1938 - SUEZ, impressive production with the usual Hollywood distortions about history.

Darryl F. Zanuck's big production about the construction of the Suez Canal gets the usual Hollywood treatment.  Impressive special effects, some good looking leading performers a very contrived romance and a screenplay that has nothing to do with the actual building of the canal.  A lot of thought must have gone into putting this historically inaccurate mess of a film together.

Tryone Power is Ferdinand de Lesseps who is in love with Countess Eugenie de Montijo played by Loretta Young.  The problem is that Napoleon III is also in love with the Countess.  What's a girl to do marry the good looking but poor de Lesseps or settle down with the rich emperor of France?  Well one thing leads to another and the heartbroken de Lesseps moves to Egypt and to get over his broken heart decides what the heck I might as well build the Suez Canal.  One way of dealing with a relationship problem.

 

A lot of the film is spent on the financing of the canal build which I can assure you does not exactly make for stimulating action film making.  Everything leads up to a big and still awesome special effects scene where a sandstorm almost destroys all the work on the canal.  Even in 1938, Hollywood could whip up a spectuacular set piece like this.  

 

Well in spite of this spectular production this film is mighty turgid and was somewhat of a challenge to sit through.  Watching a film about the building of the Suez Canal isn't exactly exciting and sticking a romantic love triangle just make the whole film seem sillier.

The film was written by Phillip Dunne and Julien Josephson, the running time is 104 minutes. 

1922 - ROBIN HOOD, a spectacular film from Douglas Fairbanks.

An action adventure film from the man who invented the action hero, Douglas Fairbanks.  The film is in many ways an attempt to out do his previous action films, The Mark of Zorro and The Three Musketeers. 

The story of Robin Hood is told on an amazingly larger than life level.  Gigantic sets were built and then augmented with special effects to make them completely dwarf the actors.  It looks like hundreds it not thousands of extras were employed for the crowd scenes.

Douglas Fairbanks was known for doing a lot of his own stunts and this film is not an exception.  Fairbanks was a superb athlete and many of the action scenes were clearly thought out and executed by Fairbanks himself.

 

The director of Robin Hood was Allan Dwan but the real driving force and creative person in this film is Fairbanks himself.  Not only was Douglas Fairbanks the producer who had complete control of the film, he also wrote the screenplay.

 

Robin Hood is an entertaining and important film in the Hollywood film cannon.  It made Fairbanks a lot of money.

Written by Douglas Fairbanks, the running time is 127 minuets.

1953 - FLIGHT NURSE - Korean War love story

Will cute flight nurse Joan Leslie fall for air force pilot stud Forrest Tucker or wimpy helicopter pilot and 3rd string actor Arthur Franz?  Here is the dilemma that has to be resolved in about and hour and a half.  It's all happening during the Korean War so there's bombs and lots of stock war footage.

 

Flight Nurse is full of Korean War propaganda which uncomfortably sounds like World War II war propaganda.  Instead of Japs it's now Commies and the propaganda is constant not very subtle or particularly well written

The picture was made at cheapskate Republic Studios and directed by and old silent film guy Allan Dwan who was probably wrapping up his career.  Dwan had been around so long he had a list of around 400 films he signed off on.

Flight Nurse is supposed based on the life of a real nurse but let's hope the real individual had a more interesting life that this disappointing film.  Kind of a time waster.

90 minutes, written by Alan Le May.

1954 - CATTLE QUEEN OF MONTANA, Stanwyck and Reagan

71 year old Allan Dwan, was one of a select group that pretty much invented movie making during the silent film period film.  Dwan was still working into the 1950's.  Cattle Queen of Montana is sort of a B-western with a lot to recommend it.

The film stars Barbara Stanwyck in a very strong role as a woman attempting to set up a ranch in Montana.  She is plagued by evil rancher Gene Evans and some rogue Indians.  Stanwyck is assisted by Ronald Reagan (who's not bad) playing some sort of undercover Army officer.  But the bottom line is that Stanwyck doesn't take any crap from any guy in this film she shoots them if they get out of line.

The action is pretty good with a nasty knife fight, a cattle stampede and an exciting shoot out with the bad guys at the end.  The director Allan Dwan gets to the point and the film zips along in about an hour and a half.  This is essentially a feminist western which also has a very sympathetic point of view regarding native Americans even if they are all played by white actors.  The extensive on location filming is also a big plus in this film.

A favorite with film scholars and directors with Martin Scorsese, this is still a rather modest western particularly well made.

88 minutes, written by Robert Blees and Howard Estabrook.