by the culture of Washington DC, and infatuated by Paine's glamorous daughter Susan (Astrid Allwyn). His secretary, known by all as simply Saunders (Jean Arthur), is quick to recognize and appreciate Smith's idealism, although it is clear to her that he is out of his depth in the shark waters of the capital. When Smith does become aware of the dam project, he has to decide to either fall in line with politics as usual, or to make a stand.

The Sidney Buchman script celebrates Smith's idealism, pokes fun at his naivete, and does not attempt to hide its contempt for the Taylors and Hoppers of the world. If the movie has a weakness, it lies in the sharply defined edges of the villains, who are not afforded any positive attributes.

Frank Capra's demonstrates genius by creating in Mr. Smith Goes To Washington a film that is both intimate and grand. Smith, Paine, Saunders and Taylor are the humans at the centre of the battle for the soul of politics in Washington DC, and while the characters remain dominant, Capra amplifies their struggle to represent an attempt to salvage the soul of a nation. As the film hurtles towards its climax, Capra injects urgency through scenes at massive newspaper printing presses, the voice of radio reporters broadcasting the Smith battle, and quick edits to capture the impact of the political fight in Smith's home state. What happens in Washington matters everywhere, and the decisions of a few men and women do have far-reaching consequences.

Painstakingly recreating the senate chambers, where a lot of the action takes place, Capra creates political tableaux worthy of classic paintings portraying seminal moments in nation building. But he is also not beyond playfulness of the highest quality, Smith unable to retain control of his hat while talking to Susan, and later proving equally inept at handling a phone when she is on the other end of the line.

In his breakout role James Stewart shines as Jefferson Smith, a quixotic man absent-minded enough to dream big and smart enough to go after his dream. Smith knows what he knows, and he knows that the founding fathers had a vision for the country's governance quite different from the one he finds in Washington. He also doesn't know what he doesn't know, and this allows him to stumble forward against all the odds to start a political fight that redefines David against Goliath. Smith is a perfect role for Stewart, a slightly odd man not in full control of anything but believing enough in something to make a difference.

Jean Arthur and Claude Rains are also formidable. Arthur sparkles as the sassy and savvy Saunders, a woman who understands all the ins and outs of DC and the role of everyone within it. She immediately spots in Smith an outsider who will either rock the boat or be thrown overboard, and she helps him to navigate the treacherous rapids while he is busy admiring Susan Paine.

And as Senator Paine, decked out with a shock of white hair and living up to his Silver Knight nickname, Claude Rains delivers the most finely shaded role in the movie. Senator Paine was a friend of Smith's father, and started his life bursting with the same enthusiastic idealism. Trying to walk the fine line between doing well for the people and personally benefiting from doing it, Paine's world is about to be severely disrupted by Smith, and Rains perfectly captures a comfortable man confronting a mortal threat to his well-established contentment.

Mr. Smith Goes To Washington ends with a collapse, a capitulation, and chaos. None of it is orderly, but the resultant mess carries hope for triumphant reformation. This is, after all, a work of fiction.

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Movie Review: Passage To Marseille (1944)

Passage To Marseille is a heartfelt salute to the men and women of France fighting under the Free French banner against the Nazis during World War Two.

The movie engages with a unique and courageous and potentially disorenting flashback within a flashback within a flashback technique to essentially recount four linked stories. The film's style and structure prevent any of the chapters from being totally absorbing, but there is enough going on with the dedicated cast to maintain momentum, both backwards and forwards.

The main story is set at a camouflaged military air base in the English countryside, where Captain Freycinet (Claude Rains) oversees a Free French bomber squadron flying night missions to hit German targets. Jean Matrac (Humphrey Bogart) is a machine gunners on one of the bombers, and on the return flights he drops steel tubes containing messages to his wife and son, who live under occupation in the French countryside. Freycinet recounts Matrac's story to a visiting journalist.

In the first flashback, Freycinet is sailing on-board the Ville de Nancy, a small French merchant boat heading from Central America to Marseille, with the war just having started. Also on board is pompous French veteran Major Duval (Sydney Greenstreet), who wrongly believes that the Maginot line will stop any German attack on France. On the journey, the Ville de Nancy picks up five men spotted drifting on a ramshackle raft, including Matrac, Marius (Peter Lorre) and Petit (George Tobias).

The rescued men initially claim to be miners from Venezuela, but Duval suspects that they are convicts, and he is right. In a story told through the second flashback, the five men eventually admit to Freycinet they are escapees from the notorious French Guiana penal colony. Despite being convicted prisoners deported for life, they wish to return home and fight for France against the Germans, and are helped by a patriotic old timer to plan and execute their escape from the unforgiving jungle colony.

As the escape from French Guiana is unfolding, the third flashback reveals Matrac's pre-war background: he was an anti-establishment journalist writing for a small newspaper, highly critical of French politicians trying to appease Hitler. With the authorities wanting him silenced, he is framed and convicted of a murder he did not commit. Before his capture, he marries his sweetheart Paula (Michele Morgan), the woman who now receives the messages he drops from the sky.

Passage To Marseille does suffer from an uncharacteristically disinterested Bogart performance, and the movie does not even try to explain his lack of an attempt at a French accent. The romantic sub-plot between Matrac and Paula is sincere and well-intentioned, but is free of tension and occupies a limited amount of screen time, robbing Bogart of the relationship spark that he so effectively translates into rich drama in many of his best movies.

But Passage To Marseille is an otherwise powerful World War Two film. Produced when France was still under the Nazi boot, the story is a reminder that many Frenchmen kept up the fight and did not give up on securing freedom for their country. While the internal French resistance network has often been celebrated, French soldiers who fought a more traditional war with the Allied armies have featured less frequently on film.

The four stories are compact, and the transitions between them are handled seamlessly. Director Michael Curtiz keeps the time shifts linear, moving one step at a time sequentially backwards and then again forwards, the rational progression between timelines effective in maintaining coherence. The segment on the Ville de Nancy emerges as the core of the movie, bringing together all sides of France.

While Matrac and his fellow escapees are risking everything to take the fight to the Germans, Major Duval represents both the clueless officers underestimating the enemy and then the surrenderists all too quick to align themselves with the puppet Vichy government. When shooting erupts on the boat and a German fighter plane attacks, Matrac shows no mercy, in a scene deleted from some earlier versions of the film for its rather astonishing but honest brutality.

The reconvening of Curtiz, Bogart, Rains, Lorre and Greenstreet, as well as the use of flashbacks, forces a mention of Casablanca, but Passage To Marseille is a different kind of film, grittier, less romantic, and more concerned with the mechanics of war and the motivations of the men who decide to fight. Rather than the beginning of a beautiful friendship, Passage To Marseille is about the fierce patriotism most needed in the days of darkest oppression.

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Movie Review: Casablanca (1942)

Casablanca may or may not be the best movie ever made, but it probably is the most perfect. Filled with memorable characters, rich scenes, an elaborate central locale, and sharp dialogue, and centred on a doomed love story set amidst a world war, Casablanca effortlessly delivers the pure magic of the movies.

With World War Two raging, Casablanca is a hot transit point for anyone traveling in or out of the conflict zone, and nominally ruled by the Vichy French government as represented by Captain Louis Renault (Claude Rains). Nazi officials keep a close eye on everything and everyone, and exit visas to a safe haven are the most coveted prize.

Jaded Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) runs Rick's Café Américain, the place to mingle, illegally gamble and swing deals. He competes with the Blue Parrot cafe, run by his rival Signor Ferrari (Sydney Greenstreet). Two visas fortuitously fall into Rick's hands, just as his former love Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) enters his joint with husband Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), who is an essential leader of the underground movement fighting the Nazis. Passion reignites between Rick and Ilsa, but she is torn between helping her husband escape to fight another day, or pursuing the true love of her life.

A small movie made in a hurry with limited sets and a cast of Warner Bros regulars, Casablanca catches lightning in a bottle. A mix of wartime intrigue, soulful romance and thriller stocked with desperation and no shortage of danger, the film oozes eloquent magic in every scene. Against a backdrop of a global conflict blanketing the city with a thick fog of mistrust, director Michael Curtiz cleverly exploits the ambience and uses an economy of scenes to package the film into a breezy 102 minutes, all the important threads tied up, but many others left to the rich imagination of another day.

One of the most perfect casts ever assembled brings the unforgettable characters to life. Bogart excels as Rick, the owner of the busiest cafe in Casablanca, emotionally hiding out and pretending not to care for the duration of the war, but inexorably drawn into it when the lost love of his life suddenly re-emerges.

Yvonne (Rick's casual floozy): Where were you last night?
Rick: That's so long ago, I don't remember.
Yvonne: Will I see you tonight?
Rick: I never make plans that far ahead.

Bergman is simply luminous as Ilsa, torn between her past and present lovers, having to decide between two men, and between her personal passion and her life's most important duty. And finally Rains as Captain Renault, charming his way through the tightrope of maintaining the peace and doling out favours in a nest of supposedly neutral chaos, and waiting to see which side will emerge victorious from the ruins of war. Rains also gets to participate in many of the best dialogue exchanges in the movie.

Renault: And what in Heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?
Rick: My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.
Renault: The waters? What waters? We're in the desert.
Rick: I was misinformed.

Paul Henreid as Laszlo, Ilsa's husband and a leader of the French underground resistance, is billed along with Bogart and Bergman and ahead of Rains, but unfortunately, he is the weakest link in Casablanca. Whether due to the limitations of the role or the actor, Henreid almost comes across as more suitable for a silent movie. His wooden performance is not in the same league as the other three leading stars.

The depth of memorable secondary characters is part of Casablanca's enduring charm. Conrad Veidt as Major Strasser; Sydney Greenstreet as Signor Ferrari; Peter Lorre as Signor Ugarte; Dooley Wilson as Sam the pianist; and Joy Page as Annina, the Bulgaria refugee. None have too much screen time; nevertheless they all shine and make a deep and lasting impression in their few featured moments.

Renault (about Ugarte): I'm making out the report now. We haven't quite decided whether he committed suicide or died trying to escape.

Even further down the list, minor characters such as the waiters in Rick's Cafe, the pickpocket, and the assortment of desperate figures populating the corners of Casablanca linger in the memory.

In terms of locations, Rick's Cafe Americain is one of the most interesting places in movie history. Something is happening in every corner, and there is intrigue at every table, all the time. And if the main room of the cafe is not enough, the gambling den in the back is just as busy and even more entertaining. Adding depth to the exotic locations, Signor Ferrari's Blue Parrot cafe, Rick's main competition, is just as interesting, and much more ramshackle.

Renault: I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here.
Employee of Rick's: [hands Renault money] Your winnings, sir.

The script by Julius and Philip Epstein and Howard Koch is a masterpiece. Sharp, economical and funny, there is a classic line around every corner. The more famous lines are legendary. What is remarkable is that some of the less famous lines are just as good.

Michael Curtiz may have been the main Warner Bros. go-to guy to get the job done, and this proved to be a perfect fit for Casablanca. The flashback scenes with Rick and Ilsa in Paris are weak, but in the Casablanca locales, Curtiz adds clever and artistic touches without ever taking away from the urgency of the unfolding drama.

Renault (to the gathering police officers): Major Strasser has been shot.
[pause]
Renault: Round up the usual suspects.

A classic landmark in the history of movie-making, often imitated but rarely matched, Casablanca just gets better as time goes by.

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