Yankee Pasha

I once read somewhere that when Jeff Chandler completed Yankee Buccaneer in 1952 there were a lot of action sequences left over. Like any other studio Universal never let anything go to waste so two years later Chandler wound up filming Yankee Pasha.

Fans of the stars should like Yankee Pasha. It's a romance novel about a frontiersman who follows his lady love across the Atlantic Ocean after a misunderstanding about the lady's true intentions. Rhonda Fleming is captured by Barbary Pirates and as redheads are a premium she catches the eye of Rex Reason the head of the Ottoman Sultan's local Jannisary forces in Morocco. His troops even have the Sultan of Morocco somewhat intimidated, the Moroccan Sultan being Lee J. Cobb.

Jeff Chandler is not going to let an ocean or Moslem custom about women Christian captives interfere with his pursuit of his lady love. Not even the Sultan's present of Mamie Van Doren to Chandler deters him one wit from his mission.

Van Doren is as annoying to the audience as she was to Chandler with her constant cackling. She was a beauty no doubt, but her acting talent left a lot to be desired. But this film isn't any great work of art. Blonds and redheads certainly add some spice to any harem.

If you like romance novels and are fans of the stars Yankee Pasha should work for you.

To begin with, I interrupted my ongoing parallel Luis Bunuel (Part 2) and "Euro-Cult" marathons to indulge in an old-fashioned Hollywood oater on the big screen. This was due to an unscheduled, but most welcome, invite by a couple of movie-buff friends of mine (who are actually my Dad's peers). Since we settled on which film we would be watching at the very last minute, I went into this knowing only the odd title (which I was familiar with alright, but it had somehow never cropped up for viewing until now) and the male lead involved (Jeff Chandler)…and, yet, I had to smile when, upon wondering if this was helmed by Joseph Pevney, his name actually turned up in the opening credits!

Being a Universal production, one has to remember that this sort of mindless crowd-pleasing fare used to be churned out virtually on an assembly-line during this era – with the slightest of trimmings to accommodate the studio's current top box-office draw (be it Chandler, Tony Curtis or Rock Hudson)! Similarly, several journeymen directors flourished there at the time, proving adept at practically every setting and storyline the executives could throw at them! Now, to get back to the single biggest coup of the film under review, it is the effortless blending of sure-fire formulas which rendered the whole most enjoyable: in fact, proceedings start off in a Western milieu, then the scene shifts to the high seas and a brief interlude of pirate action, before eventually settling into an Arabian Nights adventure! Without wishing to attribute undue subtext to an inherently modest product, I am sure it would have greatly pleased the Surrealists to witness its depiction of amour fou literally transcending genre conventions!

Anyway, here we find trapper Chandler and redhead Rhonda Fleming falling for each other virtually at first sight (though, typically, she is intended for another who unsurprisingly proves to be an arrogant bully). Soon enough, the two men engage in a horse race, which Chandler wins thanks to an Indian yelp (like the one Richard Dix gave in CIMARRON [1931]) which frightens his rival's steed! Sailing to Marseille with her father, she is kidnapped by pirates and sold into slavery to a Moroccan potentate (or, rather, an aspiring usurper) played by Rex Reason – here billed as Bart Roberts and later promoted to lead status for the sci-fi classic THIS ISLAND EARTH (1955)! The real ruler (an ill-at-ease Lee J. Cobb) fears his own army would not withstand a full-scale attack by Reason's forces. He is saved by the arrival of Chandler upon the scene, who offers to school his soldiers in quick-shooting tactics in exchange for a place at court in an effort to get wind of Fleming's whereabouts. For his services, Chandler is not only garbed in the latest Oriental fashion but gets acquainted with their customs (including owning a personal slave-girl in the shapely form of delightfully "cackling" yet jealously conniving Mamie Van Doren, also thankfully the closest thing here approximating comic relief) – prompting him to exclaim at one point, "I can Salaam with the best of them!"

As is to be expected, Chandler eventually regains Fleming and loses her once more to Reason, before himself falling into his clutches. Their obligatory showdown (by the way, there is also a cat-fight between the two girls over their supremacy in Chandler's harem!) takes place on the prison turret, with the villain predictably getting his just desserts by being impaled on a set of horns which protrude from the walls to prevent convicts from escaping! One thing which I noticed but forgot to tell my host (who is a Victor Mature fanatic) is that Reason's castle was, in all probability, the very same one to be featured (complete with a strategically-placed palm-tree) in Mature's own Universal-produced Arabian Nights epic THE VEILS OF BAGDAD (1953), and which had actually been one of the first titles we caught at his private cinema!

In fact, watching YANKEE PASHA – via a surprisingly well-preserved 16mm copy, despite the occasional image blurring and emulsion problems – in an ambiance which attempted to recreate the full theatrical Saturday matinée' experience (complete with walls adorned by vintage movie posters and musical accompaniment before the performance and during the reel-changing break) heightened the steady dose of unassuming colorful entertainment provided by the main feature. In conclusion, the career of silver-haired Jeff Chandler may have been short-lived but it proved incredibly prolific nevertheless: having checked just now, I have some 23 of his films lying unwatched in my collection – as opposed to the mere 7 which I have gotten under my belt so far! Given that this year marks the 50th anniversary of his tragic passing, I might make room for a well-deserved retrospective throughout my proposed generic viewings in 2011

Watching so many of these 50s adventure movies, be they vehicles for cowboys or detectives, soldiers or swashbucklers, aliens or monsters, were like reading so much of the pulp fiction of the day. Rather than spending days reading a book, you could spend a couple of hours whisked away to a fantasy land with some harmless adventure and thrills if not a lot of thought provoking ideas. Forty some years later after growing older and wiser, there are still those times when I wonder where Hollywood's current head is, and head back to comfortable familiar territory. I started watching these kind of movies about the time I reached puberty and needless to say, watching this movie with raging hormones was a thrilling experience back then. Rhonda Fleming is still my favorite actress all these years later, and Mamie Van Doren was one of my favorite 50s blond bombshells, so how can I say anything bad about a Technicolor movie that puts both of these women in harem outfits? Yeow! I always thought Rhonda was at her peak in The Gunfight at the OK Corral, but to this day one of my treasured possessions is an autographed publicity still of her in her harem outfit. Move over Jeannie, you've got company! Forget the hokum plot and go for the ride and check out two of the greatest harem beauties ever.

A light and so-so adventure adventure movie , set mostly in Morocco about an adventurer who sets out to recover his lost love. This routine and agreeable film but with no too much interest movie turns out to be entertaining and amusing enough. In the picture there are fights, combats, swordsplay, betrayals, and lots of noisy action, including a spectacular attack on the enemy fortress . Salem, Massachusetts, 1800. Mountaineer trapper Jason Starbuck (Jeff Chandler) rides into town with furs to sell and dreams to fulfill. Shortly after , he falls in love with Roxana Reil (Rhonda Fleming) , a wealthy and gorgeous girl who struggles for getting her lover , as she surprisingly goes France to await Jason . Then , Roxana's ship is assaulted by sea pirates, subsequently caught into slavery in Morocco , and sold to a Moroccan harem, there she is taken by Omar Id-Din's (Rex Reason) , Sultan's lieutenant . Jason goes after her to Morocco and must win the support of the sultan (Lee J. Cobb) in order to go on his efforts to locate and rescue her. Every passionate moment of the strangest adventure ever told !

Enjoyable Oriental adventure movie with major wonders, noisy action, pursuits , sword-play and spectacular fights, though the flick can not be taking itself entirely seriously . This film is made at one time, in which Universal International Pictures was a studio quite noted for its Oriental or Eastern adventure movies and here manages to bring a decent yarn, though neither notable, nor extraordinary, but acceptable . As this one results to be an Oriental action/adventure with usual actors of the genre, ordinary ingredients, and proceedings are very much oh the light-hearted side. Based on an enormous novel by Edison Marshall and compressed into around 90 minutes with no really losing much of the story. Stars the handsome Jeff Chandler as trapper Jason Starbuck who falls for a beautiful Massachusetts girl , and he has to rescue her from slavery when sea pirates capture her . Jeff starred various films until his early death at 42 while shooting Merril's Marauders . He performed various genres particularly Adventure, Wartime and Western, such as : Away all boats, Man in the shadow, Because of you, The Jayhawkers, Red ball express, Return to Peyton Place, being especially famous for playing chief Cochise in Broken arrow , The battle of Apache Pass, Taza son of Cochise, for whom the grey-hair had won considerable popularity . And what better co-starring could there have been than the sweet redhair Rhonda Fleming , here performing a smoldering, passionate princess who breaks her previous engagement and leaves for France. She along with Maureen O'Hara , Yvonne de Carlo were three of the best action women and swashbuckleresses in the Hollywood business . As she acted especially in adventure , swashbucklers and Film Noir . She has appeared in over 40 films, including David O. Selznick's Spellbound (1945), directed by Alfred Hitchcock; Jacques Tourneur's Out of the past (1947); and Robert Siodmak's Spiral staircase (1946). She later got starring roles in such classics as A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1948), Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957), While the cily sleeps (1958), Pony Express (1953), Slightly Scarlet (1956), Mientras Nueva York duerme (1956) and The big circus (1959) . Later on , she played in TV as guest-star on numerous television series, including Wagon train (1957), Police woman (1974), Love boat(1977), Last Hours Before Morning (1975) and a two-hour special of McMillan and wife (1971). Both of whom are well accompanied by a good support cast , such as : the gorgeous and likeable Mamie Van Doren who steals the show as a jealous slave , the miscasted Lee J. Cobb, the nasty Rex Reason ,Benny Rubin , Arthur Space, Philip Van Zandt , Tudor Owen , among others .



It packs a colorful and gleaming cinematography in Technicolor by Carl E. Guthrie . As well as vibrant and thrilling musical score from Universal's regular : Hans J. Salter , William Lava , Milton Rosen , though uncredited .The motion picture produced by Howard Christie for Universal Pictures , was professionally directed by Joseph Pevney , but with no much originality . Joseph Pevney was a notorious actor and director who born on September 15, 1911 in New York City, and he died on May 18, 2008 in Palm Desert, California . After World War II he acted with Paul Muni's Los Angeles-based "Key Largo" troupe. He acted in only five films (1946-1950), all of them films noir, his first as a piano-playing killer in Nocturno (1946). He spent most of his career behind the camera and his first film as a director was Shakedown (1950) in which he makes a Hitchcock-style cameo as Keller the reporter, his last on-screen part. He was a director and actor, being especially known for Star Trek (1966), Tammy, and the bachelor (1957) and The man of one thousand faces (1957) . Pevney directed a lot of movies of all kinds of genres such as Wartime : Torpedo run , Away all boats , Air cadet. Adventures as Yankee Pasha , Tammy , Twilight for the God, Congo crossing ,Ring circus , Legion of desert . Western : Lady from Texas , The plunderers . Thriller : Undercover girl , Flesh and fury , Man of a thousand faces , Iron Man , Shakedown , The strange Door , 6 bridges to cross , Istanbul. After spending the 1950s as a contract director at Universal, he switched to television where his early credits include five episodes of Alfred Hitchcock presents (1962). Rating . 5.5/10 , acceptable and passable . The film will appeal to Jeff Chandler and Rhonda Fleming fans . Worthwhie watching.

Salem, Massachusetts, 1800. Mountaineer Jason Starbuck rides into town with furs to sell and dreams to fulfill. He falls in love with Roxana, who breaks her previous engagement and leaves for France to await Jason. Roxana's ship is attacked by pirates and she is sold into slavery in Morocco. Jason follows her to Morocco and must win the support of the sultan in order to continue his efforts to locate and rescue her.

Yankee Pasha starts off as a western with a mountain trapper getting into a horse race and falling for a woman, then later the location changes to sea with ships and pirates and then has a dollop of the Arabian nights adventure with harems cooing "oh master" - I liked the mix of these genres, keeping things fresh. It's got the usual Arab orientalist stuff but it's quite an entertaining romantic adventure with pirates, scimitars, beautiful women, shooting out on horseback and a sword clashing conflict. It's very much like a colourful pulp novel, all decked out in Technicolor.

Jeff Chandler is always a likeable presence, his films are always entertaining and his star presence is well-matched by red-haired Rhonda Fleming (she wears this daring white bikini number that had my red corpuscles running over time!) who looks suitably feisty and stressed when in the company of the evil Omar Id-Din (Rex Reason plays him in a comic book fashion). The training segment and the friendship of Chandler with Hassan should've been touched upon longer as it would strengthen the scene when Hassan comes to the rescue of Chandler who is imprisoned by Omar Id-Din.