"We Were Strangers" is a drama set in the 1930s during Cuba's revolutionary period that ended the government of General Gerardo Machado Morales (1925-1933). The story comes from a 1948 novel by Robert Sylvester, "Rough Sketch." That there is any romance in this film is questionable, but an apparent love develops between the two leads.
The film has a good cast, but there doesn't seem to be any life in any of them except Gilbert Roland as Guillermo Montilla. John Garfield's Tony Fenner is a very reserved character, almost withdrawn. Some of the others - Ramon Novarro as Chief, Morris Ankrum as Mr. Seymour and Wally Cassell as Miguel seem wooden. They give the impression that someone is holding a gun on them - a frequent situation in a number of movies about Nazi Germany.
Finally, the time spent digging the tunnel and workers relieving one another seems to drag on and on. There isn't much plot to this film, and it seems way too long. It may be a stretch even to give it six stars. I doubt that many modern audiences would be patient enough to sit through this film. John Huston's direction tries to develop the individual characters, but there's just not much to work with here.
There have been any number of tremendous films made about revolutions, undergrounds and resistance groups during war time and civil unrest. Most of them have been quite good. Those plots were generally more substantial than this one, and the portrayals of different scenes would keep one on the edge of his or her seat. This film was missing all of that.
The film has a good cast, but there doesn't seem to be any life in any of them except Gilbert Roland as Guillermo Montilla. John Garfield's Tony Fenner is a very reserved character, almost withdrawn. Some of the others - Ramon Novarro as Chief, Morris Ankrum as Mr. Seymour and Wally Cassell as Miguel seem wooden. They give the impression that someone is holding a gun on them - a frequent situation in a number of movies about Nazi Germany.
Finally, the time spent digging the tunnel and workers relieving one another seems to drag on and on. There isn't much plot to this film, and it seems way too long. It may be a stretch even to give it six stars. I doubt that many modern audiences would be patient enough to sit through this film. John Huston's direction tries to develop the individual characters, but there's just not much to work with here.
There have been any number of tremendous films made about revolutions, undergrounds and resistance groups during war time and civil unrest. Most of them have been quite good. Those plots were generally more substantial than this one, and the portrayals of different scenes would keep one on the edge of his or her seat. This film was missing all of that.