City of intrigue, murder and excitement!
1956-08-17
N/A
90 min
For Capt. Robert John Evans, smuggling black-market goods is nothing out of the ordinary. But one day he's hired by Aristides Mavros for a more involved assignment -- sneaking an imprisoned American out of communist-controlled territory. The job seems challenging enough, but when he meets the prisoner's sultry wife, Sylvia, he realizes his mission comes with a startling catch: Not only must he rescue this man, he must bring him back from the dead.
Ray Milland had quite an hand in this quite classy looking seaside drama. He ("Capt. Evans") finds himself intrigued by an offer of $10,000 from the debonaire but entirely unscrupulous "Mavros" (Claude Rains) if he will suspend his usual brandy smuggling operations and bring a wealthy and recently kidnapped American to safety in Portugal. The whole operation is being funded by "Sylvia" (Maureen O'Hara) the much younger wife of the captured industrialist, so of course there are temptations afoot to maybe ensure his money is suddenly available for re-distribution. "Evans" turns out to be a bit of a babe magnet here as he also manages to attract the attention of "Maria" (Yvonne Furneaux) who works for "Mavros" and who takes an immediate shine to her sailor boy - despite the obvious chagrin of henchman "Serafim" (Francis Lederer). Who's going to prevail in this battle of hearts, wits and double-crosses? The story itself here is quite solid and Rains cones across well as the duplicitous schemer but O'Hara was always better when her character was allowed to let her hair down. Here, she is a bit stifled by the rather limited scope for her character and the equally linear contribution from an unremarkable Milland. The thriller elements are all too readily subsumed into the menage-à-trois romance and even the elements of menace are just too undercooked. It's got a good look to it and Nelson Riddle works some magic on traditional Portuguese music, but the rest of this is all a bit so what? It's watchable to see a group of consummate professionals do their work, but the film itself is nothing at all memorable.
