A sudden World War II bombing interrupts the engagement plans of pearl smuggler Fred MacMurray and the beautiful Ava Gardner, whom MacMurray assumes is dead. Five years later, the war is over, and MacMurray returns to Singapore on another smuggling scheme, and finds Gardner, alive, but not well, now married to a wealthy plantation owner who adores her and can't quite let her go. MacMurray gets deeper into danger with nefarious men (lead by portly Thomas Gomez) desperate to get the hands on the pearls they believe MacMurray took five years before, and as Gardner begins to recall her past, she becomes involved in a devious plot to bring MacMurray down.
Every single archetype of "Casablanca" is there from the brooding anti-hero to the unavailable heroine he loves to the noble husband, and even to the smarmy villains. Richard Haydn's noble Deputy Commissioner is a duplicate of Claude Rains, and there is even a Peter Lorre like creep named Pepe (Lorre's character name in "All Through the Night", another Bogart adventure). This film was definitely manipulated to create sentiment, not only for the torn-apart lovers but the noble husband (Roland Culver) as well. Porter Hall and Spring Byington are tossed in a lame attempt for comic relief. In the film's relatively short running time, you can count all of the parallels, and when you get to the airport-set finale, try not to gag by the ridiculousness of that.
Every single archetype of "Casablanca" is there from the brooding anti-hero to the unavailable heroine he loves to the noble husband, and even to the smarmy villains. Richard Haydn's noble Deputy Commissioner is a duplicate of Claude Rains, and there is even a Peter Lorre like creep named Pepe (Lorre's character name in "All Through the Night", another Bogart adventure). This film was definitely manipulated to create sentiment, not only for the torn-apart lovers but the noble husband (Roland Culver) as well. Porter Hall and Spring Byington are tossed in a lame attempt for comic relief. In the film's relatively short running time, you can count all of the parallels, and when you get to the airport-set finale, try not to gag by the ridiculousness of that.