Not one reviewer noted the effective performance of perennial comic straight man Paul Ford, here cast against type in the only serious movie part he ever played. As the naive but heroic Smith, Ford projects all the better attributes imputed to the American character by the notoriously anti-American Graham Greene
Smith and his wife--portrayed by the still elegant Lilian Gish who actually was a star in silent films--are veterans of the civil rights movement in the U.S.A. They like and respect Black people and want to help them, which is why they have come to Haiti with money to invest. They are idealists whose ideals are shattered by what they see in Papa Doc Duvalier's Haiti. Ignorant, even deluded, when they arrive, they learn fast. And the Smiths are not intimidated by the regime's thugs, the infamous **Tonton Macoutes**, who have everyone in the country terrorized.
For those who grew up seeing Paul Ford as the perennially befuddled Col. Hall on the old Phil Silvers comedy TV show, or in movie parts as some blow-hard figure of ridicule, this very surprising performance is worth renting this movie for.
Smith and his wife--portrayed by the still elegant Lilian Gish who actually was a star in silent films--are veterans of the civil rights movement in the U.S.A. They like and respect Black people and want to help them, which is why they have come to Haiti with money to invest. They are idealists whose ideals are shattered by what they see in Papa Doc Duvalier's Haiti. Ignorant, even deluded, when they arrive, they learn fast. And the Smiths are not intimidated by the regime's thugs, the infamous **Tonton Macoutes**, who have everyone in the country terrorized.
For those who grew up seeing Paul Ford as the perennially befuddled Col. Hall on the old Phil Silvers comedy TV show, or in movie parts as some blow-hard figure of ridicule, this very surprising performance is worth renting this movie for.