I've always fond of Ray Milland, he had a capability to fulfill his characters with lots of charisma sporting a macho attitude, but maintaining his smooth touch of class act and charming the screen in a debonair way few others could do.
He reminds me of a mix between Alan Ladd, John Wayne and Roger Moore.
"Lisbon" was his second directed film, which he also produced and acted as the leading star, filmed entirely in the beautiful sunny Portugal in the days of the old regime, back in the mid 50's.
Milland plays the role of Captain Robert John Evans, a good-hearted north american smuggler and owner of a fast boat called "Orca", that established his operations in Lisbon smuggling expensive perfumes from North Africa. When a cynical Greek gangster, Aristides Mavros (Claude Rains) offers him a large sum of money to help the millionaire husband of Sylvia Merrill (Maureen O'Hara), held captive in communist China, to evade, Evans is brought to a web of espionage, intrigue and to a femme that may be... fatale !!
Directed with panache by Milland and colorfully photographed by cameraman Jack A. Marta (shot in Trucolor and Naturama), "Lisbon", like the title may suggest, is the real star of this film, one of the last good ones produced by Republic Pictures (in association with the portuguese Tobis Studios where the interiors were shot).
It's impossible to not be amazed of the beautiful scenery and locations, captured with inspired esthetics by the filmmakers, of "Lisboa Antiga" (Ancient Lisbon), which is also the title of the Fado song that so well represented the heart and soul of the Portuguese people in a time when heritage and patriotism were valued, with Fado singer Anita Guerreiro offering a haunting rendition of it in the scene at the restaurant in Alfama, one of the oldest districts of Lisbon, where Milland and O'Hara's characters first met.
Like a tourist guide, but filmed with passion for the city and its surrounding municipalities, Milland shows the world some of the principal Lisbon's secular monuments such as Castelo de São Jorge (Saint George's Castle); Torre de Belém (Tower of Saint Vincent) and Mosteiro dos Jerónimos (Hieronymites Monastery) and also the Rio Tejo (Tagus River), the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula.
Milland also used the beautiful and mystical town of Sintra, today World Heritage Site, to shoot a few scenes showing the Seteais Palace, today a 5 stars Hotel, which overlooks the Pena National Palace, a Romanticist castle and one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal.
Milland and Maureen O'Hara look genuine fascinated with the surroundings and the local folks and that's visible on camera, they even break characters in the scene with the fruits' vendor.
Well, the magnitude of scenery apart and concentrating now on the (side) plot, "Lisbon" is, obviously, reminiscent of the Humphrey Bogart's classics such as "Casablanca" ('42) or "To Have and Have Not" ('44), but more vague & derivative with an upbeat feeling and less intricated in its plot & not so maudlin melodrama, elevated by the optimistic view of the luminous capital of Portugal.
All the main cast performs well with Milland (even that if he started showing some signs of aging around that time), joyfully commanding the screen as the desirable leading star in his pet project; Maureen O'Hara, playing the villain for the first time and having a blast doing it and the great Claude Rains (Captain Louis Renault from "Casablanca") stealing all his scenes with the malevolence and cynicism that his character required (and having the best quotable lines in the whole film).
Yvonne Furneaux as the naive "secretary"; Francis Lederer as the jealous henchman and Edward Chapman as the arrogant butler, all Rains' employees, offer good supporting turns completing the main cast.
In short, "Lisbon" is an enjoyable adventure / film noir / crime film that don't take itself too seriously, to watch with a nostalgic feeling to it, evoking a wonderful Era for filmmaking and presenting a splendorous view of Lisbon, my own hometown, and Sintra, the town where i live for more than 40 years and rewatching this Ray Milland film, produced 20 years before i was even born, reminds me that unfortunately, things didn't changed for the better...
"Lisbon" was his second directed film, which he also produced and acted as the leading star, filmed entirely in the beautiful sunny Portugal in the days of the old regime, back in the mid 50's.
Milland plays the role of Captain Robert John Evans, a good-hearted north american smuggler and owner of a fast boat called "Orca", that established his operations in Lisbon smuggling expensive perfumes from North Africa. When a cynical Greek gangster, Aristides Mavros (Claude Rains) offers him a large sum of money to help the millionaire husband of Sylvia Merrill (Maureen O'Hara), held captive in communist China, to evade, Evans is brought to a web of espionage, intrigue and to a femme that may be... fatale !!
Directed with panache by Milland and colorfully photographed by cameraman Jack A. Marta (shot in Trucolor and Naturama), "Lisbon", like the title may suggest, is the real star of this film, one of the last good ones produced by Republic Pictures (in association with the portuguese Tobis Studios where the interiors were shot).
It's impossible to not be amazed of the beautiful scenery and locations, captured with inspired esthetics by the filmmakers, of "Lisboa Antiga" (Ancient Lisbon), which is also the title of the Fado song that so well represented the heart and soul of the Portuguese people in a time when heritage and patriotism were valued, with Fado singer Anita Guerreiro offering a haunting rendition of it in the scene at the restaurant in Alfama, one of the oldest districts of Lisbon, where Milland and O'Hara's characters first met.
Like a tourist guide, but filmed with passion for the city and its surrounding municipalities, Milland shows the world some of the principal Lisbon's secular monuments such as Castelo de São Jorge (Saint George's Castle); Torre de Belém (Tower of Saint Vincent) and Mosteiro dos Jerónimos (Hieronymites Monastery) and also the Rio Tejo (Tagus River), the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula.
Milland also used the beautiful and mystical town of Sintra, today World Heritage Site, to shoot a few scenes showing the Seteais Palace, today a 5 stars Hotel, which overlooks the Pena National Palace, a Romanticist castle and one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal.
Milland and Maureen O'Hara look genuine fascinated with the surroundings and the local folks and that's visible on camera, they even break characters in the scene with the fruits' vendor.
Well, the magnitude of scenery apart and concentrating now on the (side) plot, "Lisbon" is, obviously, reminiscent of the Humphrey Bogart's classics such as "Casablanca" ('42) or "To Have and Have Not" ('44), but more vague & derivative with an upbeat feeling and less intricated in its plot & not so maudlin melodrama, elevated by the optimistic view of the luminous capital of Portugal.
All the main cast performs well with Milland (even that if he started showing some signs of aging around that time), joyfully commanding the screen as the desirable leading star in his pet project; Maureen O'Hara, playing the villain for the first time and having a blast doing it and the great Claude Rains (Captain Louis Renault from "Casablanca") stealing all his scenes with the malevolence and cynicism that his character required (and having the best quotable lines in the whole film).
Yvonne Furneaux as the naive "secretary"; Francis Lederer as the jealous henchman and Edward Chapman as the arrogant butler, all Rains' employees, offer good supporting turns completing the main cast.
In short, "Lisbon" is an enjoyable adventure / film noir / crime film that don't take itself too seriously, to watch with a nostalgic feeling to it, evoking a wonderful Era for filmmaking and presenting a splendorous view of Lisbon, my own hometown, and Sintra, the town where i live for more than 40 years and rewatching this Ray Milland film, produced 20 years before i was even born, reminds me that unfortunately, things didn't changed for the better...