4 Num Jeep

Recently, during a discussion of films made a few years after the end of WW2, I mentioned Four In A Jeep. No one had ever heard of it. I recall seeing it in the early 50s and being impressed by it--possibly because of the times--it was the Cold War, and I was very political then--leftie to the core. This storyline of 4 soldiers of different nations--former allies, patroling a conquered city was just my cup of tea. I found it or wanted to find it-- a plea for peace. The main story itself, trying to reunite 2 lovers torn apart by war and a difficult peace, was secondary to the 4 men themselves; especially the American (Ralph Meeker who was getting recognition in Hollywood,) and the Russian, Voroshenko. Because of the Cold War, they could have made Voroshenko the villain, instead he became for me the pivotal character torn between instinct (perhaps love) and duty. He and the American sergeant were pitted against each, but developed respect toward the other rather than hatred. I found this film to be a good companion piece to The Third Man--same period, many similar situations. Too bad it will probably be seen by so few--no DVD for this one--a real pity!

Chris

Set just after WWII in Viena, in the 4 different districts, French, English, American and Russian. The viewer follows a jeep with one military of each country. They help a woman who searches her husband, played in too much melodramatic way for myself (played by Swedish Viveca Lindford). The main interest for me is the casting of Ralph Meeker as the American (in his first movie and yet a solid presence) and Dinan as the dynamic french military (and Paulette Dubost as his even more dynamic wife, her numéro with policemen searching is funny). The Swiss director Leopold Lindtberg does competent work, he has directed a few other movies on WWII. The sequence of the return of prisonners of war is interesting.

... But this is NOT "Four Jills In A Jeep". That was a musical comedy and this one is a post-WWII melodrama set in Vienna in the years just after the war. Like Berlin, Vienna was divided into fourths; American, French, Russian and British. The picture captures the tension between the four powers as well as the desperation of the Viennese, trying to get on with their lives and serve four masters at the same time.

There are some heartbreaking scenes at the train station as relatives wait for their returning sons and husbands, recently released POWs - some are waiting in vain but don't know it until the train arrives. There are also stark scenes of wrecked and ruined buildings that were bombed during the war, but are nevertheless occupied by hard-up tenants.

In the midst of this destruction Viveca Lindfors waits for her husband, uncertain whether he will be released. American MP Ralph Meeker takes an interest in her predicament, but mostly in her. Meeker is the nominal star but the acting honors go to Ms. Lindfors, who acts circles around Meeker, who was in only his second picture. All other actors are very competent but are no-names.

This is an excellent movie and holds interest throughout. Like "Decision Before Dawn" which came out the same year, there is an aura of realism about it which war pictures made during the war did not duplicate, and gives it a little more bite. My copy was poorly done, with uneven clarity and a sometimes garbled soundtrack. The website says it is coming out on DVD in Oct.'10. It is worth whatever it costs as it is a cut above many pictures, war or otherwise.

Viveca Lindfors was a prominent Swedish actress who rose to fame in the shadow of Ingrid Bergman, but she is actually more beautiful and more interesting. She made films in Italy before Bergman, and she chose her roles and films with great distinction - although she acted against Errol Flynn in one film, she never accepted standard stardom roles - she needed roles to suit her depth. This is a Swiss film about the post war time in Vienna, when the city was divided by the four occupation forces, Russia, France, England and America, each ruling their own sector except the centre, which was divided equally among them, but patrolling the city regularly by four representatives of the four forces in a jeep - and the film is about them and how they dealt with a problem. An Austrian prisoner of war escapes from a prison camp in Hungary and is wanted by the Russians. His wife is waiting for him at home in Vienna in the Russian sector, and since the Russians are after him they lock her out of her flat to occupy it themselves, lying in wait for the escapee. The other three in the jeep wish to help her, particularly the American Ralph Meeker, and she is allowed to stay temporarily with the family of the French officer. Some of the best scenes are interiors from their home, but the film is rich in memorable scenes. The greatest is when a train arrives with released prisoners of war and the station is filled with their relatives expecting them, the police tries to keep the crowd back, but at length it is impossible, and this is a scene no one will be likely to ever forget. The circumstances here are identical with those of "The Third Man", but there is no villainy here, no political intrigue, no refugee tragedy, this is no thriller, but everything is poignantly realistic, all the four nations speaking their own language. It's a gripping story, although no masterpiece, but it is very Carol Reed-like, especially when you also think of "The Man Between" of a similar situation in Berlin. But the major difference between this and Carol Reed's two films is the permanence of Viveca Lindfors - this could be one of her most interesting roles, while they are all interesting.

When "Karl" (Hans Putz) manages to escape from a Soviet prison in post-war Vienna, it falls to the four occupying powers to work together to re-apprehend him. This task ought to be a fairly routine one for them. Briton "Stuart" (Michael Medwin), American "Long" (Ralph Meeker), Frenchman "Pasture" (Albert Dinan) and the Soviet "Voroshenko" (Yossi Yadin) make up a group that regularly patrol the city in their jeep and know their way around. It's also quite astonishing, in their Babel-esque linguistic maelstrom, that these men can hope to accomplish anything at all but they are soon on the trail of this man and his wife "Franziska" (Viveca Lindfors). Quite quickly, they begin to realise that "Karl" is no danger to anyone and that his imprisonment isn't exactly just. Three decide to help him instead but their problem is that "Voroshenko" isn't convinced. He has much less latitude than his cohorts and it soon proves a much more delicate, even dangerous, mission for him. Can they manage to re-unite this couple in freedom? This starts off as quite an effective illustration of the loose confederation of warring tribes scenario that prevailed after the Nazi defeat, but as the characterisations develop it becomes a little meandering and undercooked and the appearance of the rather wooden Lindfors doesn't really help much. The narrative starts to become more of an anti-Russian propaganda exercise and sadly rather predicable thereafter. There is some potent imagery - especially as the beleaguered refugees arrive home at the railway station to an awaiting crowd of hopeful relatives, but the use of each other's language, though useful at the start, starts to grate after an hour. It's an interesting concept and the actors do an adequate enough job, but it becomes just all a little too messy and black and white for me.