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I've seen this film a number of times on TV and caught it in the theaters over a half-century ago and loved it. As a kid, it had great appeal to me and lots of action, fun and, of course, the lovely Maureen O'Hara, who was always worth the price of admission. John Payne was an underused, underrated actor who always turned in solid, albeit low key, performance. This film, which is a yarn based on the military action of the US Marines against the Tripoli pirates basically spins fight scenes between the bad guys and a coalition of good guys, including veteran character actor Howard Da Silva as a Greek mercenary. The good guys win, of course and Payne gets the girl (but we knew that anyway, didn't we?) and this is a film that if it pops up on the late show (no video or DVD listed), is certainly worth checking out for some good, solid escapism.

In 1805 a force of U.S. Marines is sent to North Africa to put a stop to a collection of seagoing bandits known as the Barbary Pirates, who were preying on American and other nations' merchant vessels. John Payne is the officer in charge of the expeditionary force, Maureen O'Hara a French countess and Howard Da Silva a Greek mercenary hired to help the Marines find and destroy the pirates. This is an enjoyable little actioner, a little ragged around the edges, but its vigorous action scenes and good performances more than make up for it. Payne has always been an underrated actor, and it took several dark, gritty little thrillers with director Phil Karlson in the mid-'50s to show people what he was capable of. O'Hara, aka the Queen of Technicolor, was married to director Will Price at the time, which explains why he got to direct this. He only directed two other films, neither of them particularly good--in fact, one of them, "Rock, Rock, Rock" from 1957, was downright awful--and his direction here is workmanlike (action scenes are almost always shot by second-unit directors). It's still an enjoyable little actioner, though; the Technicolor photography is good, and unlike many films of its type it doesn't come to a dead stop between action scenes (well, for the most part). If it ever comes out on video or DVD, check it out. You could do a lot worse.

This would not have been worth much seeing if it hadn't been for the expedition made from upper Egypt down to Libya with hardships and sandstorms and other frustrating complications along the way by Qattara (Remember "Ice Cold in Alex?" This was 140 years earlier.). This is the realistic part of the film, and it is the more interesting for taking place in 1805 - the war in question is that against Napoleon, which is never mentioned. Maureen O'Hara is a stranded countess courted by a local prince, John Payne runs into her by chance and gets trouble with her from the start, so it seems he just seeks her out to have someone to quarrel with. It's the usual story. Their quarrel and nagging goes on throughout the film until it's time for them to focus their interest on more important matters, like a navy which doesn't want to take orders from John Payne. The military battle in the end is just the usual tearing down the whole city stone by stone after first demolishing the interiors of every palace worth some sight-seeing. Howard de Silva saves the show as an intrepid Greek captain with a company of his own, and hardly anyone of the Americans would have survived without his contribution. It was the first time the American flag was planted outside the States and unfortunately not the last time. A silly story made as spectacular as possible and saved only by history and adventure, but the music throughout is excellent.

In 1805 a small group of American Marines are assigned a dangerous mission against the rulers of Tripoli whose pirates have been plundering ships entering the Mediterranean.

Maureen O'Hara is feisty as always as the "Countess D'Arneau". She is the love interest/advisor to the refugee Pasha of Tripoli (Phillip Reed) whom the US government wants to see returned to his throne so the Tripolitan pirates will stop harassing US merchantmen. The underrated John Payne plays "O'Bannion" who leads a small group on a mission - it's an action-packed, colourful adventure with intelligent dialogue, love rivalry, struggles (sandstorm sequence, for example), subterfuge and romance. Payne's character can be a bit up himself, arrogant, but he's hero so he gets the leading lady. There's not much naval action, it's mainly set on land - the climax is quite exciting.

Anyone who's wondered about the places named in the lyrics of the Marine Corps hymn, would find part of the answer in this film. "Tripoli" of 1950 provides the answer to the last half of the opening line, "From the Halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli." This film tells the story of the first battle of the U. S. Marines, which took place in April 1805 in what is now Libya, North Africa. The U. S. refused to pay passage fees in the Mediterranean and its commercial ships were attacked by corsairs of various Ottoman city-states along the Barbary Coast. So, Pres. Thomas Jefferson authorized naval and military actions to break the pirating centers. Tripoli, in present-day Libya, had the biggest fleet of pirates. But before confronting it, a plan was carried out to stop neighboring port cities from coming to Tripoli's aid. Thus, the Battle of Derna in April 1805.

This battle was also the first military overseas land action by the fledgling U. S. nation that was formed less than 30 years before. The general story is here, but there is considerable background that those interested in history, especially, would enjoy reading about. The Encyclopedia Britannica has a couple of very good articles.

As for this film, it is a mixture of cast and characters both real and fictional. John Payne plays Marine Lt. Presley O'Bannon. In the movie he is in charge of the land force. In real life, he was second in command. The movie has a fictional Navy Lt. Pitt in second command. In real life it was former Army Lt. William Eaton, now American consul to the Barbary States, who commanded the land forces. In this movie, Eaten is a general, played by Herbert Heyes. His mission was to coordinate with commodore Barron for a two-pronged assault on Derna - from land and sea. He would lead the land party.

The Hollywood of Great Britain must have thought the film wouldn't go over as well without a female lead, and some light comedy. So, considerable fiction surrounds these with Maureen O'Hara as an Italian countess who is an intimate acquaintance and resident with the former pasha. And, Howard Da Silva plays a fictional Capt. Demetrios who bring his dozen and a half Greek fighters on board - for a price, of course.

Well, the film and the actual battle never got to within 500 miles of Tripoli. Eaton - Lt. O'Bannon in this film, led a small force overland more than 500 miles from Alexandria, Egypt, to attack Derna from the rear, while the Navy ships bombarded the city from the sea. The land force consisted of a squad of 10 Marines with O'Bannon, and the small force of former Tripoli Pasha, Hamet Karmanli. He had been deposed by his brother. The rest of the bulk of the land army were mercenaries hired by the Americans. But the operation was a success, and, the result also has some more interesting historical background. The land force took nearly two months to cross the Libyan desert from Alexandria, Egypt to their target.

It might seem a little odd to some that the Marine participation was just a handful of men. And, theirs was an overland cavalry march and assault; where the Marines traditionally and mostly have combat assaults from the sea. Well, the rest of the Marine Hymn is about the Halls of Montezuma, and that actually occurred later, in September of 1847 during the Mexican-American War. That was the Battle of Chapultepec, when a Marine force stormed the Castle and took it at a great cost of 90% casualties. The red stripe on the Marine Corps dress uniform is symbolic of that sacrifice. And, the reference to the Halls of Montezuma is poetic, because the castle was built by the Spanish more than two centuries after the defeat of the Aztec Montezuma.

When the lyrics for the Marine hymn developed, the order of the two battles was geographic in relation to distance from the U. S., rather than chronological. The musical score dates from 1867, but the lyrics, by an unknown author, were added later. The Marines' Hymn became the oldest official song in the U. S. Armed Forces in 1929.

This movie is enjoyable as a fictional portrayal of the first U. S. combat on foreign soil, and its place in the Marine Corps hymn. Here are some favorite lines from the film.

Capt. Demetrios, "At your service, general." Lt. O'Bannon, "Lieutenant." Demetrios, "I can't take orders from a lieutenant. I will call you colonel." O'Bannon, "Thanks for the promotion. This is Lt. Tripp. You can call him admiral."

Capt. Demetrios, "They tell me you need fighting men. Here we are." Lt. O'Bannon, "For a price, of course." Demetrios, "Naturally. Only women and boys fight for fun."

Lt. Tripp, "How many men do you have, captain?" Capt. Demetrios, "Sixteen." Tripp, "What nationality?" Demetrios, "Originally Greek. Since then, Egyptian, Phoenician, Arabian, Turkish, and now, American."

Sgt. Derek, buying stores for the long voyage, "Start with that Arab. I don't wanna have to buy the same herd more than twice."

Sgt. Derek, "Sir, his highness's compliments. He requests the pleasure of your company for chow." Lt. O'Bannon, "Kings have dinner, sergeant, not chow." Derek, "Yes, sir."

Lt. Tripp, "You're making a big mistake." Lt. O'Bannon, "That's the way to make 'em - BIG!"

Lt. Tripp, "You can't send her back there with those women. Whatever you think of her, she's a lady." Lt. O'Bannon, "I know, But they won't mind."

Lt. O'Bannon, "Tell Derek to double the guard." Lt. Tripp, "How do we do that - cut each man in half?" O'Bannon, "Why, Mr. Tripp, you made a joke. Happy to have you aboard, sir."

Lt. Tripp, "Maybe someday you'll tell me what's so funny about a war." Lt. O'Bannon, "Nothing! It's just the people in it."

Although Tripoli is never reached, this film is the story of the US Marines hoisting the American flag for the first time over foreign soil at the port city of Derna in Libya. Our capture of that city forced a negotiated peace on the Sultan of Tripoli and ended our war there which began against the Barbary States and the pirate ships they employed for plunder and ransom.

Now how Maureen O'Hara as an exiled French countess in the court of the exiled Sultan figured in these events is something left to the writers of this film. At least her flaming red hair was explained somewhat in this particular potboiler.

In her memoirs O'Hara thought her casting in these films was as ridiculous as anyone else, but she thought that just keep working, take anything they give you and the better roles will eventually come.

John Payne plays the real life Lieutenant O'Bannion who with his squad of US Marines led the land action while the Navy bombarded the guns guarding Derna from sea attack. He did not have a romance with a French exiled countess. Howard DaSilva has a nice and droll part as a Greek mercenary captain. This flag waver of a film was an ironic twist in DaSilva's career, he went on the blacklist shortly afterward.

Philip Reed is the exiled Sultan who lives pretty good for a guy in exile and he's the diplomatic catspaw the United States used. And I mean used since he was not restored to his throne as promised in the film and in real life. Of course as he's shown here Reed is quite the duplicitous character so nobody cares if he was or not. What he was in real life, who knows. But there are those who feel America broke a commitment. In any event the Sultan of Tripoli stopped seizing our ships and that's what we wanted.

What is an interesting if not often told tale of American history is reduced to the Saturday matinée kiddie potboiler of the pulp fiction variety. Tripoli has not worn well over the decades.

I have to disagree with the other reviewers of this film, in that what they thought was a plus I found extremely negative. That of course I am talking about the incredibly annoying character Countess D'Arneau played by Maureen O'Hara. The character of the Countess D'Arneau seems like it was written for a different movie, or every other action was written for a different movie. The movie therefore cannot choose which way it wants to go, sweet romantic comedy or macho manly movie about solders racing across the desert. Unfortunately it tries to do both and fails miserably. It is very possible to re-cut the film and take out every scene with Maureen O'Hara. This would leave us with a dandy little historical war film (although short). Obviously this left me very disappointed because there are so few films about the time and subject and when one is as good as this it gets ruined by Hollywoods need to put a leading lady into every film.

Bottom line... Unless you are willing to fast forward through the needless drivel avoid this one. If you are willing than the rest is a well acted and well staged piece of American history.

I am an ex-history teacher and learning about interesting historical characters is something I really love. So, I was excited to learn about a real life hero, Lt. O'Bannon (misspelled 'O'Bannion' on IMDB). During the war with the Barbary pirates on the north African coast in the early 1800s, he led an expedition of US marines and locals against the pirates who were hunkered down in what is modern day Libya. They were hunkered down because the US Navy was blockading the port where the pirates did their dirty work...and the move against them with a small group of marines was gutsy considering the USA was very tiny and weak at the time. Because he and his actions are celebrated in "Tripoli" I was excited to see the movie. Sadly, while it does glamorize his actions, it also is filled with cliches and isn't very good.

The story begins on one of the US Navy's ships outside of Tripoli. In order to break the stalemate, a daring plan has been hatched...to have a small group of Marines on the ship go to Egypt to enlist the aid of a group of mercenaries as well as the man who thinks he SHOULD be in charge of the Barbary Coast. This means marching them hundreds of miles through the desert and taking the enemy by surprise.

So, why did I dislike the film so much? Maureen O'Hara. While she was a fine actress in many ways, in the 1940s and 50s, she also often played the same sort of godawful character...a supposed 'feminist' who is supposedly the equal of any man. I say supposed in both cases because what she really plays is a 1950 version of a Hollywood feminist who REALLY needs a man to tame and dominate her...a horrible and silly cliche. She essentially plays her part like she is busting with testosterone and can act as manly as any man...which really is a caricature instead of a feminist icon! It's embarrassing and annoying to watch...and the notion of such a woman tagging along with this expedition makes zero sense. I assume this part was written into the film because the director was O'Hara's husband at the time. Regardless, it's bad...like putting a tough as nails woman in "The Longest Day" or "The Dirty Dozen"...and making her strong but really weak and in need of a man! Oh, good grief...what a terrible script idea.

The audience gets jipped out of seeing an interesting film because Hollywood is too busy writing checks for unnecessary production values that cost the studio a small mint.

See the oxen, camels, and fake palm trees as John Payne runs around trying not to look too embarrassed wearing his marching band hat. Meanwhile, Maureen O'Hara does her spitting and grunting shtick as she scowls through the whole flick (as usual). Mostly boring with few script directions.

Hollywood put a lot of effort into these silly costume adventures because the producers are all deadheads with a penchant for wasting time and money.

This is a strongly-scripted and well-made adventure film, with solid stars in Maureen O'Hara, John Payne and Howard da Silva . But its directorial history is a bit curious. Will Smith, then O'Hara's husband, had been wanting to direct. he got his chance with this movie and did a creditable job as producer and as director However, he had been cheating on her, so the couple divorced soon afterward and Price only directed two forgettable movies thereafter. The story told herein is of a mission featuring a force of US marines sent to combat the 18005 activities of the "Barbary Pirates", North African corsairs who were stopping the ships of other nations and robbing them or worse. The Marine's Hymn refers in the line "to the shores of Tripoli", to this same action. Maureen O'Hara, lovely and talented as ever, plays a French countess inexplicably betrothed to a local bigwig; Da Silva is humorous and excellent as a Greek mercenary hired to help Payne's marines find and destroy the pirates and their stronghold. Much of the film's footage concerns desert treks, during which the male-female conflict between Payne and O'Hara turns into something much more than mere instant dislike. There are some very -fine achievements connected with this attractive color production. James Wong Howe did the cinematography, Winston Miller and Price the script, Yvonne Wood the costumes, Alfred Kegerris the sets and Howard Pine the action and second- unit footage, which is far-above average. Those actors who contributed to this fast-moping and unusually-intelligent film included Philip Reed as the Countess's nefarious pursuer, Grant Withers, Connie Gilchrist, Alan Napier, Herbert Heyes, Lowell Gilmore, Grandon Rhodes and Rose Turich. There is a visually-exciting concluding battle and a happy ending. Favorite line: Greek da Silva modestly replying to US brass's thanks by saying, "Always glad to help a young country get started." A favorite film of mine, for several reasons; this is more than just a vehicle for the stars; it has dialogue, lovely scenic values and very good blocking, acting and overall production qualities.

kenneth roberts deserves credit as the author of a book made into two separate movies: (a) Lydia Baily a serious movie which explores the racial conflict in the haitian rebellion when Afro-French (Haitians) claimed the rights of Frenchmen to Liberte Egalite et Fraternite and (b) regrettably Tripoli, america's war with certain peoples of a near eastern background, the radicals of their time belonging to a certain religious grouping.

the movie is nerdy in its presentation of american fighting men confronting the culture of the exotic near east. particularly the movie makes LT O'Bannon into a sexually repressed nerd, unable to speak in the presence of beveiled women.

I gave this movie a six instead of the zero it deserves because the young american republic is so poorly represented in the cinema.

This isn't an half bad little action adventure film with Maureen O'Hara on feisty form as the "Countess D'Arneau". She is the love interest/advisor to the refugee Pasha of Tripoli (Phillip Reed) whom the US government wants to see returned to his throne so the Tripolitan pirates will stop harassing US merchantmen. To that end, they send a small troop led by "O'Bannion" (John Payne) and what ensues is quite an action-packed yarn with plenty of subterfuge, a bit of lively love rivalry (on and off camera, apparently) before quite a an exciting conclusion. There is just the slightest hint of historical fact to the story, but historians need not reach for their red pencils - this is just colourful, well made escapism that works well on a wet Saturday afternoon.

In case you saw To the Shores of Tripoli, a 1942 military romance starring John Payne and Maureen O'Hara, you might assume Tripoli, a 1950 military romance starring John Payne and Maureen O'Hara, would be exactly the same movie. It's not. Neither one of them is very good, but they are quite different.

Tripoli takes place in the early 1800s. Pirates in Libya fight against the Marines, and the subsequent march through the desert and battle show audiences why the first line of the USMC theme song starts the way it does. However, the movie is pretty boring, and without the forced romance between John and Maureen, it might have put me to sleep. She starts the movie involved with Phillip Reed, and it's clear she has no real feelings for him but is only after his money and his title. But, since Hollywood was pretty racist back then, it's beyond clear she won't end up with the non-white guy. There's really no suspense, and it's no surprise that she falls for the first white guy she meets.

Unless this part of history or battle in particular really interests you, find yourself another war movie. There are thousands to choose from.