South of Suez

I'd consider this to be one of my Top 10 all-time favorites. George Tobias' avaricious character is as wicked as can be, especially earlier in the movie...while George Brent's comes to the rescue of the poor indigenous African worker.... George Brent would have been one of my very favorites if I were around in his heydays. Virtually all the great '40s movies (the very best decade for films, American and British, in particular) I've seen on TCM, online...in recent years. This one was released about a decade before I was born so I missed it in theaters.... This movie is one of a dozen or so that I love to watch every now and then....

Here you have it. The racism that I was raised on in the 1950's and 1960's when the old movies were shown on Saturday afternoons. Tarzan movies were the worst, but this is one of the runner-ups. It is so difficult to divorce the movie-making from the bias that it projected ( and we won't even discuss the animal abuse and misogyny reflected in these productions, I'll just say I am so glad we live in a different time. Worth watching only as an explanation of where we old geezers came from.

GEORGE BRENT was never more stoic in giving a wooden performance than he is in this programmer in which he and BRENDA MARSHALL have almost no chemistry together. Marshall is a strictly by-the-numbers sort of actress with severe limitations and never made it to full-fledged stardom. See her in this one and you'll understand why.

Surprisingly, the most vivid performance in the film is given by LEE PATRICK as the wife of greedy gold-miner owner (GEORGE TOBIAS) who sets Brent up for the murder of a fellow miner who discovered a diamond Tobias covets. Her courtroom scene toward the end gives her a chance to emote in Ida Lupino style. Only eight years later she would be one of the almost unrecognizable inmates of THE SNAKE PIT.

All of the sets look like leftovers from THE LETTER which took place on a rubber plantation. Still, for all its faults, this little programmer delivers some interesting melodramatic moments.

And a scene-stealing monkey supplies some much needed humorous moments.

George Brent is "South of Suez" with Lee Patrick, George Tobias, and Miles Mander. Released in 1940, Brent plays John Gamble, who is the foreman of a diamond mine owner, Eli Snedeker (Tobias), in Africa. Gamble is soon an ex-foreman, as he doesn't like Snedeker's sleazy practices.

Snedeker attempts to cheat Roger Smythe (Mander) out of his diamond claim, which thus far hasn't yielded anything. Gamble figures the claim must be worth something, so he rips up the papers before Smythe can sign them, angering Snedeker, and Gamble goes into partnership with Smythe. One diamond found on the property is a large, star-shaped diamond worth at least 50,000 pounds.

With that and the other diamonds mined, Smythe has enough to leave Africa and join his daughter Katherine (Brenda Marshall) in Egypt. Before he can, Snedeker kills him, but can't find the diamond because Gamble has the diamonds to sell for both of them. Delia, Snedeker's wife, witnesses the murder, but when Gamble returns, angry that he's rejected her, she tells him she'll point the finger at him. Gamble takes off, makes it to London, changes his name to Bradley, and becomes very rich.

He's never forgotten about Katherine, Smythe's daughter, and locates her. They fall in love, but he can't tell her his true identity, because she hates Gamble and is trying to find him to bring him to justice. One night, he sees an opportunity to get rid of John Gamble forever.

This is a good story, and I have to say I didn't mind the acting as much as another reviewer on this site did. I'm used to George Brent, I guess, and I thought Eric Blore, as his friend Limey that he makes while he's a stowaway on a ship, was colorful enough to make up for any of Brent's shortcomings. As far as the vitriol against Brenda Marshall (Mrs. William Holden), I've always liked her.

This is a melodramatic but entertaining movie containing a typical mistake, stated by a judge, that a wife can't testify against her husband. Sure she can. She just can't be forced to do so.

The Hollywood sets suggest a foreign land, and as stated in another review, probably were left over from The Letter. It makes sense.

Enjoyable.

The plot of "South of Suez" is something you simply cannot use any more. After all, the diamond miners in South Africa and other parts of the continent have developed a horrid reputation for mistreating the workers. However, when the film debuted in 1940, folks didn't know or particularly care about this...and so having a diamond miner being the leading man was not unusual but you won't see in the 21st century.

When the story begins in Tanzania, you see that mine owner Eli Snedeker (George Tobias) is a cruel and vicious man. Soon he and his foreman, John Gamble (George Brent) have a falling out and Gamble is thrilled to stop working for this monster. At about the same time, Snedeker is about to cheat a man out of his mine...and Gamble comes to his aid and becomes his partner. You know that sooner or later, the evil Snedeker will do something to try to exact revenge on Gamble...even though Gamble is a decent and honorable man.

When this film began, I was shocked to see George Tobias playing the vicious Snedeker. Tobias was known for playing 'nice guy' roles as well as the Stevens' neighbor, Abner, on "Bewitched"...hardly the type to be a murderous villain! But Tobias was good in this juicy role.

So is this any good? Yes. The story certainly is unusual as well as interesting...and is much like like "Jubal", which is a reworking of the Biblical story of Joseph! See the film and you might see what I mean. My only quibble was the ending...when one of the characters behaved in such an uncharacteristic manner...that was just poorly written. And, despite what the judge said, a wife CAN testify against her husband...she cannot be compelled to do so but can do it if she wants! Still, despite this sloppy ending, it's worth seeing.