Santiago

Santiago was one of those routine action adventure programmers that Alan Ladd's agent Sue Carol insisted on casting him instead of letting him gradually transition to character roles. But when you're married to the agent and as agreeable a fellow as Ladd apparently was during his life you can't turn your agent down so easily.

This is one of the few American made films that deals with the Cuban rebellion as opposed to the Spanish-American War, not that there are that many that deal with it. The setting is Cuba in 1895 and the island which did not choose to participate in the general revolt against colonial Spain is finally getting tired of being a colony.

The plot concerns two American gun runners, Alan Ladd and Lloyd Nolan who hate each other both looking to sell guns to the Cuban rebels for cash on the barrel-head. To collect they have to go to Cuba with the delivery.

Along for the ride is Rosanna Podesta who is a Cuban patriot and both men are interested in her, Nolan quite cynical and open about it. It all doesn't make for a pleasant voyage to Cuba aboard Captain Chill Wills's old Mississippi steamboat used for transportation.

When they're on Lloyd Nolan and Chill Wills dominate the film. Nolan who never gave a bad performance on the big or small screen is a really thoroughly rotten human being. Ladd and he have quite a bit of history between them and Ladd has excellent reason to hate his guts.

No player on the planet was ever safe from Chill Wills's scene stealing antics especially as he got older and honed that particular aspect of his craft to perfection. Wills understudied Humphrey Bogart from The African Queen on how to pilot this drunken riverboat captain through the film. In a better film the Academy might have noticed this character.

Lots of action comes hard and fast in Santiago. The film is nicely paced and should appeal to fans of that genre and of the players involved.

This is an above-average outing for Alan Ladd, who had a very uneven career, but the real value is in the superb cast of supporting character actors, including Lloyd Nolan, Paul Fix, Chill Wills and Royal Dano, among others.

"Santiago" is set in Cuba just before the Spanish-American War. Ladd and Nolan are competing gunrunners trying to sell weapons to the Cuban revolutionaries. Neither are saints, but whereas Nolan is the obviously villainous type, Ladd is the Good Man with a Stain in his background, just waiting to be rescued from the wrong path. His guide is the beautiful rebel Rossana Podesta, who is fiery, noble and breathes deeply on cue. Wills, Fix and the rest of the very competent supporting cast play their roles well. There is one surprise in the ending but otherwise it's predictable.

It's a competent studio production for the period, with enough detail to make it credible. It's not a great movie, but it is good entertainment, with a beautiful girl, a Cause and a Moral...what more could you ask for in 1956!

Adventure movie which has some good moments but it's absurd most times. Alan Ladd and Lloyd Nolan are two rival dealers, trying to sell guns for rebels who fight against the Spanish domain in Cuba. Of course, between them there is a girl, a rebel leader played by Italian actress Rossana Podesta. That's she who has the movie's most brilliant line. Ladd sees a group of rebels dancing the conga (or some kind of dance identified as conga) and ask Rossana how could they be happy in such situation. She says something like "because the hatred is in their souls but not in their hearts" !!! And she also has an annoying kid brother. Sorry but I can't recommend this movie.

It's not easy to explain what went wrong with SANTIAGO. It has a basic good story, a top-level cast, and an experienced director; yet it lies virtually flat as a pancake as it unravels on screen. It suffers a serious failure to involve the audience in either the adventure or the romance.

This picture was made by Alan Ladd's production company. To Ladd's credit it's next to impossible to see this picture. Never issued in VHS or DVD, never re-issued, difficult to ever find a listing on eBay.

Leave this one alone and seek out Iron Mistress, Boy on a Dolphin, or two dozen other very good films starring Alan Ladd.

Alan Ladd plays Cash Adams, an ex-West Point officer who was dishonorably discharged from the military. Now he's a gun runner selling weapons to the highest bidder. He arrives in Tampa to sell guns to Cubans, who are fighting Spanish oppressors. Right away he's thrown a curve when he is told he must deliver the weapons to Cuba before he is paid. It is a switch of plans but he agrees but for double the original price. He delivers the cargo to large paddle boat operated by Captain Jones (Chill Wills). There, he is surprise to see Clay Pike (Lloyd Nolan), an old nemesis who is also selling weapons to Cuba.

Adams tells anyone who will listen that he is only interested in money. The viewer suspects that Adams doesn't quite believe that himself. On the boat, we meet Dona Isabella (Rossana Podesta), a Cuban patriot, who has been collecting funds in America. It becomes apparent that the rivalry Pike and Adams runs very deep and the two men seem to hate each other.

The boat arrives in Cuba, but there is another change of plan. The Spanish now control the roads. So the weapons will have to be transported through the heavy bush and jungle.There are a couple of close shaves but the group eventually manage to deliver the weapons to the specified destination. Adams learns that the Cubans were attacked by the Spanish and have gone into hiding. Pike has had too many changes to the plan and too many scrapes with death. He decides right then and there that they will forget the delivery and sell the weapons to the Spanish. Adams disagrees with his proposal.

Now the long running battle between the two men will come to a close. The fight to the death that both men had envisioned is about to take place. If Pike wins, the weapons will be sold to the Spanish. If Adams wins, they continue on in their journey to deliver the weapons. It's a solid little adventure film. The two leads, Nolan and Ladd, run the show and deliver as one would expect. Some reviewers really seem to dislike the film. It's no masterpiece, but a typical 50's adventure film, aimed at the youngsters.