At the time this film was made, I am unsure exactly what American popular opinion was to this film or the occupation of Syria. On one hand, the French were imperialists and had no right to occupy Syria (as well as about 1/5 of the planet). On the other, the Syrian revolutionaries were at times mindless killers--much like parts of the Muslim world today. Because of this, the usual "good guy vs. bad guy" focus of most Hollywood films is gone, and to top if off, Humphrey Bogart plays a most amoral and unsympathetic leading man--making it a hard film to connect to. Interestingly enough, in light of recent problems in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East, this movie is once again a rather timely film.
Lee J. Cobb plays, of all things, a French officer in occupied Syria in 1925. The country is rife with civil war and his commander is inclined to match terror with even greater terror. Cobb, on the other hand, is rather reasonable and wants to broker a negotiated peace--and sadly, he seems to be the only one in the film thinking this way. In so many ways, the star of this film was Cobb--as he was in more scenes and played a much more interesting character than Bogart. His acting was good, but he hardly seemed French--with no accent whatsoever.
As for Bogart, the film is an obvious attempt to cash in on the success of CASABLANCA--with many similarities to the original. The setting looks an awful lot alike and the characters seem very similar as well. However, unlike "Rick" from CASABLANCA, down deep, he really is amoral and stands for nothing in SIROCCO. Plus, he just looks sad and old--with very little energy. As a result, caring for him is quite a chore.
It's even worse for Bogie's love interest, Märta Torén. Not only was she amoral, but she was just plain nasty and selfish throughout the film--and yet, inexplicably, two men wanted her throughout the film! No lady is THAT beautiful!
So overall, this is one of Bogart's poorer efforts of the latter portion of his career--due to a lackluster performance, a derivative script as well as characters (aside from Cobb) you could care less whether they lived or died.
Lee J. Cobb plays, of all things, a French officer in occupied Syria in 1925. The country is rife with civil war and his commander is inclined to match terror with even greater terror. Cobb, on the other hand, is rather reasonable and wants to broker a negotiated peace--and sadly, he seems to be the only one in the film thinking this way. In so many ways, the star of this film was Cobb--as he was in more scenes and played a much more interesting character than Bogart. His acting was good, but he hardly seemed French--with no accent whatsoever.
As for Bogart, the film is an obvious attempt to cash in on the success of CASABLANCA--with many similarities to the original. The setting looks an awful lot alike and the characters seem very similar as well. However, unlike "Rick" from CASABLANCA, down deep, he really is amoral and stands for nothing in SIROCCO. Plus, he just looks sad and old--with very little energy. As a result, caring for him is quite a chore.
It's even worse for Bogie's love interest, Märta Torén. Not only was she amoral, but she was just plain nasty and selfish throughout the film--and yet, inexplicably, two men wanted her throughout the film! No lady is THAT beautiful!
So overall, this is one of Bogart's poorer efforts of the latter portion of his career--due to a lackluster performance, a derivative script as well as characters (aside from Cobb) you could care less whether they lived or died.