8/10
Chasing a Nazi to death in the jungles of Vietnam while the Vietnam war still was French
16 March 2022
The French are having a hard time with the Viet Minh guerrillas of Ho Chi Minh operating in the jungles in Indochina and striking whenever they can while staying hidden out of reach, creating a constant terror for the Europeans, but this film is not much about that. To combat these insidious freedom fighters France is applying the Foreign Legion, and after the war many ex-Nazis join this 'Rogues Regiment' where they can go on living in anonymity, even if they are chased all over the world. Dick Powell is assigned the mission to find a certain Nazi fugitive hiding in this army, so he joins the legion himself and finds it swarming with Nazis among the other usual delinquents. Vincent Price provides the guerrillas with weapons and ammunition and knows the wanted fugitive, having helped him to secretly join the legion, and there is an attractive night club singer Märta Torén who knows them all, whom Dick Powell falls in love with like everyone else. It's a tricky story amidst some difficult jungle fights, but finally Dick Powell gets his man, while in reality he actually got away - a certain Alois Brunner, who is here called Martin Brunner with some traits of Martin Bormann, another mystery Nazi who some believe got away. It is not a bad film, but it is not altogether outstanding either, but it is interesting for its anticipation of the Vietnam war which would go on for almost 30 years, the French giving up and leaving it to the Americans to keep up the hopeless case. Stephen McNally as Brunner is actually the most interesting character, while Dick Powell is just an ordinary tough guy and Vincent Price that ordinary crook he generally makes, while Marta Toren offers some refreshment. It is exotic and intriguing but hardly first class.
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