Tripoli (1950)

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

In case you saw To the Shores of Tripoli, a 1942 military romance starring John Payne and Maureen O'Hara, you might assume Tripoli, a 1950 military romance starring John Payne and Maureen O'Hara, would be exactly the same movie. It's not. Neither one of them is very good, but they are quite different.Tripoli takes place in the early 1800s. Pirates in Libya fight against the Marines, and the subsequent march through the desert and battle show audiences why the first line of the USMC theme song starts the way it does. However, the movie is pretty boring, and without the forced romance between John and Maureen, it might have put me to sleep. She starts the movie involved with Phillip Reed, and it's clear she has no real feelings for him but is only after his money and his title. But, since Hollywood was pretty racist back then, it's beyond clear she won't end up with the non-white guy. There's really no suspense, and it's no surprise that she falls for the first white guy she meets.Unless this part of history or battle in particular really interests you, find yourself another war movie. There are thousands to choose from.

This would not have been worth much seeing if it hadn't been for the expedition made from upper Egypt down to Libya with hardships and sandstorms and other frustrating complications along the way by Qattara (Remember "Ice Cold in Alex?" This was 140 years earlier.). This is the realistic part of the film, and it is the more interesting for taking place in 1805 - the war in question is that against Napoleon, which is never mentioned. Maureen O'Hara is a stranded countess courted by a local prince, John Payne runs into her by chance and gets trouble with her from the start, so it seems he just seeks her out to have someone to quarrel with. It's the usual story. Their quarrel and nagging goes on throughout the film until it's time for them to focus their interest on more important matters, like a navy which doesn't want to take orders from John Payne. The military battle in the end is just the usual tearing down the whole city stone by stone after first demolishing the interiors of every palace worth some sight-seeing. Howard de Silva saves the show as an intrepid Greek captain with a company of his own, and hardly anyone of the Americans would have survived without his contribution. It was the first time the American flag was planted outside the States and unfortunately not the last time. A silly story made as spectacular as possible and saved only by history and adventure, but the music throughout is excellent.

Although Tripoli is never reached, this film is the story of the US Marines hoisting the American flag for the first time over foreign soil at the port city of Derna in Libya. Our capture of that city forced a negotiated peace on the Sultan of Tripoli and ended our war there which began against the Barbary States and the pirate ships they employed for plunder and ransom.Now how Maureen O'Hara as an exiled French countess in the court of the exiled Sultan figured in these events is something left to the writers of this film. At least her flaming red hair was explained somewhat in this particular potboiler.In her memoirs O'Hara thought her casting in these films was as ridiculous as anyone else, but she thought that just keep working, take anything they give you and the better roles will eventually come.John Payne plays the real life Lieutenant O'Bannion who with his squad of US Marines led the land action while the Navy bombarded the guns guarding Derna from sea attack. He did not have a romance with a French exiled countess. Howard DaSilva has a nice and droll part as a Greek mercenary captain. This flag waver of a film was an ironic twist in DaSilva's career, he went on the blacklist shortly afterward.Philip Reed is the exiled Sultan who lives pretty good for a guy in exile and he's the diplomatic catspaw the United States used. And I mean used since he was not restored to his throne as promised in the film and in real life. Of course as he's shown here Reed is quite the duplicitous character so nobody cares if he was or not. What he was in real life, who knows. But there are those who feel America broke a commitment. In any event the Sultan of Tripoli stopped seizing our ships and that's what we wanted.What is an interesting if not often told tale of American history is reduced to the Saturday matinée kiddie potboiler of the pulp fiction variety. Tripoli has not worn well over the decades.

I've seen this film a number of times on TV and caught it in the theaters over a half-century ago and loved it. As a kid, it had great appeal to me and lots of action, fun and, of course, the lovely Maureen O'Hara, who was always worth the price of admission. John Payne was an underused, underrated actor who always turned in solid, albeit low key, performance. This film, which is a yarn based on the military action of the US Marines against the Tripoli pirates basically spins fight scenes between the bad guys and a coalition of good guys, including veteran character actor Howard Da Silva as a Greek mercenary. The good guys win, of course and Payne gets the girl (but we knew that anyway, didn't we?) and this is a film that if it pops up on the late show (no video or DVD listed), is certainly worth checking out for some good, solid escapism.