We haven't seen Barton MacLane in a while, so it was good to find him in "Captain Scarface"(1953), playing the title role, as the skipper of a South American freighter bound for the Panama Canal. His cargo is a load of bananas, but there's something more on board. His first mate "Perro" (Peter Coe) is nervous about taking on passengers, and to be honest, it's not at all clear why any are being taken, besides "Dr. Yeager" (Rudolph Anders), his daughter "Elsa" (Virginia Grey), and "Mr. Kroll" (John Mylong), a broker who has smuggled the Yeagers onboard at the Captain's request. Yeager is an escapee from a Russian nuclear facility, a former prisoner of war, elderly and in poor health. Elsa, whom he hasn't seen in 17 years, has arranged for Mr. Kroll to spirit him to South America, where Captain Scarface will take him home to America on his ship, known as the Banos.
But we the audience know that Scarface has other designs. That's because, at the beginning of the movie, we've seen the original Banos exploded and it's Captain shot. Captain Scarface is a replacement. Another ship has been outfitted and painted to look just like the Banos. An older tourist couple, Mr. and Mrs. Dilts, are also on board, as is a single gentleman named "Crofton" (Don Dillaway), whose experience as a Navy radio operator will come in handy later on. In the early going, the original Banos radioman, "Klegg" (Paul Briegar of Rawhide fame), is trying to collect the five grand he was promised for luring the original Captain to his death. Scarface tries to blow Klegg off, but Klegg won't take no for an answer. He wants his money and he ain't leaving the ship til he gets it.
Circumstances lead to Klegg getting shot, along with Mr. Kroll the go-between. His identity is taken on by "Sam Wilton" (Leif Erickson) , an American expatriate working as a banana plantation foreman who needs to leave the country because he's been sleeping with his boss's wife, and the boss is gonna kill him. His role is to play the macho-but-self-effacing he-man, who will unwittingly be thrust into apocalyptic intrigue. This is because the extracurricular cargo on board is an atomic bomb, hidden in a camouflaged hold. Captain Scarface and Mr. Kroll have liberated Dr. Yeager from Russia on false premises. They don't plan to free him but to use him as one of only two available nuclear scientists in the world who can detonate their bomb. As Yeager himself says, when the deception is exposed, "You can't just light a match and set it off."
After a poisonous snake is found in the banana stack, and it bites and kills Mrs. Dilts, Sam Wilton is discovered to be impersonating Mr. Kroll, who was shot dead earlier. Captain Scarface orders all hands on deck to search the ship, find Wilton and kill him. By now, Wilton knows there's an atom bomb on board, and that Scarface, his first mate Perro, and the entire crew are on an idealistic, Communist suicide mission to blow up the Panama Canal and destroy the American economy. After Mrs. Dilts dies, all heck breaks loose on the ship. Wilton hides under a tarp, and while chaos reigns on deck, he has a chance to foil the bomb plot down below, with the help of Crofton the ex-Navy radioman.
The sets used are cheap-looking ship cabins. Barton MacLane does a good South American accent, with a putty scar on his cheek. As always, because it's written in his contract, if you get into a punchout with him, you're going to lose, even if you are Leif Erickson. Good thing Leif has his banana machete in reserve. But can he stop MacLane and his Commie first mate from staring World War 3?
Two Bigs for this flick, and a very high recommendation. It shows what you can do with an almost zero budget when the cast and crew are invested in making a good movie. ////
The night before, we started another chapter serial, his time from Columbia pictures instead of Republic, called "Blackhawk: Fearless Champion of Freedom"(1952), about a group of crime-fighting pilots who specialize in international espionage. In the first episode, their radioman "Stanislav" (Rick Vallin), a refugee from a communist country, gets a visit from a man and a woman who speak to him privately. "They're from the old country," he later tells his Captain (Kirk Alyn), the Blackhawk leader. "They need my help on a personal matter. May I take my plane? I won't be but a few days." Trusting Stan (as he is known for short), the Captain says okay, figuring a family member needs help escaping the country.
But the Cap's wingman isn't so sure. "It couldn't hurt to tail him, Captain. We don't know who those people were." They follow in the captain's plane, remaining out of sight in cloud cover, and sure enough, Stan isn't flying his visitors to the old country but to Chatsworth Park, where they land and head for the rocks.
As Captain Blackhawk parachutes out of his plane, wingman "Chuck" (John Crawford) lands far enough away not to be seen. Cap scrambles up the hillside to see a heated discussion taking place between Stan and his visitors, with Stan shaking his head "no". They want him to do something he won't do. When he tries to escape, other henchmen jump out of the rocks and punch him out. "We gave you your chance, Stanislav. Now you force us to use plan B" which is the use of a double who looks exactly like Stan. "Boris" is actually Stan's evil twin brother, in line with the communist cause. The agents are substituting him for Stan, thinking the Blackhawks won't know the difference. This will give the commies an "in" at Blackhawk headquarters, with Boris as their radioman and spy. And indeed, on Boris' first night at Blackhawk headquarters (where they think he's Stan), he uses a miniature bazooka, loaded with an incendiary device, to blow up and almost burn down the main hangar. The sabotage is foiled when the Blackhawks put the fire out, but they don't know Boris did it.
Next, the male and female commie agents drive to a helium refinery somewhere in the Long Beach area to try and blow it up with a similar device. Communist sabotage is the name of the game here. "Boris" (the fake Stan), has by now knocked out the chief mechanic and stolen a plane, to rejoin his cronies. Only Chop the Chinese cook can stop him.
We just finished "Captain America", which was great, and it looks like we've got another really good one with "Blackhawk". Any time you've got an airplane squadron as your heroes, it's gonna be exciting. The serial is fifteen chapters long, four hours running time, and - so far, just one episode in - the punchouts are thankfully brief. They don't go on for two minutes like Republic punchouts.
If you haven't watched a chapter serial yet, pick one and give it a shot. We love 'em and can't recommend them highly enough. ////
That's all for tonight. My blogging music was two classics by The Moody Blues: "To Our Children's Children's Children" and "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour". Tremendous is the word for both. My late night is Wagner's Lohengrin, conducted by Herbert von Karajan.
I hope you are enjoying the Summer, and I send you Tons of Love as always.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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