Intriga en Honolulu

An American political thriller; A story about two federal agents who are assigned the task of breaking up a ring of Communist Party troublemakers in Hawaii. This film has a propaganda tone, dealing with subject matter such as House Un-American Activities Committee investigations (the HUAC was created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities on the part of private citizens, public employees, and those organisations suspected of having Communist ties), a major news item in late 1940s America. The script portrayed communists as inadequate, pseudo-intellectuals, error-prone gangsters, and agents of the Kremlin, and it declared that incidents in the film were based on the files of the HUAC Committee, without questioning the power that was used to jail people for contempt of court or its damaging effects on the careers of many artists it summoned. This melodramatic movie uses comic relief as well as mystery and a love story set against a travelogue of locations in Hawaii. Its subject matter was timely but crude, failing to be even-handed in its telling of a fictionalised spy story. Its depictions of anti-communists blurred the line of intent between serious documentary-drama and arousing and entertainment fact-based fiction. John Wayne gave his character potency, but his snarling attitude seemed misplaced, and some of the other characters introduced muddled the story. The story was about the American government rooting out communist influence in the United States post-war, but it was an inaccurate portrayal of that time and was playing to the hysteria of the time in attempting to educate the public.

With the benefit of hindsight it's very easy to criticise this movie, but I think it is foolish to completely dismiss it. Forgetting the fact that its script is laughable, plot thin, acting wooden and appreciation of communism astoundingly pathetic, this film is a historical gem which allows one an insight into the right wing U.S paranoia prevalent in the 1950's cold war era.

In 50 years time from now I expect the future generation will find some of our contemporary Hollywood films just as risible. We are all but a product of our time.

An HUAC (House UnAmerican Activities Committee) propaganda film at its worst. How John Wayne could persist in claiming that the HUAC was good for the country is beyond my comprehension. It is even worse that he stated publicly that he was "delighted" that this film probably brought on the scandalous McCarthy hearings of the 1950s which, in many cases, ruined the careers of many leading Hollywood personalities of the period.

Early in the film Wayne and Arness take the US Navy "picket boat" out to Battleship Row and the superstructure of the USS Arizona, long before the familiar white memorial was built. This little side trip provides a continuity. The 50's fear of Communism was seen, in that era, as being informed by the experience of the attack at Pearl Harbor 11 years before. Folks then knew from bitter, bloody experience, that evil in the world existed, and they were trying to thwart the new evil. It may appear ham-handed to us today, but, in the context of the times, finding the enemy through investigative techniques probably appeared preferable to another sneak attack. Having read the above comments, I also appreciate the way the writers heaped praise on the local, Hawaiian, police.

Y'know the old joke, told after Reagan was elected, that "One of every three Hollywood conservatives gets elected President"? (The joke being, of course, that there was only 3 conservatives in Hollywood)...well...

Not Wayne's greatest, or even a great, movie. But still, in these days if Political Correctness being hammered down our respective throats, it's nostalgia to know it used to be vice versa.

Darn, I miss the 1950s.