Sometimes timing of movies ruins a possible award - witness how two splendid films, ALL ABOUT EVE (about the underbelly of the theatre)and SUNSET BOULEVARD (about the underbelly of the movies) came out in 1950, and managed to keep each other from sweeping the Oscars that year (although both did share in the Oscars). Each had great actresses in performances of stature (Bette Davis and Anne Baxter as Margo and Eve, and Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond) up for best actress - but it was the year for Judy Holiday for Billie Dawn in BORN YESTERDAY.
That same year, this nice little political thriller came out. It told the story of political intrigue in Latin America, complicated by the failing health of a dictator, and how an American doctor is torn between the threats of the dictator's regime and of the local revolutionaries. Cary Grant actually had a non-suave role here - he had serious things confronting him, like his dislike of his prospective patient (Jose Ferrer) and fears for his wife. Richard Brooks in his screenplay looked at such figures as the Argentine Perons (Signe Hasso plays the dictator's wife, like a clone of Evita), and notes the huge statues and pictures of the dictators - an early observation of what we call "the cult of personality". Ferrer is properly despicable, as a man capable of any act of violence for advantage, but also sickly due to his brain tumor. He also occasionally brings out points that pure democracy fans do not like to discuss: as he tells Grant Americans are perfectly willing to patiently stand in line for purchasing items or seeing movies, but in his country after a few minutes people standing in line start fighting and rioting. The opposition to Ferrer is little better than he is. Witness Gilbert Roland, who okays the kidnapping of Grant's wife, and once the dictator is dead starts telling Grant "These people are children who need a leader to tell them what to do." Someone disagrees with Roland, for he is shot by a sniper shortly after. The film ends with Grant sarcastically taking care of a panicking Roland and sneering at his political beliefs at the same time.
It was ahead of its time in dissecting Latin American political reality. So why is CRISIS so little recalled, while other Grant thrillers (like NORTH BY NORTHWEST or NOTORIOUS - both by Hitchcock) are remembered. Not due to production or script or acting. Rather timing. In 1950 Douglas Fairbanks and Glynis Johns and Jack Hawkins appeared in the movie STATE SECRET. Set in a fictional Balkan country (supposedly Yugoslavia, but fictitious) a British surgeon is forced to take care of an ailing dictator, who undergoes a secret operation. But the dictator dies, and Fairbanks tries to flee the country aided by Johns. Almost the same type of plot (although a different part of the world). Both films deserve revival. And like ALL ABOUT EVE and SUNSET BOULEVARD, both checkmated each other's full effectiveness in that year of coincidences 1950.
That same year, this nice little political thriller came out. It told the story of political intrigue in Latin America, complicated by the failing health of a dictator, and how an American doctor is torn between the threats of the dictator's regime and of the local revolutionaries. Cary Grant actually had a non-suave role here - he had serious things confronting him, like his dislike of his prospective patient (Jose Ferrer) and fears for his wife. Richard Brooks in his screenplay looked at such figures as the Argentine Perons (Signe Hasso plays the dictator's wife, like a clone of Evita), and notes the huge statues and pictures of the dictators - an early observation of what we call "the cult of personality". Ferrer is properly despicable, as a man capable of any act of violence for advantage, but also sickly due to his brain tumor. He also occasionally brings out points that pure democracy fans do not like to discuss: as he tells Grant Americans are perfectly willing to patiently stand in line for purchasing items or seeing movies, but in his country after a few minutes people standing in line start fighting and rioting. The opposition to Ferrer is little better than he is. Witness Gilbert Roland, who okays the kidnapping of Grant's wife, and once the dictator is dead starts telling Grant "These people are children who need a leader to tell them what to do." Someone disagrees with Roland, for he is shot by a sniper shortly after. The film ends with Grant sarcastically taking care of a panicking Roland and sneering at his political beliefs at the same time.
It was ahead of its time in dissecting Latin American political reality. So why is CRISIS so little recalled, while other Grant thrillers (like NORTH BY NORTHWEST or NOTORIOUS - both by Hitchcock) are remembered. Not due to production or script or acting. Rather timing. In 1950 Douglas Fairbanks and Glynis Johns and Jack Hawkins appeared in the movie STATE SECRET. Set in a fictional Balkan country (supposedly Yugoslavia, but fictitious) a British surgeon is forced to take care of an ailing dictator, who undergoes a secret operation. But the dictator dies, and Fairbanks tries to flee the country aided by Johns. Almost the same type of plot (although a different part of the world). Both films deserve revival. And like ALL ABOUT EVE and SUNSET BOULEVARD, both checkmated each other's full effectiveness in that year of coincidences 1950.