Most of Alan Ladd’s films for his company Jaguar were undistinguished but this at least had the benefit of a novel setting – to wit, Cuba in the late 19th century, when they were battling for independence against Spain. It also helps in that it’s got a strong support casting, including Chill Wills, Lloyd Nolan, Paul Fix and Royal Dano. Ladd always did especially well in films where he had a bloke to bounce off, eg William Bendix, and he and Nolan have good by-play here.
Wills has a nice death scene involving his former black slave; getting dressed up in his old South uniform and blowing himself up. (Yeah, I know it’s both hokey and dodgy to have the former slave stay with him, but it’s still quite moving.) Other effective bits include a final shoot out in a storm (director Gordon Douglas likes storms, he used one in The Iron Mistress) and a clever bit of business where Ladd and Nolan get two dead Spaniards and use them to drive a coach load of dynamite into a fort.
Rosanna Podesta is poor as annoying the female lead, and check out the deep dubbed voice of that irritating little kid. It is for these two that Ladd eventually changes sides – he falls in love with the kid as much as Podesta. Despite the 1898 setting it’s very much a Western: there’s an opening ambush shoot-out, a chase scene on a coach and a final gun duel between Ladd and Nolan. I was expecting a big battle at the end, or at least American soldiers, but there is just a shoot out – maybe they ran out of money. Ladd’s performance is Ok.
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