Flight to Tangier

And also surprisingly directed by Charles Marquis Warren, rather known for being a western maker. But besides this adventure film, he also gave us UNKNOWN TERROR and BACK FROM THE DEAD. Non western films, as you can guess. I won't speak of DESERT HELL, which I seek since several decades now, but without any luck. I guess it is now forever lost or drowned under tons of dust in a remote vault somewhere. So, back to this one, Corinne Calveet and Jack Palance steal the show. Charles Marquis Warren uses here the same recipe that he shows in westerns, same way of story telling, but for other settings, surroundings, and that's for me the trademark of a great director, or at least a very good technician.

Apart from being filmed in 3D, there isn't a whole lot to distinguish "Flight to Tangier". It's an action-adventure film with very little action and it's, at best, a time passer. Aside from Joan Fontaine, it's mostly filled with B-list actors and just left me flat.

When the film begins, a DC-3 airplane crashes at an airport in the international city of Tangier*. Oddly, however, no bodies are found in the wreck...and two folks, Susan and Gil (Joan Fontaine and Jack Palance) are caught by the police looking through the wreckage. Soon the police are giving them grief...as are some criminals and the pair want answers. What happened to the pilot and why?!

It's weird but the film features some chases...and no one runs or really chases. It all seems very low energy and almost slow motion...and the film never rose above the level of mediocre at any point.

A real rattletrap of a movie, in which all the parts clank like mad but can't mesh. Jack Palance is poorly used in a script that has him playing from moment to moment the grim stoic, man of the world, homesick patriot, lovesick romantic, and half a dozen additional stereotypes. He spends most of the time literally dragging around Joan Fontaine and Corrine Calvet while on the run from both the police and black marketeers. The plot is a slice of Cold War tripe in which embargoed American war surplus material is being sold to the Russians. Nobody in the cast looks entirely comfortable at any point, and neither will the viewer.

A private plane, supposedly carrying $3 million, crashes outside the Tangier airport. The authorities find no bodies in the wreckage - neither pilot nor the courier carrying the $3 million. What happened to the people? An assortment of characters, who had been waiting on the plane, sets off to find the missing loot, including: Gil Walker (Jack Palance), friend of the plane's pilot; Susan Lane (Joan Fontaine), the missing pilot's fiancé and a recent arrival in Tangier; Danzer (Robert Douglas) and Goro (Marcel Dalio), two underworld types; and Nicki (Cornine Calvet), love interest to both Danzer and Gil. Who will get there first?

While I like Flight to Tangier, I really wanted to love it. It's filmed in that gorgeous 1950s era Technicolor that never ceases to amaze me. The cinematography is often quite stunning. The movie probably looks a million times better than it has any right to. Sets and locations are perfect. I especially liked the way the filmmakers tried to recreate the tight quarters of Tangier. The costumes also look fantastic. The dresses, the mobster suits, and the police uniforms are all impeccable. The outfits worn by Cornine Calvet steal the show - wow! The acting is first-rate. Joan Fontaine is Joan Fontaine and gives one of her typical outstanding performances. Jack Palance is the young, reluctant hero. It's interesting to watch him play something other than the typecast baddie he would later be associated with. Calvet is new to me, but she more than holds her own with the other actors. Douglas, Dalio, and the always dependable Jeff Morrow give fine supporting performances. Flight to Tangier includes plenty of action with fist fights, police chases, plane crashes, gunplay, mystery, suspense, and more. There really are very few dull moments. It's got just about everything I could ask for in a movie.

So, why don't I love Flight to Tangier? The answer is simple - the plot. To me, the plot is so unnecessarily complicated that it ends up being a weight on everything. It's a mess. Often, there's too much going on. A more streamlined focus and approach could have done wonders for the movie. And the plot falls apart in the final scenes. The movie sort of fizzles out and loses steam by the last act and sort of limps its way to the finish. Flight to Tangier deserved a bigger send-off.

The resounding success of "Casablanca" (1942), brought about an avalanche of movies hoping to capitalize on the elements of its success.

For an exotic location, Casablanca was already taken, but Tangier would do. Great, a caper in Tangier, with international tentacles; an American star (Jack Palance) and his girl (Joan Fontaine); a bunch of non-native baddies; and the French police lurking in the background.

The movie was written and directed by Charles Marquis Warren (helped develop "Rawhide" and "Gunsmoke" for TV).

I won't get into the plot. You can look it up or simply watch the film on YouTube. Warren must have had quite an imagination, because the narrative was not too bad. The problem with the movie was in the execution. Palance fell flat as a romantic lead. The script was flimsy. Direction failed to bring out the best in Fontaine and in the key supporting cast. What we got was a rather dull and boring film. The drama came across as superficial and was not very convincing, so the thriller effect does not come across as it could have.

I watched this movie to discover how Arabs were portrayed, but there was not much depiction of the natives. The movie was not interested in the natives. Tangier was just a stage and even then, much of the events take place outside the city proper.

The movie was shot in its entirety at Paramount studies. The studio created quite a sophisticated replica of the narrow streets of Tangier, complete with costumed extras walking back and forth, and donkey-driven carts.

The greatest claim to fame for the film m, however, was that it was the second of only two 3D films shot in Technicolor.

The film is rated 5.3 on IMDb.