Malaya [East of the Rising Sun] *** (1949, Spencer Tracy, James Stewart, Sydney Greenstreet, John Hodiak, Valentina Cortese, Lionel Barrymore, Gilbert Roland) – Classic Movie Review 3878

Director Richard Thorpe’s 1949 drama is based on a story by Manchester Boddy and stars the very special gang of actors – Spencer Tracy, James Stewart, Sydney Greenstreet, John Hodiak, Valentina Cortese [Cortesa], Lionel Barrymore, Gilbert Roland and Roland Winters. It is set in January 1942, just a month after the United States has entered World War Two. MGM was nervous about making a film about the war and delayed its release after completion in 1948.

Alas, MGM’s superb vintage cast is somewhat cast adrift in this World War Two wartime-set tale of rubber smuggling in the Far East. With a clunking script by Frank Fenton and sluggish, uninspired direction by Thorpe, it is a ponderous action melodrama that fails to be fully redeemed by the producer Edwin H Knopf’s extensive re-cutting.

That said, it has its moments and the cast certainly makes it well worth a look, and it is a big tribute to their talent, professionalism and star allure that they are still good when the chips are down.

Stewart plays a journalist called John Royer who goes to see his friend, newspaper publisher John Manchester (Lionel Barrymore), about his scheme to smuggle desperately needed rubber out of Japanese-occupied Malaya. John Hodiak plays government agent Kellar, who talk Royer into the rubber smuggling scheme.

But Royer needs the help of his old friend, Carnaghan (Spencer Tracy), currently in Alcatraz. Once Carnaghan is freed, the duo get into Malaya to smuggle out rubber from the plantations guarded by the Japanese, and start by making contact with The Dutchman (Sydney Greenstreet),

In his last film, after a high-profile movie career of only eight years, Greenstreet is superb as The Dutchman, who runs a Malaya jungle bar and recruits a gang of cutthroats from customers to help Royer and Carnaghan. Cortesa adds allure as Luana , the saloon’s singer from Italy, the femme fatale Carnaghan is attracted to.

Also in the cast are Richard Loo, Ian MacDonald, Tom Helmore, Lester Matthews, Joseph Crehan, Jack Davis, Don Haggety, Russell Hicks, DeForest Kelley, George Khoury, Paul Kruger, Anna Q Nilsson, William Self, Jack Shea, Leonard Strong, Frank Wilcox, Robert Williams, Charles Meredith, George M Carleton and Joel Allen.

Barrymore character John Manchester is based on the real-life Manchester Boddy, who came up with the plan to get rubber out of Japanese-held Malaya after a fire destroyed much of the US Government’s supply of raw rubber at the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company’s plant in Fall River, Massachusetts.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3878
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