Barricade

Imagine a cross between Six Days Seven Nights and 55 Days at Peking and you'll get Barricade, starring Alice Faye, Warner Baxter, and Charles Winninger. It sounds like a very odd combination, but once you start watching the movie, you'll understand the comparisons. Alice and Warner start off the film disliking each other, but before long they find themselves fighting for their lives while under attack in a foreign country. Then, seeking refuge in the American Consulate, under leadership of Charlie, they have to hold off the enemy with a handful of rifles and no hope of reinforcements. See what I mean?

I highly recommend this very enjoyable, entertaining adventure movie. Alice Faye doesn't sing, but is instead given a dramatic role that includes tears, gunfire, and an accent. In the beginning of the movie, she pretends to be Russian, but Warner quickly sees through her. "Are you from Moscow? Leningrad? Brooklyn?" he asks during their first meeting. I haven't seen many Warner Baxter movies, but as this movie came towards the end of his career, he had a surprising amount of energy and pep to keep the tension going and make the audience realize everyone in the film is in danger. As for Charlie, I've always been a fan of his, and it's always a treat to see him in a drama since he's normally known for his comedic roles. He's very serious in this film, and he pulls off being the American consulate just as convincingly as he played Cap'n Andy, his most famous role. Check out this black-and-white adventure flick that will keep you on the edge of your seat during every minute!

Every Hollywood Oriental must have appeared in this one, including at least two of Charlie Chan's sons. It's one of those fun romantic comedy/adventures where the white folks travel around in exotic lands and wear panama hats. See, "The General Died at Dawn," "China Seas," inter alia. This one mostly involves a reporter who has been drunk for three weeks but who quickly recovers in time to win the girl and the battle, a forgotten American consulate that is turned into a fort, and hordes of Mongolian bandits who like nothing more than to kill innocent people and smash the furniture. You can tell that it's somewhere in China because the stage-bound sets feature lots of moon gates, Oriental prints on the walls, bamboo curtains, and Fu dogs.

Well, this is supposed to be the Chinese/Mongolian border in 1939 and the Japanese are never mentioned, but okay. The Nationalist Chinese Army is on the side of the angels, and I guess that's okay too. Nobody ever claimed that there were not bandit warlords in 1939 China who were not controlled by the Japanese or by the Chinese Nationalists or the Chinese Communists. It wouldn't be surprising to find them still there.

I kind of enjoyed it, although I must say it was a little corny at times and lacked the verve that other examples of the genre often managed to show. I think it would have been a better flick with a villain like the gruff, slimy, duplicitous, hammy Wallace Beery of "China Seas." Warner Baxter seems a little old for the part of an adventurous Byronic free-lance reporter. Alice Faye, with her plump lower lip, is quite nice looking and doesn't cause the viewer much pain. Charles Winninger is a sentimental figure. The Chinese servants play the part that exotic servants usually play, figures of fun until they die to save the Massah.

Speaking of dying, the movie is divided into two halves. The first half is the romantic comedy, which isn't too engaging because the script lacks wit. The comedy seems mechanical (Faye trying to pass herself off as a Russian bride) and the romance is unconvincing. But the movie picks up in its second half, behind those barricaded walls. The besieged hold off all those bandits by the simple expedient of never missing when they shoot, whereas the bandits are the worst shots in the world. Not that there's a lot of blood, or even distress, involved in their deaths. Like Dirty Harry's victims, they don't die shrieking in agony. They simply flop down when shot, like dropped marionettes. (Bang. Flop.) The gunsmoke lingers in the air, which is a nice touch.

A diverting trifle.

Entrancing film that has high adventure, light-hearted comedy, and an offbeat romance with an oddball cast of characters. The most notable are the stars: Warner Baxter as the alcoholic down on his luck reporter, Alice Faye as the showgirl running from crime, and the multi-talented Charles Winninger as the noble head of a small American embassy under siege by a large band of Mongolian bandits. Good script, interesting complex characters, and fine performances make for an engrossing movie that has something to please every movie taste.

Barricade finds Alice Faye without any songs as a refugee trying to flee China and without passport. She's in a heap of trouble, I won't say what exactly, and even American extraterritoriality won't help her out.

I mention that because one of the grievances that the Chinese including the bandits who attack the American mission in this story set deep in the Chinese interior was that particular institution whereby American citizens who committed crimes were tried by American courts set up by our consulates. We were far from the only country doing that however.

Anyway the story opens with her on a train for Shanghai trying to use a hokey Russian accent. The accent intrigues Warner Baxter who's pretty plastered.

Bandits however interrupt the journey and the two of them seek refuge in the American consulate presided over by Charles Winninger. He's the best one in the film and I only wish that a better story was given because I liked his character. He's a widower and a proud member of the consular service, appointed in 1900 by William McKinley. He requested a transfer ten years later and that's the last he was heard from. As Assistant Secretary of State Jonathan Hale aptly put it, he's the real forgotten man.

Baxter does all right in a role that someone like Clark Gable would have done in his sleep at MGM. The heroics would have come more natural to Gable than to Baxter as the mission is barricaded and defended against the bandits.

Alice Faye did have one number to sing. Why Alice's song was cut out, God and Zanuck only know. One thing I'm still trying to figure out is when the mission inhabitants take final refuge in the cellar with a trap door, just who was left upstairs to pull the rug over the cellar door?

Barricade had the potential to be a lot better than it was. But sloppy editing and lost faith in the project made 20th Century Fox release a project unfulfilled. Watching Barricade is like eating a badly cooked meal.

"Barricade" is set during the invasion of China by the Japanese in the late 1930s. During this time, the central government was in shambles and in some cases, local warlords took advantage of the chaos. This film is set in the hinterlands of China during this war, near the Mongolian border.

Alice Faye and Warner Baxter play Americans who have fallen on hard times. Hank (Baxter) is a disgraced newspaper correspondent and Emmy (Faye) is on the run from the law. Both end up in the middle of no where in China. They take refuge at the local US consulate, where they find a most unusual man in charge (Charles Winninger). Despite the threat from Mongolian bandits, the Consul is steadfast in opposing them...insisting the property is US territory. What's next for the folks? All I know is it sure looks dire for them.

The film is interesting in that Faye does a lousy Russian accent and folks keep noticing it's lousy! Had they believed it in the story, it would have made for a less credible film. As for the story, it's overly sentimental and a bit hard to believe....but it's also a rousing adventure story that still is worth seeing.