Tripoli

This is a strongly-scripted and well-made adventure film, with solid stars in Maureen O'Hara, John Payne and Howard da Silva . But its directorial history is a bit curious. Will Smith, then O'Hara's husband, had been wanting to direct. he got his chance with this movie and did a creditable job as producer and as director However, he had been cheating on her, so the couple divorced soon afterward and Price only directed two forgettable movies thereafter. The story told herein is of a mission featuring a force of US marines sent to combat the 18005 activities of the "Barbary Pirates", North African corsairs who were stopping the ships of other nations and robbing them or worse. The Marine's Hymn refers in the line "to the shores of Tripoli", to this same action. Maureen O'Hara, lovely and talented as ever, plays a French countess inexplicably betrothed to a local bigwig; Da Silva is humorous and excellent as a Greek mercenary hired to help Payne's marines find and destroy the pirates and their stronghold. Much of the film's footage concerns desert treks, during which the male-female conflict between Payne and O'Hara turns into something much more than mere instant dislike. There are some very -fine achievements connected with this attractive color production. James Wong Howe did the cinematography, Winston Miller and Price the script, Yvonne Wood the costumes, Alfred Kegerris the sets and Howard Pine the action and second- unit footage, which is far-above average. Those actors who contributed to this fast-moping and unusually-intelligent film included Philip Reed as the Countess's nefarious pursuer, Grant Withers, Connie Gilchrist, Alan Napier, Herbert Heyes, Lowell Gilmore, Grandon Rhodes and Rose Turich. There is a visually-exciting concluding battle and a happy ending. Favorite line: Greek da Silva modestly replying to US brass's thanks by saying, "Always glad to help a young country get started." A favorite film of mine, for several reasons; this is more than just a vehicle for the stars; it has dialogue, lovely scenic values and very good blocking, acting and overall production qualities.

This isn't an half bad little action adventure film with Maureen O'Hara on feisty form as the "Countess D'Arneau". She is the love interest/advisor to the refugee Pasha of Tripoli (Phillip Reed) whom the US government wants to see returned to his throne so the Tripolitan pirates will stop harassing US merchantmen. To that end, they send a small troop led by "O'Bannion" (John Payne) and what ensues is quite an action-packed yarn with plenty of subterfuge, a bit of lively love rivalry (on and off camera, apparently) before quite a an exciting conclusion. There is just the slightest hint of historical fact to the story, but historians need not reach for their red pencils - this is just colourful, well made escapism that works well on a wet Saturday afternoon.

Although Tripoli is never reached, this film is the story of the US Marines hoisting the American flag for the first time over foreign soil at the port city of Derna in Libya. Our capture of that city forced a negotiated peace on the Sultan of Tripoli and ended our war there which began against the Barbary States and the pirate ships they employed for plunder and ransom.

Now how Maureen O'Hara as an exiled French countess in the court of the exiled Sultan figured in these events is something left to the writers of this film. At least her flaming red hair was explained somewhat in this particular potboiler.

In her memoirs O'Hara thought her casting in these films was as ridiculous as anyone else, but she thought that just keep working, take anything they give you and the better roles will eventually come.

John Payne plays the real life Lieutenant O'Bannion who with his squad of US Marines led the land action while the Navy bombarded the guns guarding Derna from sea attack. He did not have a romance with a French exiled countess. Howard DaSilva has a nice and droll part as a Greek mercenary captain. This flag waver of a film was an ironic twist in DaSilva's career, he went on the blacklist shortly afterward.

Philip Reed is the exiled Sultan who lives pretty good for a guy in exile and he's the diplomatic catspaw the United States used. And I mean used since he was not restored to his throne as promised in the film and in real life. Of course as he's shown here Reed is quite the duplicitous character so nobody cares if he was or not. What he was in real life, who knows. But there are those who feel America broke a commitment. In any event the Sultan of Tripoli stopped seizing our ships and that's what we wanted.

What is an interesting if not often told tale of American history is reduced to the Saturday matinée kiddie potboiler of the pulp fiction variety. Tripoli has not worn well over the decades.

In 1805 a small group of American Marines are assigned a dangerous mission against the rulers of Tripoli whose pirates have been plundering ships entering the Mediterranean.

Maureen O'Hara is feisty as always as the "Countess D'Arneau". She is the love interest/advisor to the refugee Pasha of Tripoli (Phillip Reed) whom the US government wants to see returned to his throne so the Tripolitan pirates will stop harassing US merchantmen. The underrated John Payne plays "O'Bannion" who leads a small group on a mission - it's an action-packed, colourful adventure with intelligent dialogue, love rivalry, struggles (sandstorm sequence, for example), subterfuge and romance. Payne's character can be a bit up himself, arrogant, but he's hero so he gets the leading lady. There's not much naval action, it's mainly set on land - the climax is quite exciting.

I've seen this film a number of times on TV and caught it in the theaters over a half-century ago and loved it. As a kid, it had great appeal to me and lots of action, fun and, of course, the lovely Maureen O'Hara, who was always worth the price of admission. John Payne was an underused, underrated actor who always turned in solid, albeit low key, performance. This film, which is a yarn based on the military action of the US Marines against the Tripoli pirates basically spins fight scenes between the bad guys and a coalition of good guys, including veteran character actor Howard Da Silva as a Greek mercenary. The good guys win, of course and Payne gets the girl (but we knew that anyway, didn't we?) and this is a film that if it pops up on the late show (no video or DVD listed), is certainly worth checking out for some good, solid escapism.