.. from 20th Century Fox and director George Marshall. Lt. Andrew Rowan (John Boles) is on a secret mission from President McKinley to deliver a message to Cuban revolutionary General Garcia. Rowan enlists the help of local scoundrel Dory (Wallace Beery) and vengeful plantation owner's daughter Raphaelita (Barbara Stanwyck) to find the reclusive revolutionaries, all the while being hunted by the Spanish government forces led by German Dr. Krug (Alan Hale).
This is a highly-fictionalized account of a real incident during the Spanish-American War. Boles is passable as the heroic lead, and he gets some good scenes near the end when he's being tortured. Stanwyck isn't exactly the first name I'd think of when casting a Cuban girl, and she really doesn't do anything to make that more believable other than use a few Spanish phrases and maybe darkening her hair a little. Beery plays the same boozy, disheveled slob with a heart of gold that he played so often. I'd heard this was awful, so maybe that tempered my expectations enough that I didn't mind it so much. Hale is effective as the villain.
This is a highly-fictionalized account of a real incident during the Spanish-American War. Boles is passable as the heroic lead, and he gets some good scenes near the end when he's being tortured. Stanwyck isn't exactly the first name I'd think of when casting a Cuban girl, and she really doesn't do anything to make that more believable other than use a few Spanish phrases and maybe darkening her hair a little. Beery plays the same boozy, disheveled slob with a heart of gold that he played so often. I'd heard this was awful, so maybe that tempered my expectations enough that I didn't mind it so much. Hale is effective as the villain.