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.