Yogi's Movie Consumption Blog

A boatman is forced to transport refugees in his boat from Martinique while under surveillance of the local police. The story is not of high suspense, and I wondered why. I found that it tries too hard to be a romantic story and thrilling war story at the same time, maybe trying to satisfy too many tastes at the same time. Lauren Bacall is nice, the dialogue is funny but the overall story feels a bit contrived and doesn't line up too well with the hard-boiled side of Bogart's character. The interrogation scene with the police inspector is amazing to watch - and so are the big man's other appearances in the movie. I even think he nicely managed to tie together the love story and the political aspects of the whole thing.

When an ex-lieutenant visits the father of one of his fallen soldiers he finds their home taken hostage by ruthless gangsters. The diversity of the characters in this story is breathtaking. All the actors manage to render their part with amazing depth and conflict. Robinson is a great villain, and the stubborness of the father is quite amazing to watch. The party being locked in the small space of the hotel lets everybody clash with everybody. The ending felt a bit propped on to me and a complete change of tone. When I read that Huston "borrowed" that ending from Hawks "To Have or Have Not" it came as no big surprise. The social commentary with the Indians treated as low lifes was quite amazing and the old Indian woman looked great on screen. Maybe in a more modern version more people would snap in that situation and the ending would have definitively more graphic violence. It would make way more sense to flood the hotel and let the people have it out on the ...