Cairo *** (1942, Jeanette MacDonald, Robert Young, Ethel Waters, Reginald Owen, Grant Mitchell, Lionel Atwill, Eduardo Ciannelli, Dooley Wilson, Dennis Hoey, Mona Barrie) – Classic Movie Review 8205

Director W S Van Dyke II’s 1942 movie Cairo is a spy comedy, though MGM advertised it as a ‘BIG ROMANCE WITH MUSIC’. It stars Robert Young as an American news reporter called Homer Smith covering World War Two in Europe and the Middle East.

He is given a message to deliver to a woman in Cairo, but soon feels he has reason to believe that the vivacious American singer-actress Marcia Warren (Jeanette MacDonald) is an undercover Nazi agent. She believes he is a spy. They must be joking! And they are – and quite amusingly too. Marcia is kind of right as Homer is on a secret mission to stop the Nazis bombing Allied convoys with robot planes.

Good, sustained turns from the genial star pair of Young and MacDonald pulls John McClain’s good in patches screenplay (based on an idea by Ladislas Fodor) through some longueurs, though the movie still seems over-extended at 102 minutes when 90 minutes would be about right.

Yet the mix of spy story and screwball comedy is deftly handled by writer, actors and director, and it works surprisingly well. The casually jokey tone starts off with the opening dedication: ‘To the authors of “spy” dramas – those unsung heroes of the pen without whose inspiration international spies could not possibly be as clever as they are – this picture is irreverently dedicated.’ And then swiftly continues with the film’s  first lines. Homer Smith: ‘Have you ever been in San Francisco?’ Marcia Warren: ‘Yes, once with Gable and Tracy and the joint fell apart!’

W S Van Dyke II also directed MacDonald in the Oscar-winning San Francisco (1936) with Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy.

Also in the solid cast are Ethel Waters, Reginald Owen, Grant Mitchell, Lionel Atwill, Eduardo Ciannelli (as Edward Ciannelli), Dooley Wilson, Dennis Hoey, Mona Barrie, Mitchell Lewis, Larry Nunn, Rhys Williams, Cecil Cunningham, Harry Worth and Frank Richards.

Cairo is directed by W S Van Dyke II, runs 102 minutes, is made and released by MGM, is written by John McClain, based on an idea by Ladislas Fodor, is shot in black and white by Ray June, is produced by Joseph L Mankiewicz and is scored by Herbert Stothart.

The director is billed as Major W S Van Dyke II.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8205

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