Nuts. I try to save movies set on or near Christmas for December, or at least July, but I hadn't checked the full description. Oh well, at least it's in a tropical climate.
Joseph (Humphrey Bogart), Albert (Aldo Ray), and Jules (Peter Ustinov) are Devil's Island inmates, each reportedly guilty of many crimes. They and pet viper Adolphe break loose in time for Christmas Eve and, if I understand correctly, make it to Cayenne proper, with designs on taking the next ship to Paris. In the meantime, they enter a general store and tell the manager, Felix (Leo G. Carroll), that they can fix his roof. Of course, they actually plan to steal clothes and whatnot when the time is ripe. But after observing how deep in debt Felix's family is -- and how heartbroken his 18-year-old daughter, Isabelle (Gloria Talbott), is to learn that her crush is engaged to someone else -- the fugitives decide to do them a few good turns.
This is hardly my idea of sappy. Even their version of helping is pretty dastardly when it gets beyond washing dishes. For example, Joseph uses his Bogart mix of rough and smooth to talk customers into questionable purchases. Jules can open any door as magically as the Fonz can fix things. Albert especially wants Isabelle to be happy, but he needs reminders of what would be over the line. If there's a moral lesson, it gets pretty diluted.
I'm not sure what year this is supposed to be. The real penal colony closed in 1953, so it wasn't the present upon release. Jules says he hasn't been treated with such kindness since 1891, and he doesn't look that old. (Ustinov was born in 1921.)
There are certainly some old-fashioned values in play. Isabelle's crush is her cousin, Paul (John Baer). Their uncle, Andre (Basil Rathbone), disapproves the crush, but not for the reason you're thinking: He assumes that she's a gold digger. He has arranged Paul's engagement for economic purposes. And in case you hadn't already connected Andre with Scrooge, he insists that Christmas be a workday.
I don't rightly understand every action by all characters herein. This is not so surprising in the case of the fugitives, who wrestle with conflicting urges, some of them disturbing. But everyone can tell they're current convicts, so why not notify the police? Nevertheless, I rolled with it, because I wanted to see where the story would go.
In part, I was curious about the ending. Sure, things would end well for Felix's immediate family, but to what extent? And what about the nonangelic trio? The Hays Code wouldn't let criminals get away for long, but we wouldn't want them to wish they hadn't bothered being good for a change. Without saying exactly what happens, let me assure you that I was satisfied at the handling.
Funny? Yes, especially in the third act. The humor is a bit piquant by the time Adolphe makes his own great escape (we never actually see or hear him), but nothing a big fan of Arsenic and Old Lace can't take. Given the high reliance on witty dialog and low variety of scenery, I think WNA could make a worthy play in its own right.
I've seen 10 Michael Curtiz-directed movies, and this is the only comedy among them. Few of the more than 20 Bogart movies could be called comedies either. This one was good enough that I kinda wish they'd tried more often.
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