Saigon (1948)

Director:

Leslie Fenton

Writers:

Julian Zimet (story) and
Arthur Sheekman (writer)

Release Date:

31 March 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The Paris of the Orient!

Plot:

After World War II Larry learns that his flying buddy Mike will only live a short time despite the efforts of the doctors...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Vietnam | Beautiful Woman | Smuggling

Cast

Alan Ladd	...	Maj. Larry Briggs
Veronica Lake	...	Susan Cleaver
Douglas Dick	...	Capt. Mike Perry
Wally Cassell	...	Sgt. Pete Rocco
Luther Adler	...	Lt. Keon
Morris Carnovsky	...	Zlex Maris
Mikhail Rasumny	...	Hotel clerk
Luis Van Rooten	...	Simon
Eugene Borden	...	Boat captain
Griff Barnett	...	Surgeon
Betty Bryant	...	Cafe singer

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:12 | Finland:K-16

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

Indochinese intrigue a pretext for Ladd/Lake team to bid the screen a chilly farewell

Like Singapore, Calcutta and Macao, Saigon sets off to an Asian port of intrigue. Demobbed in Shanghai after action in the Pacific Theater, three flyboys postpone their return to the States because one of them, Douglas Dick, has only a month or two to live. The catch is that he doesn't know it; his pals Alan Ladd and Wally Cassell guard the secret, having decided, under cover of operating lucrative commercial flights, to pack `a whole lifetime' of excitement and pleasure into his brief span left.

Their first assignment, however, proves their last. Shady war profiteer Morris Carnovsky pays them a suspiciously large sum to take him to Saigon, the `Paris of the Orient.' But, detained by police and gunshots, he doesn't show for the punctual flight; instead, they carry his `secretary,' Veronica Lake, carting along a briefcase crammed with half a million. The crate they're flying has to crash-land, and they make the rest of the journey by boat to Saigon, giving a romantic triangle time to form: Both Dick (avidly) and Ladd (reluctantly) fall for Lake. But a police inspector (Luther Adler) just happens to be aboard as well....

Yet another romantic adventure in subtropical heat, Saigon owes much to John F. Seitz' solid camerawork (which deserves special mention for avoiding ceiling fans). It's pretty by-the-book, but not nearly so embarrassing as Ladd's Calcutta of the previous year.

The movie marks the last screen pairing of Ladd and Lake, an emblematic couple in the noir cycle noteworthy for their chilly emotional temperature. Whatever cryogenic chemistry they generated in This Gun For Hire and The Glass Key and The Blue Dahlia had by this time, alas, gone inert; few sparks get struck this close to absolute zero. Only the perfunctory conventions of the genre insist that their future together will be either a long or a happy one. Even that pretense is belied by the movie's final shot – in a cemetery.