Sat 12 Sep 2009
Movie Review: SEVEN MILES FROM ALCATRAZ (1943).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Suspense & espionage films[6] Comments
SEVEN MILES FROM ALCATRAZ. RKO Radio Pictures, 1943. James Craig, Bonita Granville, Frank Jenks, Cliff Edwards, George Cleveland, Erford Gage, Tala Birell, John Banner, Otto Reichow. Director: Edward Dmytryk.
Released in January 1943, this Grade B action picture is primarily a propaganda film for the war effort, during some of its darkest days.
If a tough (but good-looking) gangster (James Craig) and a cheap (and pug-ugly) hoodlum (Frank Jenks) who’ve just broken out of Alcatraz can be convinced that the war is worthy of both their effort and sacrifice, then who’d be left on the home front who wouldn’t be?
Absolutely nobody, except perhaps a stray underground German spy or two. (And by the way, as long as you ask, yes, it is that John Banner.)
Breaking out of Alcatraz (don’t ask how — it’s a trade secret), Craig and Jenks make their way to a lighthouse somewhere in San Francisco bay, manned by a crusty lighthouse keeper (George Cleveland), his very pretty daughter (Bonita Granville), and a semi-dopey assistant (most amusingly played by Cliff Edwards). Most of the rest of the players are German agents, both male and female, and to a man (and woman), they are a dastardly lot.
There’s a whole business about codes and a secret submarine, and a whole lot of running up and down the lighthouse steps and then into a dark dank storage area beneath the main floor. Add some shooting and punching, and while there’s not a whole lot of literary value to the proceedings, the result is a full hour’s worth of Saturday-afternoon-at-the-movies and don’t-ask-questions kind of entertainment.
September 12th, 2009 at 5:36 am
If you want to see Banner in an even earlier appearance check out Leo McCarey’s Once Upon a Honeymoon(1942) with Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers, which may be his debut. He’s also in Fallen Sparrow the same year with John Garfield and Maureen O’Hara. Ironically Walter Slezak is the villain in both films.
Banner, who always seemed to play Germans, was actually a Polish refugee.
September 12th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Banner was Austrian, not Polish, says IMDB, but you’re right about his family, being Jewish, having to flee Europe in 1938. I wonder what he really felt about playing Nazis so often in this country.
Thanks again to IMDB, I see that SEVEN MILES was his first credited role. His first screen appearance was in SPRING PARADE as a cymbalist. I don’t know as I’d watch the movie for that reason, but just in case anyone else does, the leading stars were Deanna Durbin and Robert Cummings.
September 12th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
IMDB is great and I visit it every day for information on old movies, obscure actors, reviews, and viewer’s comments. A friend who is a big film buff gripes about the errors and he is absolutely right, but where else can you find this information on obscure and almost forgotten films?
Before the internet we had to depend on the film encyclopedias, which usually only had data on the better known and more famous films and actors. I would have to say it’s the website I visit most often.
September 12th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
I don’t doubt IMDB is accurate on this count, my source was Leslie Halliwell’s Filmgoers Companion. Certainly Banner’s accent sounds more Austrian. It’s possible he left Austria for Poland after the Nazi takeover and then immigrated from Poland, or Halliwell could have it completely wrong.
Quite a few refugees went to other European countries before finally making the move to the US, like Fritz Lang who went to France or Peter Lorre and Conrad Veift who went to England.
September 12th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
In the case of John Banner, IMDB sounds convincing, but as Walker points out and which has been mentioned before, they can be wrong.
It’s easy to make corrections, though, if you see errors, or at least to suggest them. All you have to do is create an account there and send them in to be checked out (unlike Wikipedia, where changes can go live immediately).
And the amount of film-related information to be found there is really staggering. You’d need a whole library of physical books to have the equivalent, and even then, as Walker says, movies like SEVEN MILES would be far too obscure for 99% of them.
— Steve
September 12th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
Steve is right about making corrections or changes on IMDB. I’ve done it a few times myself when I notice an actor in an early uncredited movie or TV role. So far, after a few days, all my cast additions have been approved.