It's strange because in 1949 we were on cozy terms with Cuba. American Fruit and the Mafia were notoriously friendly with the government in those pre-Castro days, and here we have a movie lauding the efforts of Cuban citizens to overthrow a thuggish dictator in Havana.
The six strangers are rebels who come together in the house of Jennifer Jones with the intention of digging a tunnel to a point at which the corrupt El Presidente is supposed to make an appearance -- then blowing up him and his cronies, including his piggish Police Chief, Pedro Armendariz.
One of the rebels is John Garfield. Of course he and Jones fall for each other. Strenuous digging takes place throughout the middle of the movie, as well as a lot of talking, some of it rambling.
It's an unusual movie, too, because director Huston paid so much attention to details. Imagine the final shoot out, in which the surrounded Garfield and Jones are fending off the police. Garfield has a tommy gun. Ordinarily, the weapons wielded by the heroes never need attention. Here, Jones hides in the kitchen and feeds Garfield magazines for his gun, which she has filled, round by round. And, in digging under a cemetery, the rebels must wear masks to protect them from the clouds of cadaverine they unleash.
It's strange to see Jennifer Jones in a small-budget movie. She was Mrs. David O. Selznick and mostly appeared in lavish productions especially designed for her. (In her next vehicle she was Emma Bovary.) She looks sleek and sexy in her Latina make up, though her accent admittedly sometimes strays into Russian territory or maybe Urdu.
None of the acting is outstanding. The script does go on. And the rendering of Spanish into "English without contractions" places an additional burden on the performers. "I can not leave without you." "Let us go now and begin the tunnel." If it has its weaknesses, and it does, it isn't a failure either. These poor guys have their necks on the chopping block. They're digging this tunnel, sweating away, while the cops know that they're up to something and are putting pressure on Jones to squeal. All that work -- and then the tunnel fails. You can smell the despair of the characters.
Sadly, at the final moment, Garfield is mortally wounded and then the revolution takes place. It lasts about 30 seconds, the fastest revolution in the history of man or beast. At the end of that time, the church bells ring out, El Presidente is dead, and Armendariz is strung up like Benito Mussolini.
So all that work on the tunnel was for nothing. It's a little like Hemingway's Cubano fisherman who works like hell only to lose his noble marlin to the sharks.
The six strangers are rebels who come together in the house of Jennifer Jones with the intention of digging a tunnel to a point at which the corrupt El Presidente is supposed to make an appearance -- then blowing up him and his cronies, including his piggish Police Chief, Pedro Armendariz.
One of the rebels is John Garfield. Of course he and Jones fall for each other. Strenuous digging takes place throughout the middle of the movie, as well as a lot of talking, some of it rambling.
It's an unusual movie, too, because director Huston paid so much attention to details. Imagine the final shoot out, in which the surrounded Garfield and Jones are fending off the police. Garfield has a tommy gun. Ordinarily, the weapons wielded by the heroes never need attention. Here, Jones hides in the kitchen and feeds Garfield magazines for his gun, which she has filled, round by round. And, in digging under a cemetery, the rebels must wear masks to protect them from the clouds of cadaverine they unleash.
It's strange to see Jennifer Jones in a small-budget movie. She was Mrs. David O. Selznick and mostly appeared in lavish productions especially designed for her. (In her next vehicle she was Emma Bovary.) She looks sleek and sexy in her Latina make up, though her accent admittedly sometimes strays into Russian territory or maybe Urdu.
None of the acting is outstanding. The script does go on. And the rendering of Spanish into "English without contractions" places an additional burden on the performers. "I can not leave without you." "Let us go now and begin the tunnel." If it has its weaknesses, and it does, it isn't a failure either. These poor guys have their necks on the chopping block. They're digging this tunnel, sweating away, while the cops know that they're up to something and are putting pressure on Jones to squeal. All that work -- and then the tunnel fails. You can smell the despair of the characters.
Sadly, at the final moment, Garfield is mortally wounded and then the revolution takes place. It lasts about 30 seconds, the fastest revolution in the history of man or beast. At the end of that time, the church bells ring out, El Presidente is dead, and Armendariz is strung up like Benito Mussolini.
So all that work on the tunnel was for nothing. It's a little like Hemingway's Cubano fisherman who works like hell only to lose his noble marlin to the sharks.