Samar, la puerta del infierno

I remember seeing Samar in the theater in 1962 when it was the bottom end of a double bill. Fifty years later I get to see it again and review it. I have to say it left a deep impression on me as a group of penal colonists leave their community and head inward to the jungle of the island of Samar in the Phillipine archipelago.

George Montgomery who directed and produced Samar as well as star in it is an American doctor who was living in Manila and who was being sent there after an indiscretion with the wife of a Spanish officer to Gilbert Roland the commandant. Montgomery goes with Nico Minardos an officer sent to investigate rumors that Roland is planning treason.

He's speaking treason fluently and planning it as well. There's a legend of some Spanish friars who found a peaceful valley, a Shangri-La in the Samar jungle. But they are on the beach coast because that jungle is pretty impenetrable with Moros and head hunters living out there as well as the other hazards of the tropics. Roland has an old map and he's going to build a new settlement with what he feels are unjustly accused prisoners of a despotic Spanish regime which he serves.

Montgomery is at first unwilling, but slowly begins to believe in Roland's vision.

Samar has some script problems, but it is an imaginative tale beautifully photographed in the Phillipines. There are two strong women's roles, Ziva Rodann as the illegitimate daughter of some Spanish nobleman who is in the penal colony for that reason only, to save dear old dad embarrassment and Joan O'Brien who is Roland's wife who hasn't quite bought into his vision.

In any event it was nice to see this film again after so many years.

This George Montgomery film is better than average. He plays a cynical doctor who is being sent by the Spanish to a prison camp on the island of Samar for his political beliefs. The compassionate commandant (played by Gilbert Roland) has been waiting for a doctor. He is planning to lead the residents of the camp to a new life in the interior. On the way they must fight headhunters, mosquitoes, dense jungle and mud. Montgomery reluctantly goes, because he has no choice. By the time they arrive at their destination, a lost city in the jungle, Montgomery has found a cause and romance. The movie is predictable but pleasant to watch.

The cast led by Montgomery, Roland and Israeli actress Ziva Rodan do a good job with what little they have to work with. The colorful locales, action and Rodan's costumes more than make up for the pedestrian plot and script. I would watch it again if I had the chance. Unfortunately, it is rarely shown these days.

I viewed "Samar" on the Fast32 streaming service and was generally impressed: good locations, a very large cast of extras and a reasonable plot.

Inevitably, I suppose, in the circumstances there were a couple of implausibly attractive women, but even more unlikely the male leads remained clear shaven throughout and seemed to benefit from a travelling laundry service, judging from the whiteness of their clothes.

The trek up the mountainside was epic in the numbers of people involved, but it went on a bit long and became almost as much a drag as the hauling of the carts.

George Montgomery was a reasonable actor and starred in many films that didn't overimpress. Perhaps this is one of his best.