Fri 1 Apr 2016
A Movie Review by Jonathan Lewis: SIROCCO (1951).
Posted by Steve under Films: Drama/Romance , Reviews[16] Comments
SIROCCO. Columbia Pictures, 1951. Humphrey Bogart, Marta Toren, Lee J. Cobb, Everett Sloane, Gerald Mohr, Zero Mostel. Screenplay: A.I. Bezzerides & Hans Jacoby, based on the novel Le coup de grâce by Joseph Kessel. Director: Curtis Bernhardt.
Sirocco was hardly Humphrey Bogart’s finest hour. Directed by Curtis Bernhardt, this espionage thriller features Bogie in a role eerily similar to that of Rick Blaine in Casablanca. But Casablanca this is not. Rather, Sirocco is a rather tepid, occasionally soporific affair, about a Harry Smith (Bogart), a cynical high living arms dealer, based in Damascus in 1925 at a time when Syrian Arab nationalists were battling the French military stationed there.
There is, of course, a girl and a romantic rivalry that has political overtones. In this case, the girl is Violette, a Frenchwoman portrayed by Swedish actress Märta Torén. A fine actress, to be sure; alas, she simply doesn’t have the screen presence of Ingrid Bergman. But then again who does?
Lee J. Cobb, a fine character actor in some roles, portrays a French Army officer in love with Violette. Did I mention he’s also tasked with rooting out who is selling arms to Arab leader Emir Hassan? Hint: it’s Bogie’s character. That’s basically the whole plot.
Then again, Sirocco isn’t a total wash. The cinematography is occasionally quite stellar, and Zero Mostel’s scenery chewing performance as a local merchant is quite memorable and downright enjoyable to behold. It’s just that one cannot help but compare this mediocre film with that of Bogart’s best films. Even if they named it Damascus – a far more fitting and preferable title – Sirocco would pale in comparison not only to Casablanca but also to one of my personal favorites, To Have and To Have Not. So, take it from me. It’s okay to forget Sirocco. After all, we’ll always have Paris.
April 1st, 2016 at 4:50 pm
A true disappointment on top of which it fails the capture the qualities that made the Kessel novel worth reading.
It never gels and no one seems happy to be in it other than Mostel. ROPE OF SAND did the whole CASABLANCA vibe better as did the rather tired TIMBUCTU.
This one is really a disappointment on most levels but it has one hell of a cast.
April 1st, 2016 at 5:13 pm
David, do you know if the Kessel book was ever translated into English?
April 1st, 2016 at 5:17 pm
I agree with Jon’s assessment of this film, which we watched together. Even more damning, I suppose, is that I fell asleep twice.
April 1st, 2016 at 5:20 pm
Besides being a scene from the film, there is another underlying significance to the bottom most photo. Anyone know what it is?
April 1st, 2016 at 6:03 pm
Another lousy Bogart picture made after his lengthy sojourn at Warners. And I know he did The Caine Mutiny, but hardly what we mean when we think of him.
April 1st, 2016 at 6:21 pm
Bogie did some interesting films at Columbia.This ain’t one of them.
April 1st, 2016 at 11:41 pm
Well, it is always a pleasure to see or hear, Gerald Mohr.
April 1st, 2016 at 11:59 pm
Warm, but only lukish, Barry. I certainly do agree with you, though.
April 2nd, 2016 at 10:12 am
Steve – Do you mean the bottom most photo is of two actors who played Philip Marlowe; Bogart in film, and Gerald Mohr on radio?
April 2nd, 2016 at 11:17 am
Gary
Yes, and both in trench coats! I think this is a very neat photo.
April 2nd, 2016 at 10:23 am
Kessel’s book was translated into English under the title “Cry of Violence”: https://www.flickr.com/photos/56781833@N06/8385439534/
It is a very intense novel, a kind of violent romance between two soldiers and a prostitute of 15 years.
I recently wrote a review in Spanish: http://unaplagadeespias.blogspot.com.ar/2016/03/el-golpe-de-gracia-de-joseph-kessel.html
April 2nd, 2016 at 11:22 am
Thanks, Johny. The change of title may help explain how I managed not to find it.
I wish I could read Spanish. Your one line description makes it sound as though it’s not really a crime novel, but your blog seems to oriented toward spy fiction. If I may ask, what’s your take on this?
April 2nd, 2016 at 12:28 pm
It is a 10% spy novel (a kind of French Lawrence of Arabia), 90% of passion, obsession, sex, drugs and homophilia. Sirocco was a movie for Robert Mitchum, not Bogey.
April 2nd, 2016 at 12:58 pm
Thanks, Johny. If it’s only “10% spy novel,” that’s way too little to suggest to Al Hubin that he include it in his Bibliography of Crime Fiction. It’s not there now, and we’ll leave it that way.
Robert Mitchum in the movie? I think that that might have worked a whole lot better.
April 2nd, 2016 at 4:32 pm
Agree, it is much more a Mitchum than Bogart role. Part of the problem is Bogart is just too old and tired (and no doubt aware this just wasn’t a very good film), and part that the screenwriter only extracted the basics from the book trying to turn it into CASABLANCA much as was done did earlier with Prokosh’s THE CONSPIRATORS replete with Paul Henried, Hedy Lamar, and Peter Lorre or Walsh with George Raft, Lorre, and Greenstreet in BACKGROUND TO DANGER.
Re Hubin, it is probably associational at most, but as I recall he included Frederick Prokosh’s THE CONSPIRATORS and Rebecca West’s THE BIRDS FALL DOWN which are no more or less spy novels than this. Probably not worth the effort to include, but right on the line as any book that deals with intrigue, police, police spies, and gunrunning to a revolution would be.
I never see Mohr without thinking it was ironic how much better he was than Van Heflin as the voice of Philip Marlowe on radio. There is no question Heflin could act rings around Mohr, but disembodied on radio the Mohr Marlowe’s are the superior listening experience.
Mohr on screen, though I always enjoy seeing him, relied too much on smug looks and overused mannerisms. I always wondered if a better director might have gotten more out of him, but no one really tried. He stood out in a few roles, but only just. Where Bogie could play good guy or bad guy or good bad guy with Mohr on screen, no matter what he played, you always had the feeling he was going to knife someone in the back.
And while there is no great trenchcoat picture, it strikes me that since Ross Macdonald used William Holden as the model for Lew Archer that in SABRINA you have Marlowe and Archer in the same movie as brothers no less.
Kessel wrote a number of books translated into English, and it is rather odd that this was never reissued in paper under the SIROCCO name with the film since it had already been translated into English.
Kessel is probably best known today for THE HORSEMAN a book about an Afghan tribesman’s epic journey after he loses his leg in an accident. It was a film with Omar Sharif. I’m not certain, but I suspect all of Kessel’s novels were translated into English as he was a fairly important author.
Enjoyed the review Johnny, despite my poor Spanish.
April 4th, 2016 at 11:39 am
Well, at the end of the novel, Hippolyte kills Violette, which is seen more as a relief than as a crime. “Poor Violette,” said Hippolyte in the last line.