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| Sirocco | ||
Märta Torén (as Violette) and Bogie (as Harry Smith) |
Sirocco, co-produced by Bogie's Santana Productions and Columbia Pictures
is an interesting little film in the Bogart noir library. Set in French occupied Sryia around 1925, we meet a fascinating array of characters. Those who control the balance of power in this land of violent unrest are General LaSalle (played by Everett Sloane) and Emir Hassan (played by Onslow Stevens). Both of these powerful men are set upon bloodshed, believing it to be the only solution to the nations troubles. In between these to leaders and representing two extremes of the moral scale we have the highly principled and noble Colonel Feroud (played by Lee J. Cobb) and the seemingly unprincipled Harry Smith (played by Bogie) - Feroud, intent upon meeting with Emir Hassan to barter a peace, and Smith, happily supplying Hassan's insurgents with the weapons which are killing French soldiers and Syrian citizens alike. | |
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Added to this mix is the beautiful but rather soulless Violette (played by Märta Torén), who is dating Feroud,
but soon loses interest in him for the amoral but more exciting (and rich) Smith. But Smith is only a step ahead
of being caught and executed, as Feroud is onto him. Of course it is hard not to want Bogie to come out of it OK
in the end, no matter how unlikeable his character is, and the fact that Smith's history is revealed to show that
he was once a highly decorated and noble soldier himself makes us think he may be able to somewhat redeem
himself before the film is over, but will he....
Shot on the backlots of Columbia Studios, Sirocco manages to create and maintain a mood of exotic mystery, and Bogie fits that mood like a glove. The movie starts slowly and takes a while to hit its pace but once it does we begin to be drawn in by it's characters and their plights. Lee J Cobb is solid in his role, and Märta Torén is succesful in creating a beautiful yet rather dislikeable character. Nick Dennis also stands out as a minor highlight as Smith's partner and sidekick Nasir. Zero Mostel also appears as another minor highlight in the lightly comedic role of Balukjiaan the merchant. Everett Sloane is solid as General LaSalle, and Gerald Mohr equally so as Major Jean Leon. Sirocco is not one of Bogie's best films, but still a worthwhile watch for fans. Shot in Black & White. The DVD presents the film in it's Original Aspect Ratio of 1.33 to 1. Extra Features include: A small gallery of two posters from Sirocco. A four minute photo and poster montage (from various films) with text bio of Bogart's career set to music. | ||