Deported

The great suspense director Robert Siodmak made this wonderful sleeper for Universal, a terrific romantic crime drama that has been overlooked. What a treat to catch up with it seven decades later.

Jeff Chandler is unlikely but brilliant casting against type as the Italian gangster deported to Naples five years after finishing his prison stretch for a robbery, in which the $100,000 he stole was never recovered.

In Italy, Claude Dauphin, solid as always, is cast as the whimsical but dogged Italian agent committed to arresting Jeff before he can set up criminal operations in his home country. Jeff is forced to return to his home town for 30 days, and lives with his older brother, who is a really nice guy, thinking Jeff is a big shot on government business in Italy, little realizing he's a notorious criminal.

With fabulous location photography by Hollywood great William Daniels (known for his glamorous work on many films starring Greta Garbo and later gritty classics like "The Naked City" and "Brute Force"), it's clear this was shot during the Italian Neo-Realism period. But Siodmak manages to balance a touching and tasteful romantic story of tough-guy Jeff falling for the glamorous local Contessa played by Marta Toren, with the inevitable underlying crime story as Jeff indulges in (topically significant) black-market activities -up to his old tricks. But he is ultimately redeemed in a rather fanciful way -not exactly "Miracle in Milan" but quite heart-warming in its own fashion thanks to writer-producer Robert Buckner's script. Surprisingly, the basic story here is quite similar to the current TV hit "Tulsa King", but without the tongue-in-cheek humor and fashionable glamorization of the Mafia. Chandler, before his good-guy and Silver Fox image, is amazing in staying in character, while Toren's beauty is a revelation, and Marina Berti is very fine as the "bad girl" of the story.

"Deported" was one the last of Siodmak's American movies,and I have got to agree with the precedent user:it's probably his weakest American effort (for that matter,only the ridiculous " Cobra woman" is worse).It's also the beginning of a period of barren inspiration-although some praise " the crimson pirate" - which would end when he returned in his native Germany where he made other great movies ("Nachts,Wenn Der Teufel Kam" "die Ratten"...).

Siodmak was always a cosmopolitan director who began his career in Germany (1929),then continued in France and spent the forties in America.So it was only natural he chose Italy as the place of his 1950 work.Unfortunately,his depiction of Italy is handicapped by the fact that Italians,most of the time,speak English between them,and that the screenplay is full of Italian clichés such as the meal with the uncle and the whole family.Some characters (Gina)appear and disappear without any purpose.Some (the Comtessa) are clichéd.And it takes a lot of imagination to believe that Jeff Chandler ,who never utters a word in Italian,was born there .Only the scenes in the warehouse where Siodmak does a smart use of toys -although too short- recall his film noir greatness (from " phantom lady" to " Thelma Jordan" (1944-1949) all that he did is classic or near-classic thriller)

The film is better than its reputation. Jeff Chandler has served five years in Sing Sing for his racket and is deported to Italy, his home country, which he hasn't seen since he was a small boy. His remaining family, most of them are dead, take good care of him and he finds himself at home in the town he never knew, which becomes interesting for him by the young widowed countess, Marta Toren, whose husband died in the war. His company makes her stop wearing black, and there is a beautiful romance developing. However, his past catches up with him and he gets involved in an Italian racket which threatens to ruin everything, but the story glibly passes on through some complications to reach a satisfactory end after all. The film is mainly worth watching for the performances of Jeff Chandler and Marta Toren, they are both always reliably good, and Robert Siodmak's direction adds some interesting camera work to the plot. In brief, there is nothing wrong with a mobster turning to charity, if his destiny will just let him.

Jeff Chandler has served a term in prison for armed robbery and has been deported back to Italy. No one has ever seen the hundred thousand dollars he stole, and his old partner, Richard Rober, wants his half. Chandler beats him up and tells him he's out. As Chandler settles into his birth town near Naples -- actual setting is in Tuscany, stunningly shot by William Daniels -- he meets Countess Märta Torén and several black market operators. When the Countess persuades him to help out her food relief program with money, what's going on in his mind?

It's a nice caper film, and Chandler's character is nicely written and performed under the direction of Robert Siodmak. This New York Jewish actor (born Ira Grossel) certainly played a lot of ethnic types in his early starring roles!

If you believe Jeff Chandler is Italian, they I can probably pass for an Eskimo. Putting that disbelief aside, Chandler does a decent job of portraying a racketeer that has been deported.

In reality, the Justice Department seldom deported small-time crooks who just took care of the rackets in various towns; they deported killers they could not get a conviction on because all evidence was wiped out. Guys like Lucky Luciano and the like were far more likely candidates for deportation.

In any event, the story is entertaining, and the subplot of the romance with an Italian countess is interesting. The local hoods, however, in these small Italian towns, are really more like small-time crooks, rather than extremely dangerous criminals. The Hollywood theme of the hood who turns good, is highly unlikely, but entertaining.

The end result is that Chandler pretty much gets to do whatever he wants, but this could never happen in a major Italian city.