SAIGON is a rarely seen Paramount classic that should be better known. It ranks up there among the best of Alan Ladd's adventure yarns from the 1940s. It was the fourth of four pics the star made with Veronica Lake. All their films together contain a serious crime element, mixing noir with romance.
SAIGON goes a step further and includes postwar concerns. It is the most mature of the Ladd-Lake collaborations...not just because they're older, but because they've survived the war and are struggling to adjust afterward. It feels as if some of the dialogue is self-reflexive-- because Lake's character is labeled difficult at times, and the actress was notoriously obstinate on the sets of her movies.
While the two leads exhibit chemistry, their characters are not initially paired off. Lake plays the secretary of an international criminal (Morris Carnovsky) who hires Ladd and his military pals (Wally Cassell & Douglas Dick) to fly a plane to Saigon. The guys have just been discharged from the army after four years in the Pacific Theater. The three men barely survived battle...Ladd has received several medals...and Dick just had an operation and spent considerable time in the hospital. Cassell is the comic relief member of the group, sometimes playing a concertina to lighten the mood; he's not as heroic or as suffering as the other two.
The initial set-up involves Ladd and Cassell learning that Dick only has a few months to live. After speaking to the doctor, they decide not to tell Dick the prognosis and take a job flying Carnovsky's aircraft with Lake aboard. This will continue their time together, filled with more adventure. The goal is to pack a lot of living into the remaining time that their friend has left, before they must say goodbye. As they are approaching Vietnam, there is engine trouble and the plane crashes. They are helped by farmers then make their way by oxcart into Saigon.
During the trek to the city, Dick falls for Lake. Ladd doesn't care much for Lake at this point, since he assumes she's as crooked as her employer...but he gradually learns she's not a bad person and actually has a heart. When Lake is told the truth about Dick's medical condition, she plays along so that the poor guy can spend the rest of his life happy, even though she knows he's too good for her.
As they settle in at the hotel, a police inspector (Luther Adler) turns up and starts to play mind games with them. He is trying to locate $500,000 that Lake was carrying in a briefcase. The money goes missing, naturally, but this part of the plot is backgrounded when the focus shifts to Lake's sudden engagement to Dick while falling for Ladd. Eventually, Dick's character dies, but not from his ailments. Instead, he's gunned down in a standoff involving Ladd, the police and Lake's boss.
As the story builds to its dramatic climax, we are told about wartime smuggling, the continued trafficking of stolen goods in the post-war period, and how some profiteers still remain at large. The script isn't preachy, and all the performances hold up nicely. I was particularly impressed with Carnovsky who makes the most of his limited screen time.
Miss Lake is as glamorous as ever. She has returned to her signature hairstyle in this picture, though she'd soon chop it off for SLATTERY'S HURRICANE (1949). As for Mr. Ladd, he's in his prime and right at home in these types of motion picture assignments.
As always Paramount's interior designs are elaborate. The Saigon hotel set is a real marvel, and director Leslie Fenton treats us to several long tracking shots up the staircase and down the main upstairs corridor. This allows us to absorb all the rich details that go hand in hand with the intrigue. But what we remember above all else is how a hero and a lady make a pal's last days memorable. It's a flight to Saigon that allows them to reach their destiny.
SAIGON goes a step further and includes postwar concerns. It is the most mature of the Ladd-Lake collaborations...not just because they're older, but because they've survived the war and are struggling to adjust afterward. It feels as if some of the dialogue is self-reflexive-- because Lake's character is labeled difficult at times, and the actress was notoriously obstinate on the sets of her movies.
While the two leads exhibit chemistry, their characters are not initially paired off. Lake plays the secretary of an international criminal (Morris Carnovsky) who hires Ladd and his military pals (Wally Cassell & Douglas Dick) to fly a plane to Saigon. The guys have just been discharged from the army after four years in the Pacific Theater. The three men barely survived battle...Ladd has received several medals...and Dick just had an operation and spent considerable time in the hospital. Cassell is the comic relief member of the group, sometimes playing a concertina to lighten the mood; he's not as heroic or as suffering as the other two.
The initial set-up involves Ladd and Cassell learning that Dick only has a few months to live. After speaking to the doctor, they decide not to tell Dick the prognosis and take a job flying Carnovsky's aircraft with Lake aboard. This will continue their time together, filled with more adventure. The goal is to pack a lot of living into the remaining time that their friend has left, before they must say goodbye. As they are approaching Vietnam, there is engine trouble and the plane crashes. They are helped by farmers then make their way by oxcart into Saigon.
During the trek to the city, Dick falls for Lake. Ladd doesn't care much for Lake at this point, since he assumes she's as crooked as her employer...but he gradually learns she's not a bad person and actually has a heart. When Lake is told the truth about Dick's medical condition, she plays along so that the poor guy can spend the rest of his life happy, even though she knows he's too good for her.
As they settle in at the hotel, a police inspector (Luther Adler) turns up and starts to play mind games with them. He is trying to locate $500,000 that Lake was carrying in a briefcase. The money goes missing, naturally, but this part of the plot is backgrounded when the focus shifts to Lake's sudden engagement to Dick while falling for Ladd. Eventually, Dick's character dies, but not from his ailments. Instead, he's gunned down in a standoff involving Ladd, the police and Lake's boss.
As the story builds to its dramatic climax, we are told about wartime smuggling, the continued trafficking of stolen goods in the post-war period, and how some profiteers still remain at large. The script isn't preachy, and all the performances hold up nicely. I was particularly impressed with Carnovsky who makes the most of his limited screen time.
Miss Lake is as glamorous as ever. She has returned to her signature hairstyle in this picture, though she'd soon chop it off for SLATTERY'S HURRICANE (1949). As for Mr. Ladd, he's in his prime and right at home in these types of motion picture assignments.
As always Paramount's interior designs are elaborate. The Saigon hotel set is a real marvel, and director Leslie Fenton treats us to several long tracking shots up the staircase and down the main upstairs corridor. This allows us to absorb all the rich details that go hand in hand with the intrigue. But what we remember above all else is how a hero and a lady make a pal's last days memorable. It's a flight to Saigon that allows them to reach their destiny.