You wouldn’t believe the handsome dashing Errol Flynn of the 30s and 40s had been reduced to being a croupier at a Havana casino – but you would the seedy Errol of the late 50s. His age and pain on his face tell the story of it all… a man who’s done a lot of living, with plenty of regret.
I was pleasantly surprised by this film at first – it has a pretty bad reputation but it starts off as an unpretentious, fast-paced programmer which benefits from a strong story. Within the first 15 minutes Errol has received some dodgy money at the casino, been robbed, interrogated by the police, fired from his job – good basic screenwriting.
Unfortunately things do slow down once Errol starts romancing a woman and it all gets a bit predictable. Things hinted at during the first part of the film with great potential – notably the corrupt atmosphere of Havana, and the character of dodgy Errol, with his mysterious past - but they’re not really used. And he has little chemistry with his female co-stars.
But there are still pleasures, notably some location filming in Havana just before Batista’s fall, the Cuban setting, Pedro Armendariz as a local police officer (who’d be presumably killed within a few years), a decent shoot out at El Morro castle at the end. Part of me wished this was shot in colour, mainly to see the Cuban locations, but I think overall it’s more effective in black and white.
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