Men in Exile

John Farrow, in his first full feature -- so to speak, since it's a one-hour Warner B -- tackles his favorite theme of the 1930s: take a random group of people, put them in an exotic location under pressure and see how they behave. His best handling of it was FIVE CAME BACK and it's a good theme.

The basic interest of the story is somewhat undercut by the fact that it's all B actors, none of whom manage to demonstrate any intensity. The best is Alan Baxter, but the others never seem more than querulous The camera work is very simple. The camera sets into classical compositions and never seems to move more than a few inches, except for the big introduction scene about ten minutes in and once when June Travis runs off to speak with her brother.

Still, I have a weakness for these one-hour Warners and this one fills its time slot efficiently if not brilliantly. Even though Farrow would return to the theme and do it much better, this short-form version will fill in an hour decently.

Good-looking good guy Dick Purcell wants to go straight in this 1930s gangster corn with help from lovely June Travis. John Farrow gets some early practice before good scripts come along. Young Alan Baxter gets emotional and experiments with different facial expressions. Victor Varconi reminds us of better movies by sounding just like Bela Lugosi. The 58 minutes is over eventually.

Warner Brothers quickie with Dick Purcell as a taxi driver, mixed up in a murder, fleeing to some strange island for sanctuary, where he quickly manages to get caught up in a gun-running racket. Along the way he gets a job working for the lovely June Travis at her mother's inn, while trying to sever ties with the crooks on the island. Victor Varconi plays Colonel Gomez, who is the military head of the island. Varconi strolls around with a sword (about a century too late for this stuff) and seems to think that a firing squad is the suitable punishment for every crime. His main goal is to try to find out who the Mr. Big is who is running the gun racket. There is a character named General Alcatraz, but no Asian named Hop Sing Sing.

Purcell is okay in the lead. I don't recall seeing Travis before, and I see she had a short career, which is too bad. Veda Ann Borg, as the wife of one of the gun-runners, wears a few slinky outfits. Olin Howland has a small but important role. John Alexander plays the only black person on the island. In one scene, Purcell calls him by a name which would be frowned upon today. Oh well, this was 1937.

The first, credited, full -length film directed by John Farrow (Mia's dad!). Extra exotic, due to its "location"... the Caribbean island of Caribo, the haven for criminals, according to the opening title card. "Jimmy" (Dick Purcell) is forced to run off to the getaway when he is forced to be part of a holdup back in the states. Jimmy starts working for the family that runs the inn, and tries to protect them, but bad stuff happens, and of course Jimmy gets caught up in more trouble. Starts out kind of fun, but moves pretty slowly, in spite of the fact that it's only 58 minutes. No real major stars in this one...must have been the "B" feature at the moving picture show. The story actually has legs...too bad they didn't put more into the script to make it a full length film. Some of the actors do a great job, but a couple of them are flatter than cardboard. June Travis, Victor Varconi, and Norman Willis co-star. Peruvian Carlos DeValdez made a ton of films in the 1930s, but died suddenly at age 45. Our star, Purcell, died of a heart attack at 35, according to wikipedia.

This is a B-movie through and through. Now a lot of readers hear that term and don't exactly know what it means. A 'B' is a second and lesser film from a double-feature (mostly made in the 1930s and 40s). They had much smaller budgets, lesser-known or completely unknown actors and usually ran only about 60 minutes. Big studios made them and tiny independent 'poverty row' studios (with even smaller budgets) cranked them out one after another. They have a reputation for being cheap (that's true) and crappy (not at all true in most cases). They filled a nice niche at the time and are often breezy escapist entertainment.

"Men in Exile" has B-movie written all over it. None of the actors are recognizable to the average viewer, though you might recognize Dick Purcell--who appeared in some A-pictures though did not star in them (typical of many B leading men). It also runs at just about 60 minutes. And, like many Bs, it is an action-adventure film.

The movie is set on the mythical Caribbean island of Caribo. A mug (Purcell) is framed for a killing and escapes there because the government of the island could care less about your past and he can get a new start. However, a quiet life is NOT in store for him, as he's gotten himself in the middle of a plot to bring guns to revolutionaries on the island! His 'friend' Rocky wants him to come in with him in the gun-running venture but he refuses--only to end up smack in the middle of another conspiracy. Can poor Dickie survive AND/OR clear his name? The acting and direction are good here-as you'd expect in a Warner Brother B-film. It also sports an exotic-looking locale (actually just a nicely decorated sound stage with a few outdoor sets) that many Bs could not match. It also has a reasonably interesting plot and a few nice plot twists. As a result, the film was enjoyable and worth seeing--but like many Bs also a bit unremarkable.

By the way, this film is a remake of "Safe in Hell"--a film I absolutely hated. However, unlike the original, "Men in Exile" has been sanitized A LOT. The original film was made before the toughened Production Code and had many sleazy plot elements (including several attempted rapes!)--all these are missing in the remake. In fact, the newer film has been changed so much, it's hard tell they are the same basic plot. I much prefer the remake--and that is rare for me. It's just because the original was too florid and silly, while the remake is more believable and engaging.

By the way, Purcell's life story is pretty sad. Believe it or not, he died from a heart attack at only age 36! So ended the life of the first big screen Captain America.