Fond memories I had of watching this movie on Italian TV as a kid made me spring for the rather lackluster "John Wayne: An American Icon" 2-disc collection from Universal; the film itself reunites four actors (Marlene Dietrich, Mischa Auer, Billy Gilbert and Samuel S. Hinds) from Universal's successful Western comedy of the previous year DESTRY RIDES AGAIN (1939).
Co-star John Wayne had just re-achieved stardom with John Ford's seminal STAGECOACH (1939) the nine years following his impressive turn in Raoul Walsh's THE BIG TRAIL (1930) had mostly been spent in Grade Z Westerns; while he would eventually make this boisterous type of entertainment his own, he's likable enough but still somewhat stiff here. Dietrich, on the other hand, has a ball with her role of an exotic cabaret singer (she even does a number in full naval uniform, recalling her famous top hat 'n' tails routine ending in a lesbian clinch in Josef von Sternberg's MOROCCO [1930]) who effortlessly turns the head of every man that crosses her path and, consequently, is the cause or, should I say, prize? of many a row (but which leads to her deportation from one Pacific island to the other).
Again, the supporting cast is marvelous not just the three character actors I mentioned earlier (Auer is a pickpocket-cum-magician who tags along with Dietrich's Bijou, Hinds the stern Governor of the island, and Gilbert actually steals the show with his typically amiable flustered shtick as the boss of the titular café), but also Albert Dekker (a brief but very interesting role as a ship's doctor with whom Dietrich ends up I dare say that the subtle relationship between them is more believable than the central one between her and Wayne!), Oscar Homolka (a mobster with pretenses to Dietrich's favors, he makes for a particularly strong villain), Broderick Crawford (who is terrific as a rough ex-sailor who purports to be Dietrich's bodyguard however, his loyalty to the navy is even greater, and this brings about an unexpected dramatic scene towards the end where he nearly beats up Dietrich because she's disrupting naval officer Wayne's career chances!), Vince Barnett (amusing as the taciturn but resourceful bartender of the "Seven Sinners" whose recurring loud jeering at Homolka's expense could prove fatal at any moment), Reginald Denny (appearing all too briefly as Wayne's understanding superior officer) and Richard Carle (as the judge appointed to run Dietrich, Auer and Crawford out of town at the start of the picture despite his owlish demeanor, he doesn't flinch from carrying out his duty when confronted with the wiles of the legendary femme fatale, the sleight-of-hand of the Russian émigré, or the uncouth manners of the seaman). As would also prove to be the case in their subsequent teamings THE SPOILERS (1942) and PITTSBURGH (1942) Wayne and Dietrich's romance is interrupted by his involvement with another woman of higher standing; here, it's Anna Lee in her American debut and, even if the role doesn't amount to very much, the actress invests it with a quiet gracefulness that is typically British.
The film (which was remade in 1950 as SOUTH SEA SINNER) runs a bit thin on plot, but is kept on track most of the time by director Garnett who made other ensemble pieces in exotic settings, namely CHINA SEAS (1935) and BATAAN (1943). It also benefits from expert shadowy lighting courtesy of the great Rudolph Mate', but the undeniable highlight of SEVEN SINNERS is the climactic bar-room brawl which is really no less elaborate (or uproarious) than the one featured in DODGE CITY (1939), which is often singled out as the quintessence of this type of sequence.
Co-star John Wayne had just re-achieved stardom with John Ford's seminal STAGECOACH (1939) the nine years following his impressive turn in Raoul Walsh's THE BIG TRAIL (1930) had mostly been spent in Grade Z Westerns; while he would eventually make this boisterous type of entertainment his own, he's likable enough but still somewhat stiff here. Dietrich, on the other hand, has a ball with her role of an exotic cabaret singer (she even does a number in full naval uniform, recalling her famous top hat 'n' tails routine ending in a lesbian clinch in Josef von Sternberg's MOROCCO [1930]) who effortlessly turns the head of every man that crosses her path and, consequently, is the cause or, should I say, prize? of many a row (but which leads to her deportation from one Pacific island to the other).
Again, the supporting cast is marvelous not just the three character actors I mentioned earlier (Auer is a pickpocket-cum-magician who tags along with Dietrich's Bijou, Hinds the stern Governor of the island, and Gilbert actually steals the show with his typically amiable flustered shtick as the boss of the titular café), but also Albert Dekker (a brief but very interesting role as a ship's doctor with whom Dietrich ends up I dare say that the subtle relationship between them is more believable than the central one between her and Wayne!), Oscar Homolka (a mobster with pretenses to Dietrich's favors, he makes for a particularly strong villain), Broderick Crawford (who is terrific as a rough ex-sailor who purports to be Dietrich's bodyguard however, his loyalty to the navy is even greater, and this brings about an unexpected dramatic scene towards the end where he nearly beats up Dietrich because she's disrupting naval officer Wayne's career chances!), Vince Barnett (amusing as the taciturn but resourceful bartender of the "Seven Sinners" whose recurring loud jeering at Homolka's expense could prove fatal at any moment), Reginald Denny (appearing all too briefly as Wayne's understanding superior officer) and Richard Carle (as the judge appointed to run Dietrich, Auer and Crawford out of town at the start of the picture despite his owlish demeanor, he doesn't flinch from carrying out his duty when confronted with the wiles of the legendary femme fatale, the sleight-of-hand of the Russian émigré, or the uncouth manners of the seaman). As would also prove to be the case in their subsequent teamings THE SPOILERS (1942) and PITTSBURGH (1942) Wayne and Dietrich's romance is interrupted by his involvement with another woman of higher standing; here, it's Anna Lee in her American debut and, even if the role doesn't amount to very much, the actress invests it with a quiet gracefulness that is typically British.
The film (which was remade in 1950 as SOUTH SEA SINNER) runs a bit thin on plot, but is kept on track most of the time by director Garnett who made other ensemble pieces in exotic settings, namely CHINA SEAS (1935) and BATAAN (1943). It also benefits from expert shadowy lighting courtesy of the great Rudolph Mate', but the undeniable highlight of SEVEN SINNERS is the climactic bar-room brawl which is really no less elaborate (or uproarious) than the one featured in DODGE CITY (1939), which is often singled out as the quintessence of this type of sequence.