La frontera del terror

If for nothing else, this film is memorable for a scene in which the heroine is chased around the hero's boat by the mate, Mike, played by Sean Connery, as obvious prelude to rape, while said hero, a particularly grubby-looking Van Johnson (who had seen better days in Santa Fe Trail and The Strange Love of Martha Ivers) looks on indifferently. Somehow or other she gets out of this, but the idea that having escaped the clutches of Connery she would subsequently fall hard for Van Johnson give cinema one of it great "huh?" moments. Otherwise, the movie lacks much interest or originality despite the Albanian background which certainly could have been better exploited, as Albania was known during its Communist era as the last surviving medieval society in Europe, and attracted a goodly share of antiquarian tourists.

Action of the Tiger is a very ordinary anti-Communist film that benefits from a location shoot in Greece (filling in for nearby Albania). The woefully miscast Van Johnson plays Carson, an amoral American smuggler who agrees to help blonde bombshell Martine Carol rescue her brother from the bondage of Enver Hoxha and company. Herbert Lom and Sean Connery provide assistance for Johnson, whose part really should have gone to someone with a little more gravitas, perhaps Sterling Hayden or Richard Widmark. Instead, our lead tries to prove his masculinity by wearing sweaters that are much too tight, a less than pretty sight. Desmond Dickinson's cinematography is uniformly good, especially in exterior setups, but the script is undercooked and ultimately unbelievable, as our heroes end up rescuing a motley assortment of Greek children and outwitting those dumb commies. Action of the Tiger is also of minor interest for Connery fans, as the Scots actor would reunite with director Terence Young for a little film called Dr. No five years later.

This movie by Terence Young is the typical adventure-movie of the fifties. The action in Albania is well described with the Albanian resistance against communism and the double-spy colonel Stendho. The battles - horses against jeeps - are realistic and the Albanian family-life and the Countess Valona is also realistic with the remembrance of the past (Italians, Geeks). Martine Carol is wonderful and she does everything to save the children and her brother. Captain Carson is the typical American smuggler of the Mediterranean Sea and he falls in love with Tracy Malvoisie (Carol). Good script, good family-movie.

Van Johnson stars with Martine Carol and Herbert Lom in "Action of the Tiger" from 1957. Sean Connery has a small role.

Johnson plays Carson, an American contraband runner in Greece who is approached by a beautiful woman, Tracy (Carol) who wants to pay him to take her to Communist Albania. She will only say she has to see someone there. He is categorically not interested. His conscience won't let him - even if she arrives there, she won't get out alive.

Later, Carson and his buddy Mike have to flee the police when they become involved in a drunken brawl. They board Carson's boat - and there is Tracy. They finally agree on a $10,000 price to leave her ashore in Albania. He has to return with cargo - perishable, he says, so he can't be there for long.

In Albania, Carson arranges to meet his contact there, Kol (Jose Nieto). Tracy admits she wants to see her brother, and if he will agree to take him back to Greece with them, she will pay him extra. Her brother is a French diplomat, and the Communists won't want him to leave. Again, Carson says no way - just see him and get out. Later, Kol agrees to take her to see him, due to her brother's condition.

It turns out the perishable cargo is children whose parents are paying to get them out of the country. Before Carson knows it, he's stuck with Tracy, her blind brother, his girlfriend, and a bunch of kids. They then make their way back to the border, and it's treacherous.

I see this film has been roundly criticized as an average adventure film - I actually don't see many of these, and I found this one absorbing and the ending quite sweet. Van Johnson was a great asset for MGM - he was charming and goodlooking for lighter fare, but could do serious drama as well. Here he's actually sexy at times.

Carol said later the part would have been played better by Sean Connery, who was as yet not a name. I'm sure Connery would have been fantastic. Johnson did well nonetheless.

The color and scenery are beautiful.

Along Romania, Albania suffered after WW2 the hardest communist dictatorship; Enver Hoxca (d.1985) ,who proclaimed his country the most atheist in the world,was responsible for extremely bloody reprisals .

It came to an end only in 1991. Today the country has opened up to Tourism ; you can go to the country from Greece by boat .....

But circa 1957 ,you were not able to walk just right in, like our heroes ; the borders were inaccessible, and a guy and his machine gun ( Sean Connery in the movie) single-handedly fighting both the Albanian soldiers and police , in your dreams perhaps !

Not only the captain (Van Johnson ) and his passenger (Martine Carol) can enter the country ,but most of the time they cross the country while effotlessly deceiving caricatures of soldiers (the galeries Lafayette bill - a department store in Paris- takes the biscuit !) and finding the brother straight-away , but they also find help on the way (Carol being the price to pay !)

Martine Carol was French biggest sex symbol in the fisrt half of the fifties ,till the coming of BB : she often appeared topless ("Lucrèce Borgia" "un caprice de Caroline Chérie" ) ,so it was only natural to show her breast after a swim :there's absolutely no chemistry between her and Johnson ,but Sean Connery -who would work again with Terence Young and was catapulted into megastardom- is more than fond of her .