Girl from Havana

"Girl from Havana" is a B-movie starring Dennis O'Keefe and Victor Jory (Woody and Tex) as friends who work as oil drillers somewhere in Latin America. Throughout the film, Woody gets into a lot of trouble...shooting someone, running guns and pretty much nearly getting himself killed at every turn. Along the way for the ride is Claire Carleton as Havana.

In so many ways, the film seemed plotless and the two male leads (especially Woody) just blundered from one problem to another. It's supposed to be funny, I think. All I know is that I thought everyone in the film was a jerk and the story had less depth than a Popeye cartoon.

Dennis O'Keefe and Victor Jory are a couple of oilmen working a field somewhere south of the border. O'Keefe sets off a charge to start the well he's in charge of flowing; it starts Jory's well, which earns him a big bonus. While they're in town celebrating, singer Claire Carleton spots the bankroll and gets her hands on it, but she returns O'Keefe watch.

However, when O'Keefe gets in a brawl, one of his pals gets killed. O'Keefe's fired and blacklisted. He takes a job running guns.

This Republic picture starts out like one of those two-oilman-and-a-shady-lady movies that was a staple of the movies, but it soon bites its own tail and starts heading off in different directions. Director Lew Landers doesn't break much new ground, but working off a good script by Malcolm Boylan and Karl Brown, he gets some nice performances out of his leads and supports, including Jay Novello and Steffi Dunn.