Mr. Show was a great comedy sketch series, with many original ideas which have stuck with me since it aired in the 90’s. One of these is “Imminent Death Syndrome”, where David Cross is a hopeless guitar student, but who receives a preposterous amount of encouragement to continue with the instrument after it is learned he has a fatal disease. Then he continually ping-pongs between going into remission and becoming sick again, and the never-ending potential for him to meet his maker at any moment has him falling upwards to an impossible degree.
I feel a similar thing happens to Douglas Dick in 1947 noir Saigon. It is just after WWII, and he had army buddies Alan Ladd and Wally Cassell are palling around in Shanghai when they learn Dick could die at any moment following a delicate operation.
The two conspire to keep that information from their friend, and will instead help him spend his remaining time living life to its fullest in various Oriental locales. I was appalled by this deceit and how they are denying him the opportunity to fly home to Ohio to settle any affairs he might have there. Ladd simply tells Dick that, if the man should feel the overwhelming need to return to his home, his two pals will accompany him on that journey. I’m glad he refrained from adding something like “to make sure your coffin is safely transported.”
The first (and, well, only) stop will be Saigon, as that is where Ladd has accepted a commission from a local gangster (Morris Carnovsky) to fly. I was bemused Ladd seems to think there’s nothing amiss about this, despite being paid ten grand for one flight. The gangster’s only stipulation is that the plane take off at exactly 6 pm.
Ladd must be a real stickler for rules, as he takes off at exactly that time, with only his buddies and Carnovsky’s secretary on board, leaving the gangster to deal with a police roadblock which delayed his attempt to reach his getaway plane. Hearing the exchange of gunfire in the distance, Ladd says with certainty the sounds are those of police bullets, which I guess make a different bang than non-police projectiles.
That secretary is played by Veronica Lake, and her presence shifts the dynamics of the group, especially since she seems to get along most with the shy Dick. Ladd is a complete jerk to her, obviously suppressing his own interest. Cassell is the kind of jerk who seems girl crazy while still thinking they have cooties. He regularly refers to the fairer sex as “mice” for reasons I could never discern. That he plays an accordion solidifies the need to exclude him from the gene pool.
Lake has a spot-on assessment of Cassell’s antics, asking Ladd if he’s always like this. It isn’t long after this the joker will punch her in the face and then make a wisecrack about it. I was rooting for her to push Cassell out of the plane sans parachute. That doesn’t happen, but the load will need to be lightened in preparation for an emergency landing, and at least his accordion gets the heave-ho.
Alas, Cassell will survive that crash landing in a rice paddy, so the audience and three other survivors are subjected to more such “humor” from him, like mocking the locals by replacing every “R” in his lines with an “L”. I was also wondering if Ladd set a new record for number of times an object is skipped across a body of water, but I don’t know if only rocks are considered for that or if planes are acceptable.
Now deep in rural Vietnam, the group makes their way to the titular city, but not before raising the suspicions of the local police captain, played by a Luther Adler, whom I suspect was trying to channel Claude Rains ala Casablanca. It isn’t a bad attempt at such a character, but he can’t pull off the charm and world-weary demeanor of the other actor. What I found weird is he is a local official and yet he follows them on their way to the city. I like to think that, while he was away, the town he serves was instantly overrun by riots and lawlessness.
To be more specific, he is following the army buddies, who are following Lake, as she snuck out of the first hotel they were staying at. Ladd is angry with her for bailing on them, yet he is the one who told her to get lost, even going so far as to toss her suitcase out of a window.
The reason he has hunted her down is because Dick is smitten with her, and Ladd demands she put out for the guy. I was appalled that, when Ladd informs her his friend is dying, she assumes this to be her responsibility. That is twice as aggravating, as her character was headstrong up until this point, and taking orders from nobody.
That Carnovsky eventually reenters the picture will come as a surprise to nobody. What did catch me unawares is the body count at the end will be greater than I anticipated.
One unusual set piece I want to call out is that first hotel they stay at in a part of the country that seems to have more water buffalo than humans. The desk clerk is immediately suspicious of four Americans, as he rightly should be. Still, I refused to believe he would deny them a room because that would necessitate one of the men having a bed in the same room as Lake. I doubt he could afford to turn them away for any reason, let alone this. It is deeply unlikely the morals of 1940’s America were adhered to in rural Vietnam at the time. Still, this scene has the best line of the film: “I once knew a guy who pleaded ignorance. The judge gave him ten years to study up.”
Saigon is a misfire, which is a shame given this was the fourth pairing of Ladd and Lake. It is telling it was also the last time they appeared together on screen. If anything, I thought it was interesting the script sets the action in Vietnam, given the change in the relationship America would have with that country two decades later, a development nobody could foresee at this time. I was reminded of this when Adler, in the course of searching Ladd’s belongings, find a certificate for distinguished service. I like to imagine the police chief was thinking “We’re just lucky such brave men would never consider invading my country.” Oh…give it time.
Dir: Leslie Fenton
Starring Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Douglas Dick
Watched on Kino Lorber blu-ray