Les Saboteurs

There are some great scenes at the wharf with shootouts and manhunting and some very hard fights with sledge knuckles and some water incidents - the greatest scene is the rescuing of a man falling down from a great height, and the greatest combat is also in the water with one man drowning, but everything is rather predictable. It's about sabotaging a wharf building ships for transporting American soldiers over seas, and the Nazis are really bad guys, not hesitating to shoot to kill. Fortunately there are also some women involved (the beautiful Carole Landis) and some very sweet kids, who contribute in saving the film. It is worth watching but only barely, mainly for the dramatic fights and incidents at the wharf, but any propaganda film of 1943 could of course only end one way.

These things generally are more interesting for their social history than the cinematic experience. But that history is hot and heavy here.

Its a strange thing to witness, how Hollywood toes the line on perceived social needs, sometimes taking the lead from Washington.

The US entered the war with a strategy not based on valor, or military prowess. It was simply based on outproducing the bad guys. We could make stuff faster than they could blow it up. So industrial sabotage was a real worry. We weren't worried about the Japanese because we simply locked up anyone who looked Japanese.It was the Germans who "looked like us," that were the worry.

So Hollywod ginned up some stories to fit, and this is probably the best of the bunch. The interesting thing here is how far the Irish had come as the prototype American. Only a few decades before, Irish (with Jews) were considered slime. They were quite literally the "other," the non-American.

Its anyone's guess why they rose so quickly. The common theories don't hold much water because we see other groups who behaved much the same way and never achieved the exalted status of the Irish as movie icons. But here we have it in spades: brawling is an honorable, friendly thing. Booze is never mentioned. All the hard working, patriotic, tough souls here are Irish. They win the war with pluck and expect no reward or recognition.

Now, that's a story. Incidentally, though the story, sets and action are pure hokum, that acting here is pretty modern and realistic. I think that's related to the Irish story.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

TCM gave this four stars. It's a 2-1/2 stars film, in my opinion.

Pat O'Brien is Sam Gallagher, a U.S. government agent, a step up from his old job as a foreign correspondent. His brother Jeff (Chester Morris) offers him a job working in a shipyard as a pileback. Piles are poles, driven into the soil by a mechanical device to give a foundation to a structure Sam's purpose is to ferret out a group of Nazi spies trying to sabotage the shipyards. To give him a background, Jill McCann (Carole Landis), who is an FBI agent, poses as his wife, and two small war orphans are brought in as his children.

Jeff is surprised by all this - okay, he hasn't seen his brother in seven years, but something isn't right. He tells Lea Damoran (Ruth Warrick, his girlfriend who used to be Sam's girlfriend) his thoughts.

Sam is able to find out that the yard is going to be blown up the yard while an aircraft carrier is docked. And he begins to learn who the Nazis are in the yard. One problem: His brother's suspicions are drawing too much attention to Sam.

Pat O'Brien for me has never made it as a leading man, yet for some reason, every once in a while he was given a lead role. This is a role for Joel McCrea, John Wayne, that ilk: masculine, solid, and, frankly, kind of a chick magnet. I mean, on one side there's gorgeous Carole Landis, and on the other, his old girlfriend who still has feelings for him.

The story is only so-so, but the final scenes are quite good. The subplot concerning the war orphans is sweet and probably unnecessary.

Carole Landis would be dead only four years later, at the age of 29. I suspect the affair with Harrison was probably the last straw. She was done in Hollywood: she was nearing 30, the cutoff age for actresses back then, there were no more big films thanks to her relationship with Darryl Zanuck ending, she couldn't have children, and at the age of 29, she had already had four husbands. A sad end for a beautiful woman who learned that in Hollywood, you're disposable.

Lightweight Propaganda that is Family Friendly Fodder and Heavy on the Irish-are-Americans Theme, as well as the Need to Include those Cute Kids as a Reminder of what We are Fighting for. Speaking of Fighting, those Irish will Fight at Any Opportunity. They will Fight and Argue with Family Members, Friends, Co-Workers and even the Nazis.

In the Middle of the Movie it Stops Dead to Include a Scene where the Shipbuilders Remove their Welder's Helmets so the Audience can See Everyone is Doing their Part...Negroes...Women...and an Oriental (had to be Chinese because the Japanese were in Internment Camps).

Pat O'Brien is Miscast Again Playing a Hunk that Every Woman on Screen Pines. Ridiculous. The Frumpy, Overweight, Hardly Handsome "Star", should have Traded Places with Chester Morris and it would have Worked a Whole Lot Better.

Carol Landis is a Sleek Beauty and some of the Cinematography is Above Average. Overall it is a Watchable Piece of Propaganda Fluff that is Neither that Suspenseful or Intriguing. In the Prolog it is Mentioned that America is Building Sturdy Ships, Honest Ships. What Exactly is an Honest Ship?

Enjoyed viewing Carole Landis in the 1941 picture,"I Wake Up Screaming" and greatly enjoyed her performance in this film where she was so young, pretty and happy as a wife, (Jill McGann) to her husband Sam Gallagher, (Pat O'Brien) and a sweet funny little girl and boy to complete their lovely family. Sam Gallagher had a brother played by Chester Morris, (Jeff Gallagher) who did not see each other for years and wound up meeting each other in a ship yard which was building an aircraft carrier during WW II. Jeff Gallagher becomes suspicious of his brother Sam and for some reason does not believe he is married to Jill McGann and wonders just what his brother is up to. Jeff does not trust his brother and they both have a good fight in which both of the brothers get all beaten up. This is a great spy picture, but I still think Pat O'Brien was too old to act with Carole Landis or even marry her. Good Spy Film in 1944.