Candlelight in Algeria

"Candlelight in Algeria" still burns strong today. Considering that this was released in 1944, one would be forgiven for thinking that this would be a rather cringe-inducing jingoistic piece of propaganda. Propaganda it may be, but I would call it classy propaganda. It's intelligent for starters as the Germans are portrayed well and are not stereotypical monsters or evil caricatures. That is something I really applaud this film for, it's as if the filmmakers intended on making a film that could age as well as any other from this era and still be praised decades later, but still is respectful of what the cinema-going public wanted to see at that time. So as a propaganda film it is strong in how it portrays the background to the Allied invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942 - the beginning of American involvement in the war against Nazi Germany - and the celebration of that subsequent victory with the Allies marching into Tunis.

It's worth knowing a little bit of WW2 history to understand what's going on here. The film centres around a woman telling the story of her involvement in a major covert operation in ensuring the secrecy of Operation Torch. Carla Lehmann is excellent in the lead. At the very least it is worth knowing a bit about Vichy France (the French-Nazi puppet government that encapsulated the southern part of France following German occupation in 1940) and its involvement in North Africa.

Interesting note, and something I spotted straight away in the opening credits, Hammer legend Terence Fisher (director of "The Curse of Frankenstein" and "Dracula") was part of the editing team.

Carla Lehmann wakes in a hospital in North Africa, where she tells a nursing sister of how she met British spy James Mason, stole a camera in Algiers for him and outwitted various nasty Nazis to save the landings at Oran in North Africa.

It's a good, breezy movie directed by George King, who just half a decade earlier had been directed melodramas starring Tod Browning. Now he was telling James Mason, one of Britain's biggest home-grown stars of the period what to do. Mason, however, is not the subject of the movie, and is present for about half of it. Instead, Canadian-born Miss Lehmann carries the show as a quick-witted sculptress from Kansas. She's pretty good, even though the net effect of this movie is a hands-across-the-seas programmer from, say, Universal. The plot borrows liberally from other movies. There's an extensive Casbah segment that suggests PEPE LE MOKO, and a local girl hopelessly in love with Mason, played charmingly by Pamela Stirling; Walter Rilla plays the baddie, even though there isn't much menace in performance; and the Americans are represented, not only by Miss Lehmann, but Bart Norman playing General Mark Clark!

Mason didn't think much of the movie. He later noted that after the war, it was a hit in Bulgaria. Perhaps it's because he wore a mustache for the first half of it.

This is all adventure while the war is only a decoration. Lovely Carla Lehmann, reminding very much of Carole Lombard, is a very American Kansas girl who accidentally gets mixed up with a brazen English adventurer (James Mason) who has taken some forbidden pictures of some very secret German maps, which he is being chased for as he tries to smuggle them out of Algeria. They team up and eventually end up in the exotic Casbah, where anyone can hide or disappear forever. There is a lot of good humour here, the dialog is flippant and exhilarating, the wit is constantly on a high level and good mood, and Carla is doing surprisingly well. The Germans are not all complete dumbbells here, doktor Muller is quite awesome in his perfect politeness, and the exploration of intriguing environments in Algiers is quite entertaining, and eventually the invasion of North Africa starts rolling on. The spirit of the film is ironic with some detachment, and there are some really hilarious scenes with French and German officers in their very different approach to women. It is not a great film, but it is entertaining enough.

Candlelight in Algeria from 1944 is a British film about the invasion of North Africa by the Allies. It stars a skinny, mustached James Mason and Carla Lehmann.

Lehmann plays Susan, an American from Kansas who meets Alan (Mason) on the run from the Germans, when he breaks into her house. He asks her to steal a camera which has film showing the meeting place of the Allies to plan the invasion.

When the Germans arrest her, Alan rescues her, but the Germans are in pursuit.

Very good and atmospheric film, with Lehman resembling Meryl Streep in some angles. Mason had a remarkable career in British films before hitting a big over here; in this film, he is a scrappy freedom fighter.

Maybe be a piece of fluffy propaganda, but it's an enjoyable adventure movie, with a suitable spunky American heroine and a charming British spy. Part of the plot takes place in Alger Casbah, like Pépé le Moko but on a smaller scale. A sweet but determined French girl named Yvette makes an impression, thanks to her small role of the doomed lover.