Saigon

Saigon is the end of the line for Mike Perry (Douglas Dick). As a Captain in W.W.-II, Perry had taken a wound to the head, enduring 6 months of varied and complicated surgeries. And, as a crowning glory, earning a plate of platinum to match the medals on his chest. Despite the efforts of the best doctors, he is fading fast; only he doesn't know it. Rather than telling him and sending him home to die, Mike Perry's pals, Maj. Larry Briggs (Alan Ladd) and Sgt. Pete Rocco (Wally Cassell) decide to keep him on the move with them, as they travel the Far East. To cram "100 years of good living" into 2 months...maybe less. (For the rest, the only similarities with THE BLUE DAHLIA are 3 army-pals (Jimmy, George and Buzz), and 1 pal with a W.W.-II head-wound (Buzz).)

However, good living comes at a price: Larry Briggs and both boys take a flying job, offered them by the unscrupulous Alex Maris (Morris Carnovsky), and for a payment suspiciously high $10,000 suggests something more akin to smuggling rubies, than to an innocent business trip as Mr. Maris calls it. But then again, that kind of money could set thing up nicely for Mike Perry.

Shady deals often involve shady ladies. Just as the arranged flight is supposed to take off, Mr. Maris' secretary Susan Cleaver (Veronica Lake) appears on the scene, dressed in a leopard coat. Her demeanor is anything but sweet, a quality enhanced, when anyone reaches for the briefcase she carries; but something about her captures Mike's attentions… and Larry's. The attraction might have been a passing fancy, if Susan Cleaver didn't now find her lot thrown in with the boys', when the sound of gunfire triggers an emergency take off. Amidst much protest, Susan is bundled in, up, and off to Saigon (nowadays called "Ho Chi Minh City", Vietnam).

Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd amaze me with their sensitive portrayals, they give so much! Susan Cleaver and Larry Briggs are characters with a past, melancholy, but not devoid of all feeling, of all hope. In one scene, Larry Briggs points to a mark on Susan Cleaver's face, where she had been slapped. "Is this where he hit you?" Larry asks, leaning over to kiss the spot. "There, now it doesn't hurt anymore." Susan shows indifference, almost loathing… until he leaves the room. Then she turns slightly, resting her head against the bedpost….she's falling for him... There's another marvelous sequence involving an evening gown (made by Edith Head). Susan comes out of her hotel room, finding Larry on the adjoining balcony. Susan is resplendent in draped white. Larry walks up to her; Susan turns around to give him the full view, her usually straight face softened into a sweet expression. Gingerly, Larry takes the back collar of her gown, which is actually a hood, and frames Susan's beautiful face. Larry looks at her for a moment, and then with the same gentleness, lets it back down. "No. It looks better the other way, with your hair showing."...

I like "Saigon" very much. Performances are really excellent all the way around. Tender scenes are played with sincerity, as are the lighter moments that lend relief to this melodrama. Unconcerned with strict adherence to plot, it delves instead into character study, and is the better for it. It gives us the why, when and where, and leaves us to discover the how. The suspense and adventure are wonderful...the romance too!

I really look forward to the moment, when this great movie will be released on DVD; NTSC-VHS copies of this film are scarce nowadays. My proposal: a Veronica Lake DVD-box with Veronica's other scarce films, like "The Blue Dahlia", "The Glass Key", "I Wanted Wings" and "So Proudly We Hail!"

Robert

This is a very rare film. There has never been a commercial release to my knowledge. The print I viewed was transferred from 16mm and although it is a beat up print, it is fairly sharp. The story centers around three wartime airmen, who are waiting for one of them to regain his health. The bad news comes right at the start. One of the friends, Mike (Douglas Dick) has only a couple of months to live. His two buddies Larry (Alan Ladd) and Pete (Wally Cassell) decide not to tell him he's dying. Instead, they decide to go out with a bang and have one great, last adventure.

Larry decides the adventure will start by flying a wealthy businessman's cargo to Saigon. The businessman,Mr. Maris (Morris Carnovsky), agrees to pay the men $10,000 for the delivery. When the friends arrive to transport the shipment to Saigon, they find only Maris's beautiful secretary, Susan. She (Veronica Lake) reveals there is no cargo, only a suitcase. Larry begins to smell a rat, but he can't turn back, as the police show up firing bullets as the plane takes to the air.

It is revealed that the suitcase contains $500,000 and that Maris was trying to abscond with it. Larry ponders how deeply involved Susan is involved in the deception. Things take a turn on the journey to Saigon. Mike, the dying airman, falls for Susan. She is torn, as she still believes her boss is legit and the three friends may be crooked. Eventually, her views soften when she learns Mike is dying and sees how concerned his friends are. She agrees to a light romance with Mike, knowing his days are numbered.

The denouement comes at a posh Saigon hotel. The four have arrived safely, but so has a police official (Luther Adler) who knows about Maris' plan and the missing $500,000. Maris finally shows in Susan's room to retrieve the suitcase. She explains she no longer has it and the final fireworks start.

I'll be honest. Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd are two of my favorites. Ladd was my dad's favorite actor, and he's in my top two. Veronica, was a stunningly beautiful woman and she had that sparkle. There is a scene in the movie, towards the end, where she dons a white gown. In the night, she glides like the flame of a candle, dancing in the wind. Breathtaking in her beauty.

I found this movie entertaining, but I think it is a mistake to compare it to "Calcutta," since they are very different in many ways. The only similarity is that they both take place in the orient. "Calcutta" is essentially-- aside from the adventure trappings -- a "whodunnit" with a surprise twist at the end, similar to both "Dead Reckoning" and "The Maltese Falcon". "Saigon," which I enjoyed for what it is, is a much less involving movie because, for one thing, there is really not that much suspense. However, the Ladd/Lake combo is always interesting to watch and the supporting actors -- in particular, Morris Carnovsky and Luis van Rooten -- I found fascinating. Whereas Paramount gave "Calcutta" a much more expensive mounting (which paid off because it actually took in more at the box office than even "The Blue Dahlia), I felt they really reduced the budget on this movie -- the hotel sets at the end being the only really expensive looking ones. recommended for Ladd/Lake fans.

A curious blend of film noir (the story takes place just at the end of WW2 ,like in Dmytryk's "crossfire") and of melodrama (the soldier whose days are numbered :his two mates -the threesome is some kind of 'three musketeers" cum "lives of a Bengal lancer" - want to help him make the best of it ,without telling him the truth).When secretary Veronica Lake appears ,the terminally ill puts her on a pedestal .His two mates just ask her to pretend but they despise this bad gal ,this femme Fatale .Ladd is particularly such a lout ,and with his favorite partner ,at that!This scene when he shows the girl another way of wearing her sumptuous dress might remind the young audience of Kim Basinger in "LA Confidential".

This is perhaps not Ladd's best ,nor among his best ,but his pairing with Lake was magic and considering they have some kind of Colombo's father as a cop hot on their heels,they are excusable.

Like Singapore, Calcutta and Macao, Saigon sets off to an Asian port of intrigue. Demobbed in Shanghai after action in the Pacific Theater, three flyboys postpone their return to the States because one of them, Douglas Dick, has only a month or two to live. The catch is that he doesn't know it; his pals Alan Ladd and Wally Cassell guard the secret, having decided, under cover of operating lucrative commercial flights, to pack `a whole lifetime' of excitement and pleasure into his brief span left.

Their first assignment, however, proves their last. Shady war profiteer Morris Carnovsky pays them a suspiciously large sum to take him to Saigon, the `Paris of the Orient.' But, detained by police and gunshots, he doesn't show for the punctual flight; instead, they carry his `secretary,' Veronica Lake, carting along a briefcase crammed with half a million. The crate they're flying has to crash-land, and they make the rest of the journey by boat to Saigon, giving a romantic triangle time to form: Both Dick (avidly) and Ladd (reluctantly) fall for Lake. But a police inspector (Luther Adler) just happens to be aboard as well....

Yet another romantic adventure in subtropical heat, Saigon owes much to John F. Seitz' solid camerawork (which deserves special mention for avoiding ceiling fans). It's pretty by-the-book, but not nearly so embarrassing as Ladd's Calcutta of the previous year.

The movie marks the last screen pairing of Ladd and Lake, an emblematic couple in the noir cycle noteworthy for their chilly emotional temperature. Whatever cryogenic chemistry they generated in This Gun For Hire and The Glass Key and The Blue Dahlia had by this time, alas, gone inert; few sparks get struck this close to absolute zero. Only the perfunctory conventions of the genre insist that their future together will be either a long or a happy one. Even that pretense is belied by the movie's final shot – in a cemetery.