Rota Sangrenta

The first of two awesome films John Wayne and Lauren Bacall would make together! this one, from 1955. J. Wayne is Captain Wilder; Bacall is Cathy Grainger, and when WIlder is taken to her camp, they must work together to escape the communist chinese. made exactly ten years after the big war. Bacall and Wayne will work together again, twenty years later, in the Shootist, a western, of course. In Blood Alley, Wilder keeps looking up, and talking to "Baby", and for most of the film, we're not sure just who she is, and why he talks to her. They load up the boat and make a run for it to try to escape. Wilder is the Uber-hero, a one-man show who can do it all with the help of the locals. SO similar to Inn of the Sixth Happiness, a couple years later. Blood Alley is from Warner Brothers, (and Wayne's own production company) while "Inn" was made by Twentieth Centry Fox. Blood was directed by the infamous William Wellman! one of his last directing jobs... he only made three more after this. Story by Albert Fleischman, one of several novels by him. It's quite entertaining, if almost too good to be true. Appears to have been filmed in the bays and riverways of southern california. It's no award winner, but it's a feel good story, shown on Turner Classics now and then.

Exciting flick on the danger waters of the Orient with Wayne as a seasoned merchant Marine Captain undertaking several adventures and risks in Communist China . It deals with a merchant marine captain, named Tom Wilder (mid-career John Wayne, though Robert Mitchum was originally cast but he was fired from the film after an altercation) rescued from the Chinese Communists by local villagers , as he is assigned by Mr Tso (Paul Fix) to carry out a risked mission to transport the whole village to Hong Kong on an ancient paddle steamer . As he must smuggle throughout enemy territory plenty of nasty communist soldiers and cruisers . Along the way Wilder is helped by the sympathetic Big Han (Mike Mazurki , usual partner in John Wayne-John Ford films) and accompanied by a beautiful as well intelligent woman called Cathy Grainger (Lauren Bacall , she later starred with him again in his last movie 'The Shootist' ,1976,).

This enjoyable picture packs thrills , drama , action , sea battles , and results to be pretty entertaining . John Wayne's good vehicle , though Gregory Peck and Humphrey Bogart turned down the role and to keep his new production company Batjac afloat, Wayne agreed to play Capt. Wilder. Enjoyable acting by Lauren Bacall , there was some surprise when Lauren Bacall agreed to make the movie since she was a left-wing Democrat and the film was right-wing Cold War propaganda ; while John Wayne took the role after Mitchum was fired she expected to clash with him since she was a left-wing Liberal and he was a right-wing Conservative . Having Wayne already disposed of all unfriendly Japanese in the WW2 such as ¨Sands of Iwo Jima¨, ¨Operation Pacific¨ and ¨Flying Leathernecks¨ , this one marked the start of new assignment against any Oriental with Communist leanings such as subsequently did in ¨Green Berets¨ . Agreeable support cast such as Paul Fix playing as Mr. Tso , Mike Mazurki as Big Han and brief appearance by Anita Ekberg as Wei Ling and James Hong as a communist soldier . Colorful and evocative cinematography by William H. Clothier , John Wayne films' usual cameraman . Emotive as well as thrilling musical score by Roy Webb .

The motion picture was professionally directed by William A Wellman . Wellman was an expert in all kind of genres as Gangster, drama , Film Noir , Western and adept at comedy as he was at macho material , helming the original ¨ A star is born ¨(1937) (for which he won his only Oscar, for best original story) and the biting satire ¨Nothing sacred¨ (1937) , both of which starred Fredric March for producer David O. Selznick . Both movies were dissections of the fame game, as was his satire ¨Roxie Hart¨ (1942), which reportedly was one of Stanley Kubrick's favorite films. During World War Two Wellman continued to make outstanding films, including ¨Ox-Bow incident¨ (1943) and ¨Story of G.I.Joe¨(1945), and after the war he turned out another war classic, ¨Battleground¨ (1949). In the 1950s Wellman's best later films starred John Wayne, including the influential aviation picture ¨The hight and the mighty¨ (1954), for which he achieved his third and last best director Oscar nomination. His final film hearkened back to his World War One service, ¨The Lafayette squadron¨ (1958), which featured the unit in which Wellman had flown . He retired as a director after making the film, reportedly enraged at Warner Bros.' post-production tampering with a movie that meant so much to him .

His ship seized by the Chinese Communists, American Merchant Captain Tom Wilder (John Wayne) languishes in prison but Chinese villagers help him escape to sail them to Hong-Kong.

Wayne plays a role originally intended for Robert Mitchum prior to an altercation with the producers. Mitchum was fired from the production by Wellman. Wayne took over the lead after Gregory Peck turned the film down and Humphrey Bogart requested a large amount of money to assume the role.

Many people have focused on the way China and the Chinese are treated in the film. Many of the Chinese roles are filled by obviously non-Chinese actors. And because this is shortly after the Korean War, Chinese-American relations are not great. But I think Wayne getting the part is the more interesting story... this is clearly a role Mitchum would have dominated at, Peck would have brought acting chops to, and Bogart would have the Bacall rapport. But Wayne? Other than his fan base, he seems like an unlikely choice.

John Wayne has to transport Lauren Bacall and a lot of Chinese villagers down river to Hong Kong with the Commies in 'red' hot pursuit. OK but not one of Duke's best. The biggest problem is that Duke plays a quirky sort of character who talks to an imaginary friend called Baby. It's a rather annoying expository device. Maybe a different actor could have made it work but Duke just doesn't fit the kind of guy who talks to himself. Anyway, it's still an enjoyable movie. Bacall is pretty and fine in her role, though the part isn't the greatest. Paul Fix is good although his playing a Chinese character is sure to cause easily offended types to blow steam out of their ears. So if you're one of those, you might want to skip this one for the sake of your blood pressure. John Wayne fans will like it most, even if it's not one of his stronger roles.

When I watch Blood Alley it does make me wonder that if all these people are so dead set on leaving Communist China than who was it that supported Chairman Mao. My answer is a lot of people who wished they hadn't.

When Blood Alley came out in 1955 the Chinese Communist takeover was in 1949 and we in this country, rightly or wrongly, were not recognizing them. Maybe the policy was bad, didn't mean the Chinese Communists were any good.

Anyway the film is about a sea captain who gets freed from jail in the People's Republic by a village who have hit upon a plan to take themselves to Hong Kong and freedom bag and baggage. The idea is to steal an old river steamboat and have Captain John Wayne pilot the craft down the Formosa straits, or Blood Alley as its called. Lauren Bacall who is the daughter of a medical missionary is along for the ride.

Too bad that the Duke and Betty could not get a better film though they sure did do a winner later on in The Shootist. Nevertheless in her memoirs she spoke with great affection for Wayne and how much she enjoyed working with him.

One other interesting thing has always struck me. John Wayne did three films with William Wellman and this was the least of them. The other two, The High and the Mighty and Island in the Sky are classics containing two of the Duke's best performances. But for whatever reason the Wayne family estate withheld them until last year it rendered discussion about Wayne's acting abilities totally off base. This one which is just a routine action adventure film despite the right wing political message.

In addition Wayne is miscast, but in fairness he was pinch hitting for the originally cast Robert Mitchum. Back in those days Wayne and his Batjac production company did produce films with other people in them. One they did produce was Track of the Cat that starred Mitchum and was directed by Bill Wellman. Wellman also directed Mitchum in his breakthrough role in The Story of GI Joe. But Wellman and Mitchum came to a parting of the ways just before the film was to start shooting and Mitchum got canned.

That left producer Wayne in a bind and after reportedly offering the role to Humphrey Bogart and Gregory Peck, he did it himself with no changes in the script to accommodate his less cynical screen persona.

In fact according to Lee Server's biography of Mitchum, Wayne was to go on his honeymoon with wife number 3, Pilar. It was postponed and Pilar Wayne would not allow the Mitchums in the Wayne home for the time she was married to the Duke, though Mitchum and Wayne were friends. They could be friends, but Mitchum was forbidden to enter her home.

Such occidentals as Paul Fix and Mike Mazurki were cast as Chinese in this film as was Berry Kroeger. It could never happen that way again, though Mazurki in fact did have some Oriental blood in his background.

As for Communist China or Red China if you prefer, you never hear it referred to in that way any more. That's because the second Mao Tse tung couldn't fog a mirror the Chinese set about becoming good capitalist oligarchs. They pay lip service to the 1949 revolution, but that's about all.

Good for them.