Santiago [The Gun Runner] ** (1956, Alan Ladd, Rossana Podestà, Lloyd Nolan, Chill Wills, Paul Fix, L Q Jones, Frank DeKova) – Classic Movie Review 9106

Director Gordon Douglas’s 1956 romantic adventure movie Santiago stars Alan Ladd and Lloyd Nolan as Cash Adams and Clay Pike, rival gunrunners aboard an old-time paddle steamer at the time of the Cuban war of independence (1895–98) against Spain.

The action is creaky and the romance downright irritating in this toshy Warner Brothers adventure, but John Twist and Martin Rackin’s screenplay is sharp enough, and Douglas’s direction is taut and professional. It is shot in WarnerColor by John F Seitz.

Ladd and Nolan are good value as the rivals for the guns and for the lovely rebel leader Isabella (Rossana Podestà).

Santiago or The Gun Runner [GB] is based on Martin Rackin’s novel.

It is filmed some way from Cuba on the Jungle Set, at Warner Brothers Burbank Studios, 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California.

Also in the cast are Chill Wills, Paul Fix, L Q Jones, Frank DeKova, George J Lewis, Royal Dano, Don Blackman, Francisco Ruiz, Clegg Hoyt, Ernest Sarracino, Edward Colmans, Natalie Masters, Russell Saunders, Willard Willingham, Rico Alaniz, Alex Montoya, and Frank Yaconelli.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9106

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