An entertaining film, filmed in the Philippines where the story is set and with some excellent local colour. And Micheline Presle, in one of her few non-French films, reminds me of a former girl-friend! At 37, Tyrone Power looks a little old. (Quinlan's notes that "when he returned from war service, his face had hardened into earnestness and gravity".) But he fills the starring role well.
I feared early on that the film might descend into the cliché of "attractive woman among hardbitten men in trouble" when Power invites Presle to accompany his motley crew on their primitive craft, but luckily she declines (and she looks too classy to have had the experience of such craft that she claims).
Some producers might have been tempted to make more of the American "phonies" (led by the ever impressive Jack Elam) Power observes collecting money from the villagers - a showdown between the good and bad Yanks, perhaps, but they're allowed to slink off. And I wondered if the woman with her head hidden as she denounced collaborators to the Japanese might later be identified and dealt with. Lesser films might have made more of these incidents in the interests of drama The end of the film was a bit unconvincing, with the Japanese soldiers withdrawing just as the survivors of Power's band look to be beaten; they had enough time to finish the job before getting away.
I feared early on that the film might descend into the cliché of "attractive woman among hardbitten men in trouble" when Power invites Presle to accompany his motley crew on their primitive craft, but luckily she declines (and she looks too classy to have had the experience of such craft that she claims).
Some producers might have been tempted to make more of the American "phonies" (led by the ever impressive Jack Elam) Power observes collecting money from the villagers - a showdown between the good and bad Yanks, perhaps, but they're allowed to slink off. And I wondered if the woman with her head hidden as she denounced collaborators to the Japanese might later be identified and dealt with. Lesser films might have made more of these incidents in the interests of drama The end of the film was a bit unconvincing, with the Japanese soldiers withdrawing just as the survivors of Power's band look to be beaten; they had enough time to finish the job before getting away.