Customer Reviews

Sundown

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Poor Gene Tierney! After luring her away from the Broadway stage where she had scored in comedy roles, Hollywood proved at a loss as to how to showcase her acting talent. Accordingly, she was cast in a series of improbable roles in which her chief responsibility was to look ravishingly gorgeous. "Sundown", filmed while Tierney was still just 20 years old, is a prime example of how her acting abilities were wasted during her first couple of years in films. In this patriotic WWII action-adventure set in Africa, she plays an exotic half-caste caravan owner (later revealed to be British!) who helps the Allied forces keep the continent from becoming an Axis stronghold. The plot is confused and silly claptrap, but it's all beautifully photographed by Charles Lang (who would work with Tierney again on "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" at Fox), excitingly scored by Miklos Rozsa ... and Tierney is indeed breathtakingly lovely in her midriff-baring costumes, which is reason enough to watch. (Also pay close attention to catch a very young Dorothy Dandridge in a small featured role!)

The VCI Home Video DVD is definitely the version of this movie to see. The original copyright had lapsed, and the film had fallen into the public domain. As a result, the marketplace was flooded with cheaply produced video copies transfered from grainy, washed-out multi-generational prints. The VCI DVD has been restored and digitally mastered, and the result is a sharp, crisp presentation offering excellent video contrast and vastly-improved sound that has been appropriately copyrighted by the archivists.

The DVD also offers a small, but well-chosen, stills gallery; a newly created video trailer; and well-written albeit flawed cast biographies (Tierney's actual birthdate is November 19, 1920, not November 20 as misreported by "The New York Times" ... and her first film was "The Return of Frank James", not "The Return of Jesse James"). There's also a bonus featurette of Ronald Colman, Angela Lansbury, and Nigel Bruce in the 1954 television adaptation of Somerset Maugham's story "A String of Beads" ... which has nothing at all to do with the feature film, but is a most welcome and entertaining surprise nonetheless. Overall, this edition is highly recommended for Tierney fans, and a fine example of the potential inherent in the DVD format.

The picture's been restored quality-wise, but a scene present on my otherwise poor quality videotape version is missing here: as the Italian prisoner demands an honor guard to take him to the stockade, the Dutchman arrives outside the bungalow and asks for water, which he dispenses to his native escort. In the dvd, the Italian's tirade ends abruptly and the Dutchman is just in front of the desk all of a sudden. Not much, I know, and probably not even 5 minutes, but it does add a sympathetic quality to the Dutchman which becomes important later.

Avoid the alleged trailer if you haven't seen the movie. It looks like the dvd producers just strung some scenes together to make a digest version of the film. The plot twists are given away.

I do like this movie very much, enough that the this dvd not being perfect annoys me.

They did a nice job of restoring and putting this on DVD. Excerpts from the movie are shown in a window in the menu. A featurette "A String of Beads" is included. I thought the featurette was a bit slow but the movie is good. Gene Tierney, Bruce Cabot, and Harry Carey all give good performances in Sundown. The movie takes place in Africa during WWII. Bruce Cabot is the commander at a British outpost and he must contend with German gunrunners and rebellious tribes. Gene Tierny as a caravan trader and Harry Carey as a big game hunter come to his aid. If you enjoy older movies like Beau Geste or Casablanca you will probably enjoy this as well. The price makes it well worth owning if you collect classic movies.

One of my favorite movies. Good restoration of audio and video. Will you like it? If you liked "Drums", "Charge of the Light Brigade", "Four Feathers", "Gunga Din", and "Zulu", you might want to give this a shot. Bruce Cabot is believable as the Colonial Administrator and George Sanders is just terrific.

This DVD is missing an entire scene and has a poor quality soundtrack.It was returned.

Not your usual Hollywood shoot'em up war movie, rather, a cerebrate type of a movie if I ever saw one...much to ponder...yes, heavy strains of colonialism smothers this picture, but who is the greatest about colonialism at that time than, "Rule Britannia"...with that aside, the film is good just the same and it shows off Bruce Cabot in a heroic light, but the vivacious, Gene Tierney steals the show with her uncommonly beauty...she needs no dialogue, just soaking her in is Valhalla...this is a big Walter Wanger production which was done with foresight and research beyond it's years...at the time America was still at peace with England holding on valiantly, but alone...a very young Dorothy Dandridge is cast as a Muslim native girl married to a young warrior in the service to the King of England...she says little but her emotions speak volumes for the upset in her village life...wonderful cast with Joseph Calleia, Harry Carey Sr, Reginald Gardiner, Carl Esmond and the staid George Sanders...a must see DVD on a pristine silver screen...throw-in a very good screen/play...Sir Cedric Hardwick is in the final fadeout with much to say and he is eloquent in his British aristocratic delivery....I liked the blown-out church scene at the end; it was inspiring and the tenor of that era to WIN WW2...."Sundown" is good as any WW2 film, it portends the message of winning the good fight....SSGT CHRIS SARNO-USMC FMF

As World War II rages, District Commisioner Crawford (Bruce Cabot) and Major Coombs (George Sanders) get wind of a plot by the Nazis to arm violent North African tribes and set them upon the Allied forces. An exotic, mysterious caravan mistress (Gene Tierney) arrives at their isolated outpost, but is she a friend, or is it her extensive trading network that the Nazis are using to move their weapons shipments?

"Sundown" is a fairly run-of-the-mill colonial drama, with the steadfast British troops and their valiant native allies standing fast against those who would bring low Britain. It's got a more interesting cast of characters than many of these films--with the liberal minded Crawford truly standing out--and the cast is mostly excellent. The film also benefits from a more exotic locale than many of these films, and the gorgeous photography takes full advantage of this, as does the script. (One bit of repetition that made me scratch my head: why did the bad guys always get gunned down in pools of water?)

Aside from the great camera work, another reason to see "Sundown" is the presence of the absolutely gorgeous Gene Tierney. She truly is one of the most beautiful actresses to ever appear on film, and she doesn't do a whole lot more than walk around looking exotic and gorgeous here. If you haven't seen Tierney do majestically beautiful, you need to see this movie.

An alright war movie whose release pre-dated the United States' entry into World War Two by a couple of months, Henry Hathaway's SUNDOWN (1941) doesn't contain, beyond a couple of skirmishes, any combat battle scenes nor, for its first hour, all that much action.

Gene Tierney plays Zia, an exotic and beautiful leader of a thriving band of nomadic traders. Bruce Cabot is Crawford, a British - Canadian, actually - commissioner in the small Kenyan village of Monicka, in what was then British East Africa. While the big war is heating up in Europe, British Regular George Sanders (Coombes) arrives to find out who's sending guns to the hostile natives. A key to Axis global domination, at least as formulated by this movie, is control of Africa. Fortunately, the docile natives love the paternal British. Heck, even a captured Italian (Joseph Calleia) is thoughtfully anti-Fascist.

SUNDOWN is a terribly talky action movie, with about two-thirds of it taking place in and around bwana macooba's commandant hut. Don't know if I've got the spelling right on that, but that's what the affectionate villagers call Crawford. This film was nominated for three Oscars - for cinematography, art direction, and musical score. It's a pleasant enough little jungle fantasy in a "Tarzan Goes to War" sense. It's hard to take seriously as a war movie, though, despite its opening dedication to the gallants in the beginning and Sir Cedric Hardwicke homily at the end.

Also on the disk - a definite added bonus - is a 1953 episode of `Four Star Playhouse.' Hosted by Ronald Colman, this 25-minute play stars a young Angela Lansbury in a adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's `A String of Beads.'

It's 1940 in East Africa at a small, isolated British outpost. There are rumors that the Germans are sending in rifles and machine guns, but this must be verified. If true, action must be taken to stop it, even though the outpost can only rely on its own resources. Bruce Cabot (as a Canadian) plays Crawford, the resident in charge. He's a man who loves Africa and sees many changes happening when Britain wins the war. George Sanders plays Coombes, a British officer flown in to take charge. He's by the book, but not beyond learning a few things from Crawford. Gene Tierney plays Zia, daughter of an Arab trader who owns a vast trading network throughout East Africa.

This is an efficient, better than average programer which is directed in a professional way and keeps the action going. There are no great surprises and many things typical of a movie of this type: The good natives are all handsome and child-like, all seem grateful for the wisdom and guidance given them by the Brits. The bad natives all look like they came from a gene pool where good looks weren't dominate. And the movie is careful to point out, first, that Zia is the daughter of an Arab and a European, so no black blood in her. Then when the romance between Zia and Crawford is confirmed, we learn that she's actually British so there's not even Arab blood (or French) to worry about.

The acting is fair, with Gene Tierney acceptable and gorgeous, Cabot stolid and brave, and Sanders condescending but trying to do the right thing. He has a great death scene, and I mean it; not a hint of the usual Sanders curled lip.

What a strange career George Sanders had. I really don't think he was a particularly good actor. He did a good job, in my view, only when he had a first-rate script and/or a sense of challenge. He was charmingly amoral in Rebecca, funny and even a little romantic in Foreign Correspondent, and very good as a single-minded, obsessed artist in The Moon and Sixpence. And that's about it, for me. His turn in All About Eve was funny to watch, but I often felt he was waiting for his next cue to sneer out his lines.

Dorothy Dandridge has a bit, uncredited, part that lasts all told probably less than five minutes at the start. She has no dialogue, and plays a shy young girl happy to wed a poor native soldier, then plays a heart-broken young widow. She was good, and I couldn't take my eyes off her.

This is a solid programer with the faults of its time, but is professionally put together, moves at a brisk pace, and is a reasonable way to spend an hour and a half if you like 40's movies.

The DVD transfer is far better than I expected.

Having been in the Film/TV Industry for some 40 years, I think I can make the following comment:
If as the VCI box states 'Digitally Remastered', I think I can safely say that it has been remastered from a VHS Copy.
I know the extremely poor Video & Audio is going to definitely lessen my enjoyment of the movie, thus I'm sure that it's safe for me to offer only 2* at this stage.
If you are going to watch this on a fairly old 4:3 TV that isn't overly sharp and does not add any video noise to the picture, it may be good for a weekend matinee, but please, don't expect too much from this version.
Likewise if your sound set-up is Hi-Fi in any way, it's only going to emphasize the very poor sound.
I'm sure I'm not being too "picky" as many many movies, much older than this one, have been wonderfully restored to make their presentation A1 on any entertainment system.