User Reviews

With high expectations upon watching another Alan Ladd/Veronica Lake film, I found Saigon a sad ending of what had been film noir's most exciting pairing of two of 1940s most popular stars. Veronica Lake looks tired throughout most of the film and the agitated character she plays, does not give her a chance to relax with her usual coolness. Alan Ladd's character also lacks his usual charisma and try as he might, his scenes with Lake are more fizzle than sizzle, and his part restricts him from doing very much in the sock-and-bust'em line. The other players in this film, including one fellow who is doomed to die and another who's a wag, do little to stimulate any excitement. And the ending takes place in a cemetery, which only adds to the melancholy realization of the end of an era. With all of this said, the story does move at a brisk pace, has some interesting moments, and the sets designed to capture the proper Vietnam atmosphere are adequate. For the fans of Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake, this film will either satisfy or disappoint.

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.

This movie does prove that Alan Ladd looks great in a tuxedo and would have made a great James Bond. Veronica Lake plays a secretary without a sense of humor until the last 1/3 of the film where she suddenly starts to look more like her usual sexy, peekaboo self. Only the last 1/3 of the film takes place in Saigon. The first hour is just the characters trying to get to Saigon. Weirdly, almost all the last 1/2 hour takes place in a hotel where their appears to be no Vietnamese. The movie could have been called Santa Cruz or San Diego, or any city name with as much relevance to the plot. The movie is surprisingly lacking in wit and suspense, at least until the last 20 minutes where things pick up a bit. I think the movie is just for Alan Ladd fans. The quote "This happened because it had to happen" is the best line in the movie, which tells you how bad the movie is.

Copyright 12 March 1948 by Paramount Pictures. New York release at the Paramount: 31 March 1948. U.S. release: 12 March 1948. U.K. release: 9 February 1948. Sydney release at the Prince Edward (for 4 weeks): 26 March 1948. Australian release: 22 April 1948. 8,493 feet. 94 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Air Force buddy has only two months to live, so Major Alan Ladd takes on a dubious charter flight to earn the money to show him a good time.

COMMENT: This final teaming of Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake is a bit disappointing. Many of the ingredients for an exciting film are here, but the script forces Ladd to constantly take a back place in romance to Douglas Dick. Ladd has too little to do. And when the climactic action is handed over to Wally Cassell, one wonders if the producers are not trying to torpedo our hero's career. (A great stunt fall at the climax - but it's not Ladd that's made to look good).

Nevertheless, the film is beautifully mounted. Seitz's photography is most attractive, sets and costumes are dazzling. Fenton's direction is immaculately smooth. No expense has been spared on crowds and atmosphere.

Despite his often-relegated position on the sidelines, Ladd plays with his usual gruff vigor. Miss Lake is appropriately viperish as a vamp with both eyes on a fortune. Mr Dick is amiably weak as the buddy with too much platinum in his head. The main support players - Luther Adler as a cat-and-mouse detective, Mikhail Rasumny clerking a rundown hotel, Morris Carnovsky as a silken villain, and Eugene Borden as a philosophical if exasperated captain/engineer/steward - are one and all excellent, though Mr Cassell is perhaps just a little too bright and breezy in his stereotyped role of a girl-loving sergeant.

OTHER VIEWS: Exciting thriller, played against exotic backgrounds - all brilliantly created in the studio, with convincing miniatures and almost imperceptible process screen effects. The art directors have excelled themselves here. Both sets and players are lovingly photographed by ace cameraman John F. Seitz. Director Fenton has drawn capable performances from his cast, kept the plot moving briskly and staged his action sequences with thrilling realism and drama. In all, splendid entertainment, impeccably (and expensively) produced. - J.H.R. writing as George Addison.

This has the potential to be an intriguing little Noir Adventure but somewhere along the line, it turns maudlin. It's the last of four major pairings for Alan Lads and Veronica Lake, and while the two still show off some heat, they are lacking in a great story and an intriguing script. Ladd and pal Douglas Dick are free of their war service and are hired by mobster Morris Carnovsky to transport him to Saigon, and unfortunately, only Carnovsky's secretary, Lake shows up, and Ladd is forced to take off due to the police being nearby. Lake is naturally furious, and threatens to have led charged with kidnapping, but eventually attraction is something they cannot deny even though Dick, not realizing that he is dying, falls in love with lake and proposes to her. Carnovsky shows up in Saigon to cause carbo, insisting that there are only two things that he loves. They are a decent secretary and a ton of money, apparently hidden in the satchel that Lake had when she boarded the plane.

The romantic chemistry between Ladd and Lake is certainly hot, but unfortunately the film lacks in humor and atmosphere. The only attempts at any type of lightness are provided by minor characters, it is really insubstantial at best. A few good action sequences and fights place an intense conclusion do give the film an extra Notch, but compared to the other three feet of the team, this is a bore. Carnovsky is obviously emulating George Macready in 'Gilda", and Ladd and Lake are memorable, but it is unfortunate that their last film together is so disappointing.