Tag: Marc Lawrence

Sundown (1941, Henry Hathaway)

The majority of Sundown is excellent. Hathaway sort of mixes the Western and British colonial adventure genre with a World War II propaganda piece. New Mexico stands in for Kenya—it’s an interesting war film because there aren’t any Americans. Lead Bruce Cabot is playing a Canadian.

Cabot does well throughout. He handles the colonial scenes well, handing off his command to George Sanders in the first act. Sundown’s peculiar because it takes a self-indulgent pace getting to where it’s going. There’s the tension between Cabot and Sanders, but none of it is necessary to get to the finish. Neither is Joseph Calleia, who has a nice supporting role as an Italian prisoner of war who’d rather cook than fight. Or Harry Carey, who shows up in the second half as the local white hunter.

And Gene Tierney—who gets top-billing—is barely in the film until it’s a third over. It’s an early performance from her and there are ups and downs. Some of it has to do with the role (Sundown’s the one where Gene Tierney plays an Arab), but she’s also not quite ready yet. She does well with Cabot though, selling their attraction right off.

Hathaway’s direction is often fantastic, especially how he shows life on the outpost. The night scenes are problematic, Charles Lang shoots too dark and then the finale’s in a dank cave, which doesn’t film well.

The end brings in the propaganda and lays it on so heavy, Sundown sinks.

1/4★

CREDITS

Directed by Henry Hathaway; screenplay by Barré Lyndon, based on an adaptation by Charles G. Booth and based on a story by Lyndon; director of photography, Charles Lang; edited by Dorothy Spencer; music by Miklós Rózsa; produced by Walter Wanger; released by United Artists.

Starring Gene Tierney (Zia), Bruce Cabot (William Crawford), George Sanders (Major A.L. Coombes), Harry Carey (Alan Dewey), Joseph Calleia (Pallini), Reginald Gardiner (Lt. Roddy Turner), Carl Esmond (Jan Kuypens), Marc Lawrence (Abdi Hammud), Gilbert Emery (Ashburton), Jeni Le Gon (Miriami), Emmett Smith (Kipsang) and Dorothy Dandridge (Kipsang’s Bride).

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Homicide Bureau (1939, Charles C. Coleman)

Oh, those silly liberal apologists, not letting police detective Bruce Cabot beat confessions out of suspects. Don’t they understand these criminals are really working for the Nazis?

Okay, Homicide Bureau never actually says Nazis, just warring foreign powers, but they mean the Nazis.

The funniest part of the movie is the end, where the police commissioner decides Cabot’s right and his tactics work (liberals and laws be damned). Also amusing at the end is Cabot’s romance with Rita Hayworth. It’s maybe Hayworth’s fifth scene in the film–and for a short running time, Homicide Bureau has a lot of scenes, probably one every two and a half minutes–and her romance with Cabot has never even been mentioned before. They’re friendly co-workers to this point, nothing more.

Cabot’s performance is occasionally dismal, occasionally passable; when he and Hayworth meet, the scene practically lifts dialogue from King Kong, as Cabot explains to Fay Wray–sorry, sorry–Hayworth why he doesn’t like women around.

The supporting cast is generally solid, for a b movie, with Marc Lawrence doing a great job as a thug. Hayworth’s role is so small, it’s hard to say much about her performance itself. She’s enthusiastic against all odds (a weak script, Cabot looking old enough to be her father).

Coleman’s direction has its good points. He’s especially effective with close-ups. So effective it makes Bureau seem like a much better film.

It’s mostly a curiosity for its leads and being pro-fascist, but anti-Nazi.

0/4ⓏⒺⓇⓄ

CREDITS

Directed by Charles C. Coleman; written by Earle Snell; director of photography, Benjamin H. Kline; edited by James Sweeney; music by Sidney Cutner; produced by Jack Frier; released by Columbia Pictures.

Starring Bruce Cabot (Detective Lieutenant Jim Logan), Rita Hayworth (J.G. Bliss), Marc Lawrence (Chuck Brown), Richard Fiske (Henchman Hank), Moroni Olsen (Police Captain H.J. Raines), Norman Willis (Ed Briggs), Gene Morgan (Detective Blake), Robert Paige (Detective Thurston), Lee Prather (R.E. Jamison), Eddie Fetherston (Henchman Specks) and Stanley Andrews (Police Commissioner G.W. Caldwell).

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