Ultimatum für Bohrturm L-9

Another reviewer was right, this film seems a lot like the Gable-Tracy film BOOM TOWN, but instead stars Pat O'Brien and John Garfield. Like BOOM TOWN, this one is about the oil business and guys who love to gamble on whether or not they can make a strike. Ironically, this movie debuted only one week before BOOM TOWN and I assume both films, while similar, were created completely separately and didn't influence the other--but it sure looks like they are the same general plot.

The film begins with Garfield looking for a job in the oil fields. However, he has a secret--he's a wanted man. Despite this, O'Brien is impressed with Garfield and feels he's an honest man, so he decides to give Garfield a break.

Later, Frances Langford comes along and takes an instant dislike for Garfield. If you are familiar with films of this era, this can only mean one thing--they'll be head over heels in love by the end of the movie! The problem is that O'Brien as well is interested in Langford--creating a dilemma. Will Garfield stab his buddy in the back to get the girl or will O'Brien be a regular guy and step aside? It's all predictable but fun--the sort of film which Warner Brothers did so well. Light fluff, of course, but enjoyable fluff.

So of the two films, which is worth seeing? Well, I'd say it was a toss-up--both are about equally good (but far from great), though BOOM TOWN might be a tiny bit better. Of course, I might just feel this way because Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert were in this film--two of my all-time favorites.

Oil-rig worker from Montana, on the run from police, finds himself out west; seems he's killed a man in self-defense and didn't argue too much when his fellow cell-mates made a break for it. A tough but friendly oil foreman takes him on, and together they work feverishly to strike a gusher or lose their lease on the land. An odd, somewhat dislocating mix of elements (noir, gangster drama, light comedy, romance) gets the film off to a convoluted start--even with self-assured John Garfield in the lead. Garfield is so casual about his toughness, his armor, that he walks through the picture almost gregariously, lightening the load. Pat O'Brien (with his large, handsome face, as if he were grandfather to George Clooney) is wonderful as John's first real friend, but Frances Framer is a walking question-mark as the love-interest. With her unhappy eyes and deep, husky voice, Farmer doesn't connect with the audience and never really gets into character, not that there's much of one (she welcomes a date with O'Brien but just as quickly falls for Garfield the same evening). The script, by Kenneth Gamet from a story by Rex Beach, is overly-complicated at the outset, but improves after it settles into a more conventional mode (the technical detail is a big help). The movie delivers a good time in the end, despite some outlandish circumstances and a bit of overplaying from the eccentrics in the supporting cast. **1/2 from ****

This movie reminds you of Boom Town, with Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy fighting each other sometimes and then being friends again. That was an "A" picture and this one is a "B" picture. This one stars John Garfield and Pat O'Brien as two oil workers, who both fall in love with Francis Farmer. Garfield is wanted for murder and running from the cops but O'Brien won't turn him in. Garfield and Farmer are always fighting with each other but it's pretty obvious that their in love. O'Brien is also in love with Farmer but he's too late. Their isn't too much else to the plot and this was one of Garfield's lesser films. Pat O'Brien is his usual self and Farmer's career went downhill after this film.

I'm one of those people that think John Garfield could do no wrong. If had been alive, I would have numbered among the 10,000-strong throngs at his stupendous funeral.

Sure, this movie has been done in many guises before. But how many remember the others? Why do we continue to watch a movie when we know precisely how it's going to end? Something else has to string you in. It has to be something you've never seen before and yet seems so familiar that you can't help but see it anyway.

I say: How many will remember what John Garfield could add - in bushels - to any simply wrought movie? Why, his charm and rough exterior could convince a lamb to go to slaughter.

Enough cannot be said about "Jules" as they used to call him. One in a million, they say. I'll say that to the Nth degree until they beat me down. No actor could relate to the common man like he did. Others were prettier, more dashing, taller or a dozen other things.

But no one, ever again, will be a John Garfield.

Frances Farmer never looked lovelier in this adventure/drama about wildcat oilmen trying to beat the lease deadline and bring in an oil well. John Garfield once again is on the lam for a self-defense murder, hooking up with Pat O'Brien and Farmer's father (Raymond Walburn), and constantly apprehensive about the police looking to find him. You can guess what happens - a love triangle between Garfield and O'Brien for Farmer is inevitable. Some minimal comedy is provided by Walburn, Tom Kennedy, Cliff Edwards, and Edwards' fiancée, Jody Gilbert, but I greatly enjoyed some of the special effects, particularly the very exciting oil fire sequence near the end. At one point there's also a most impressive shot of a gusher coming in with the oil rushing towards the camera mounted on top of the derrick. I wondered how that was done without ruining the camera. Still, the stars make the movie worth looking into.