Five Came Back (1939)

Pretty Good

Absolutely brilliant

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Various people board a plane flying to Panama. They encounter a storm and crash land in the jungle rumored to be populated with headhunters. They must hack an airstrip out of the jungle, repair the aircraft, and survive. It doesn't help when the jungle's inhabitants attack. One engine is damaged and the aircraft can only carry five people.This is Lucille Ball scrapping by as a B-level actress. She wasn't always a comedic icon and a Hollywood titan. She plays a sexy smart side character. She's young and uses her sex appeal. The jungle is obviously interior but it is loaded with plant life. I expected lots of cannibal natives but it's not until the last half hour that the natives attack. They are off-screen and the first hour lacks any thrills. It's a well-made B-movie that exceeds its limitations.

I'm happy to say it was worth the effort to get up early this morning to catch this nifty programmer on Turner Classics. I was drawn to the title when I scanned the cable listings and saw Lucille Ball's name in the cast. Her character was described as an ex-prostitute in the brief description of the film, but if I hadn't read that, I don't know if I would have drawn that conclusion from watching the story. She portrays hard luck gal Peggy Nolan who happens to mention that she's had trouble with men in the past, but that could mean anything. Anyway, I've always thought she was a gorgeous actress prior to her Lucy days, and so you've got another picture here that bears that out, particularly in her first appearance on screen looking like a well to do society woman.The story utilizes an often used plot in which an airplane goes down in bad weather and crash lands in a remote jungle setting. The passengers on board come from various walks of life, including an 'anarchist' (Joseph Calleia) being escorted to his home country to face execution by hanging. As the story progresses, I got the impression that the writers were expressing a social and political statement with the motivations of their characters, and to get an excellent overview of those dimensions I would direct you to the review on this board by 'dougdoepke'; it's very well reasoned and articulated.For those of you just looking for a good picture, there's that too. There are some confusing elements though that distracted from the story a little for me. For example, it was mentioned that the crash took place in the Amazon, but if the flight's original destination was Panama City, the plane would never have gotten near South America. Then there's that business about jungle headhunters, and I'm not up on my headhunter lore, but that just didn't strike me as credible. I'll look it up though.Some of the character turns in the picture are predictable enough. Pilot Bill Brooks (Chester Morris) assumes leadership of the stranded group with an able assist from co-pilot Kent Taylor. Under pressure, affluent businessman Ellis (Patric Knowles) takes to the bottle and has a falling out with fiancée Alice Melbourne (Wendy Barrie). Perhaps the most interesting couple in the mix are the Spenglers (C. Aubrey Smith and Elisabeth Risdon), adjusting to their situation with an admirable grace and equanimity knowing that they may never make it back to civilization. If there's a twist to the story, it's the way villain Vasquez (Calleia) emerges to shape the outcome when it becomes clear that the repaired plane can only depart with a total of five on board. He argues for a logical decision to choose who'll survive, reasoning that otherwise, the 'wrong people might win'. Interestingly, I would have picked the same players to make it back home.

I Tivo'd this because I was told this was a "minor classic". Watched it with my wife and she seemed to stay into it, I was thinking this was a serious "dog". The running line between us was, "which 5?" well we ruled the kid from the start, so I'm thinking OK do the pilots count? The crash (which happens a long almost half way point) yields no new deaths, just a bruised shoulder from the old lovable professor (of Shirley Temple and 4 Feathers fame among many other roles). Anyway a total waste of John Caradine, I was hoping he would be good here, but no luck, he's dead in the jungle after a very bad start. I mean c'mon, is this a chick action flick or what? Hey, its Hollywood, its couples going out, its not about grim realities, its a kind of boy that was cool action flick (if your a woman), its lame (if your a dude). 5 of 10. I don't know why I rate it that high, but the wife didn't fall asleep which is saying something for a old black and white film. I'm into them, and old planes; but this one was barking loud like a dog in heat. I predicted the head hunters also long before they showed up. yawn. Was waiting for some savagery among the survivors (all of them survived, sheesh) but we got nothing like that. Boring B flick worth forgetting about. Also, Lucy isn't in much here if thats why you are are curious.

Twelve passengers in a twin-engine plane crash-land in a rain forest just east of the Andes. While the two pilots attempt to fix the aircraft, the travelers get to know each other. Fast-paced drama rolls right along, with the usual cast introductions handled this time with flair and flip sarcasm (Lucille Ball, apparently playing a tart, keeps getting put down by the others but takes all the criticism in stride!). Film is extremely compact, but this hinders it in the end as the final sequence doesn't feel fully played-out and the last shots are disappointing. Otherwise, well-scripted (Dalton Trumbo and Nathanael West are just two of the writers credited), acted with high style and briskly directed by John Farrow, who later remade this story as "Back From Eternity". *** from ****