After living abroad for several years, journalist John Royer returns to the United States just after the U.S. enters World War II. His boast that he could easily smuggle rubber, a key wartime natural resource, out of Malaya has him tasked with doing just that. He manages to get someone from his past, Carnaghan, sprung from Alactraz and together they head off to South East Asia posing as Irishmen. Once there, Carnaghan lines up some of his old cronies and with Royer and a few plantation owners plans to smuggle the rubber out from under the Japanese army's watchful eye.
Acting
Tracy and Stewart's crackling odd-couple dynamic.
Production
Glossy MGM backlot jungle surprisingly convincing.
Writing
Snappy dialogue masking uncomfortable colonial politics.
Director
Richard Thorpe
Spencer Tracy
Carnaghan
James Stewart
John Royer
Valentina Cortese
Luana
Sydney Greenstreet
The Dutchman
John Hodiak
Kellar
Lionel Barrymore
John Manchester
Gilbert Roland
Romano
Roland Winters
Bruno Gruber
Richard Loo
Colonel Genichi Tomura
Ian MacDonald
Carlos Tassuma
Tom Helmore
Matisson
DeForest Kelley
Lt. Glenson (uncredited)
Frank Wilcox
Naval Officer with Businessmen (uncredited)
Robert B. Williams
Army Sergeant (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Spencer Tracy hated this film, calling it 'a piece of junk' — yet he's magnetic throughout.
Real rubber smuggling operations in occupied Malaya were far messier and involved local resistance networks barely acknowledged here.
US
