Action of the Tiger ** (1957, Van Johnson, Martine Carol, Herbert Lom, Gustavo Rojo, Anthony Dawson, José Nieto, Helen Haye, Anna Gerbern, Sean Connery) – Classic Movie Review 8140

Director Terence Young’s busy and capably handled but cardboard 1957 action adventure Action of the Tiger stars Van Johnson as Carson, a manly American contraband runner and mercenary hired by glamorous blonde French woman Tracy Malvoisie (Martine Carol) to sneak her by boat from Greece into Albania to snatch her brother Henri (Gustavo Rojo) from the Communists, with the assistance of Albanian bandit rebel Trifon (Herbert Lom).

Action of the Tiger is interestingly set up and intriguingly cast. But the problem is the sluggish script that gets worse and loses credibility as it goes along. Try as the director and all the performers do to distract the attention, there is not too much conviction here in Robert Carson’s screenplay based on James Wellard’s book. Desmond Dickinson’s Technicolor cinematography is a highlight, though, shooting in Athens, Greece, and in Sierra Nevada, Granada and Málaga in Andalucía, Spain. It looks polished.

Look for Sean Connery, as Will, working with his future Dr No director Young. Also in the cast are Gustavo Rojo [Gustavo Rocco], Anthony Dawson, Helen Haye, José Nieto, Anna Gerber, Yvonne Romain (as Yvonne Warren), Norman MacOwan, Brian Sunners and Helen Goss.

Carol later said that it would have been a better film if Connery had been cast in Johnson’s role. That is an interesting idea when it is partly made by Van Johnson Enterprises.

European prints have Carol topless in scenes where she wears a bikini in the UK/ American version.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 8140

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