A Globe Enterprises Production released by Twentieth Century-Fox. Copyright 1957 by Globe Enterprises Productions. New York opening at the Paramount: 22 May 1957. U.S. release: May 1957. U.K. release: 7 July 1957. Australian release: 1 August 1957. 97 minutes. (Censored to 95 minutes in Australia, cut to 90 minutes in the U.K.)
COMMENT: Inserts of newsreel footage tend to lift the believable elements in the plot of this Samuel Fuller production set in Indo- China in 1954, but the plot and its enactment does start to wear somewhat thin as the footage wends its way towards its bitter-sweet climax. Written and directed by Samuel Fuller, this flick lacks the punch necessary to qualify it as exceptional material, but should hold some interest for most viewers. Aside from its unique locale, its most diverting ingredient is Nat "King" Cole, who plays a top role and who also sings the title song.
Set as it is in war-ridden Indo-China, the theme is down-beat most of the way. Locations are either war-ravaged villages or jungle outposts through which a Foreign Legion party, guided by a Eurasian saloon owner, makes its way to the China Gate, where it hopes to destroy the main enemy arsenal.
Deserted by her husband, Barry, when their baby was born, Miss Dickinson, has become famous throughout Indo-China as "Lucky Legs", the saloon proprietor, and is trusted and popular with both the Reds and the French. In fact, the Foreign Legion commander asks her to guide a party of volunteers through Red lines to the China Gates, where the main bomb and shell dump has been kept carefully hidden in a labyrinth of tunnels that cannot be detected from the air.
Miss Dickinson refuses when she learns Barry is among the volunteers, but consents when Marsac promises passage to America for the boy in return for her services. Needless to say, the trek from Son Toy through the lines is dangerous and tedious.
Thanks to the involvement offered by the wide CinemaScope screen, this otherwise rather routine war picture, is made reasonably exciting. The players try hard against an often sticky script. The principals are further hampered by their somewhat colorless on- screen personalities. Nonetheless, Angie Dickinson manages to overcome most of the obstacles thrown her way by writer/director Samuel Fuller (whose once really enormous cult following, seems to have diminished somewhat in recent years).
COMMENT: Inserts of newsreel footage tend to lift the believable elements in the plot of this Samuel Fuller production set in Indo- China in 1954, but the plot and its enactment does start to wear somewhat thin as the footage wends its way towards its bitter-sweet climax. Written and directed by Samuel Fuller, this flick lacks the punch necessary to qualify it as exceptional material, but should hold some interest for most viewers. Aside from its unique locale, its most diverting ingredient is Nat "King" Cole, who plays a top role and who also sings the title song.
Set as it is in war-ridden Indo-China, the theme is down-beat most of the way. Locations are either war-ravaged villages or jungle outposts through which a Foreign Legion party, guided by a Eurasian saloon owner, makes its way to the China Gate, where it hopes to destroy the main enemy arsenal.
Deserted by her husband, Barry, when their baby was born, Miss Dickinson, has become famous throughout Indo-China as "Lucky Legs", the saloon proprietor, and is trusted and popular with both the Reds and the French. In fact, the Foreign Legion commander asks her to guide a party of volunteers through Red lines to the China Gates, where the main bomb and shell dump has been kept carefully hidden in a labyrinth of tunnels that cannot be detected from the air.
Miss Dickinson refuses when she learns Barry is among the volunteers, but consents when Marsac promises passage to America for the boy in return for her services. Needless to say, the trek from Son Toy through the lines is dangerous and tedious.
Thanks to the involvement offered by the wide CinemaScope screen, this otherwise rather routine war picture, is made reasonably exciting. The players try hard against an often sticky script. The principals are further hampered by their somewhat colorless on- screen personalities. Nonetheless, Angie Dickinson manages to overcome most of the obstacles thrown her way by writer/director Samuel Fuller (whose once really enormous cult following, seems to have diminished somewhat in recent years).