Excellent RKO B film released during WWII. A number of good character actors
with George Sanders leading them on a nice ride. Sanders strikes that note
that he was the master of - somewhere between charming and smarmy. He could
use that as either the villain or the hero. The hero here. He gets help from
a number of familiar faces in B films. Virginia Bruce is the leading lady.
She had been married to John Gilbert, then director J. Walter Ruben and finally
to a Turkish businessman and appeared (so I read) in some Turkish films that
did not get on to IMDB.
In a smaller role as the Arab who follows Sanders is Marcel Dalio. I always
like coming across Dalio in an American film and wish I could in his French
films. He escaped France literally right ahead of the Nazis who later used
his poster to hang around the city as an example of what a Jew looked like.
He escaped with his wife and actress Madeleine Lebeau. They both appeared
in Casablanca - he as the croupier, she as the woman who stands up and sings
the Marseille - one of my all-time favorite scenes in a film. Dalio has to
play a collaborator with the Nazis - that must have sucked. Throw in Robert
Armstrong (King Kong), Alan Napier (Alfred in the Batman TV series), HB Warner
as an Arab sheik, Lenore Aubert (two Abbott and Costello films) and Gene
Lockhart. No big names there but all reliable character actors.
This is what a B film should be. RKO does a solid job of recreating the exotic
city of Damascus using sets from previous films and using footage from a
planned film about Lawrence of Arabia that was never realized. They mesh
it all together very effectively. That is how B films met their budget. Sanders
plays Gordon a well-known globe-trotting journalist. He and a fellow journalist
arrive in Syria just to catch a connecting plane the next day. Gordon sends
his young friend off to follow some people he sees at the airport. He turns
up next with a knife in his back. In Maltese Falcon mode, Gordon figures
he owes it to his friend to find out what happened to him. Nazis is what
happened to him. They are here to get the Arab tribes on their side. This
is supposed to take place in 1941 pre the USA entering the war.
There is a slice of Casablanca here as there were in so many war time films
that are set in exotic locales. Much of the film takes place in a swanky
hotel with a casino and various shady characters come and go. Gordon sees
Yvonne (Bruce) cross the lobby and sets his aim on her in irresistible style.
Back then, I don't think that patter would work today. Based on a novel titled
The Fanatic of Fez by M.V. Heberden. Scripted by Philip MacDonald who has
done some good work - most of the Mr. Moto films, The Body Snatcher and loads
of TV shows.
