John Farrow's directorial debut this was made for Bryan Foy's B unit at Warners. The cast is very "B" - people like June Travis and Dick Purcell. No one who made it to the A league.
It's set in a third world country where some American exiles get involved in a plot to overthrow the government. While a "B" it's one shot in the studio so the production values are decent. It's meant to be a remake of Safe in Hell I think but it's not a lot like it.
Purcell is passive a lot of the time - he doesn't take part in a robbery, doesn't join in the revolution, winds up arrested for a coup attempt, is saved from an execution not by anything he did but from his girlfriend's weakling brother confessing.
The handling is confident. The depiction of the island dictator is very sympathetic - he's kindly, charming, says he never intended to execute Purcell it was a trap. The film would've been better if it was more cynical. Still, not bad. Clock in under an hour.
A review in Variety is here.
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