Taïkoun

MGM never had any idea what to do with its contract star, Laraine Day, other than cast her as Lew Ayres' girlfriend in the "Dr. Kildare" series. Other than that, they loaned her out. I'm not sure if she was still with MGM when "Tycoon" was filmed - I have absolutely no clue why anyone would think of her as a South American, but there she was, with black hair and her skin darkened.

I digress. "Tycoon" stars John Wayne, Day, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Anthony Quinn, and Judith Anderson in a technicolor film about the travails of a) falling in love with the boss' daughter; and b) then having the boss make sure you don't have the materials to build your railroad, tunnel, or whatever else you're building. Seems a bit self-defeating and spiteful.

Filmed in technicolor, some of the shots are gorgeous, and some are hilarious - for instance, the South American town, which is a painted backdrop.

I actually like John Wayne when he's not in a western, and here, he's handsome and tough and brings some life to the proceedings. I've always been a fan of Laraine Day, and she's lovely - but a chimpanzee could have played her part. I understand Day's husband, Leo Durocher, was on the set most of the time and was jealous of John Wayne. Judith Anderson as her duena is very good and Hardwicke is dignified. Anthony Quinn, as he often was back then, was shown to great advantage in a supporting role.

It might have been a better film if it had been shorter - there's just too much down time in "Tycoon." The script is a bore. The explosions are good.

"Johnny" (John Wayne) and his long-suffering partner "Pop" (James Gleason) do contract mining work and are building a tunnel for railway owner "Alexander" (Sir Cedric Hardwicke). This latter man is a bit of a pile driver and they are already arguing about safety and cost cutting at the tunnel when "Johnny" encounters his boss's daughter "Maura" (Laraine Day). Dad disapproves profoundly, but the two embark on a romance that leaves both estranged from her father - and that makes their digging even more dangerous. Can they reconcile their differences before disaster strikes? The last half hour picks up the pace quite well - loads of heavy rain and engineering peril, but the rest of this over-long melodrama spends far too long on the smoochy stuff and nowhere near enough on any adventure elements. Anthony Quinn turns up now and again, but is largely wasted as the rich man's nephew "Ricky" and Judith Anderson is likewise underused as the well meaning assistant "Miss Braithwaite" - a woman in whom "Alexander" is clearly interested but his rigid behaviour leaves little room for this to flourish. Like so many of Wayne's leading ladies, Day is a rather underwhelming actress who has a little more to get her teeth into here, in theory, but she seems content to wander around in a different frock each time pouting and pretending she can fry an egg. This is typical fayre for this star, and though it is watchable enough it's not a movie that I reckon I shall ever recall.

Tycoon is a nice John Wayne film which looks splendid in color. Wayne plays a different character than usual. For the first part of the film he plays his standard All-American man, but during the second half he turns to a heel. Day looks fabulous. A negative point of this film is the dreary character of Hardwicke. The story and the exotic locale makes this an entertaining film.

John plays an engineer helping to build a bridge over a dangerous South American gorge, and Laraine Day plays the daughter of the wealthy man trying to get the bridge built. This is a tough film to wade your way through; it's over 2 hours long, and not especially exciting. Cedric Hardwicke and Judith Anderson are good, but they can't help this piece much.

Despite the fact that the technicolor location photography is great, John Wayne and Laraine Day have to deal with a script that is way too long (2 hrs. 8 min.) for the kind of romantic adventure seen here. One of the chief compensations for the overlong film, is seeing Laraine Day look lovelier than ever in technicolor. But other than that, the script is too long-winded and lacks enough action or drama to sustain itself over the long running time.

Let me quote from my "LARAINE DAY: All-American Girl" article that appears in the Spring 2001 issue of FILMS OF THE GOLDEN AGE:

"'Tycoon' is a spectacular action-romance co-starring her with John Wayne in which he carried most of the film. Once again, she was easy on the eyes in technicolor as a woman in love with a railroad constructor (Wayne) in conflict with his employer over construction of tracks through the Andes mountains. She handled the role capably enough but it was one that any young actress could have played and offered no new challenges."

The nice supporting cast included Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Judith Anderson, James Gleason and Anthony Quinn. It passes the time, but don't expect anything much.