All the middling reviews here really had me questioning myself, but I can't deny that I had an absolute blast with Tangier. The film comes after Maria Montez' long string of tropical exotica with Jon Hall and Sabu. She was cast on her own steam, pleading to studio heads that she was sick of those films and wanted to do something new. Yet Tangier is not new at all; it's a remix of Casablanca, borrowing many of that film's elements. Even Sabu she could not shake. He appears here fresh from his stint in the Air Force.For me Tangier reads as much more than just a cheap retread of a more famous film, as many seem to have viewed it. It essentially functions as satire. It retains the exoticism and camp of Montez' starmaking roles and injects it into a beautifully photographed fast-paced noir that had me laughing out loud or gasping for breath multiple times. Casablanca may be a technical marvel and a poignant romance, but I have never had as much fun watching it as I had with this.Tangier has the kind of dense plotting I adore; the writing in the opening scenes is incredibly tight and economical. When the cliches hit, such as the murder of Fernandez, or the twist on Casablanca's ending, they're quite funny. I can't accept that the intent here was merely to cheaply ape one of the most beloved films of all time; there's too much humor in this for that to be the case. (One of the film's three writers had only ever scripted Three Stooges shorts and other comedies.) Couple that pace and wit with Travis Benton's insane, nearly-Sternbergian costume work and you have the makings of a great time.I love the "more suitable" outfit Montez wears to the police station. I love the running gag about Sabu's "greatest American hits." I loved the villain's thrilling denouement, which turned a bland secondary character into a very interesting one. The only weak spots for me are Robert Paige, who is not quite handsome or charismatic enough for his role, and the daytime sequence in the middle of the film which creates a slight lull. This is really a story that should take place entirely at night. Those missteps aside, I can't wait to savor this again.
George Waggner’s Tangier is a watchable minor noir involving nightclub entertainers, cops, Nazis, a stolen diamond, murder, and revenge. Although Rita (Maria Montez) ends up with the diamond, all she cares about is finding the mysterious figure who killed her father and brothers. Red herrings make us suspect one character only for a big twist at the end. Preston Foster is rather dull as the main cop, though he becomes more engaged in the climactic scene. Robert Paige is a bit too lightweight as the hero with hots for Rita. Kent Taylor is also a bit of a bore as Rita’s dance partner. Speaking of which, we have two long dance numbers, and Sabu, as a jack of all trades, sings three songs, including “Polly Wolly Doodle,” which he tells a group of punters is boogie-woogie. His ambition is to go to America and join a hillbilly band. Good luck, bubba.But Tangier has several virtues. Louise Allbritton is good in the most emotional role as a dancer with unrequited love for Taylor’s character, and the always reliable J. Edward Bromberg, as a suspect, stands out for having a smoother professionalism than the rest of the cast. Waggner’s talent for genre films is on display in the way he keeps matters clicking along—except for the musical interruptions. Waggner also wrote the lyrics for one of Sabu’s songs.One of the two main virtues is the loveliness of Montez, who resembles the young Dianna Rigg here. She has more presence than the others and has that cute accent. She says, “Don’t do it, Dolores” like no one else has ever said “Don’t do it, Dolores.” Maria looks gorgeous in Travis Banton’s lavish costumes, especially the hats.The Kino Lorber Blu-ray is also gorgeous, displaying Woody Bredell’s b&w images to great advantage, equaling his work on Phantom Lady and The Killers. One striking image has shadows on a striped sofa, lines on lines suggesting the film’s layers of deception. When a film and its star are this beautiful, its weaknesses don’t matter too much.Tony Chekhov is no doubt pleased that the attention paid a distinctive hotel elevator early in the film pays off later.“I think we had all better come down to my office and discuss this further.”Leslie Halliwell: “a two-bit Casablanca.”
No, there's nothing wrong with your television, it's a Maria Montez film sure enough but it's not in technicolor, which feels like there ought to be a law against that or something. At this point in her career, she wants to get away from the camp color fantasias and get more serious and fight nazis and stuff. And she does, she does, but it doesn't matter, she still purrs every line and never lets you forget that it's still Montez. She's in a trio of dancers, though I'm not sure any of them can really dance all that well, and on the trail of a Spanish Nazi. And there's a diamond, and an ace reporter, and all kinds of identity switching secret meetings, plantation shutters, and Sabu, singing "Coming Round the Mountain". It's a bit funny that after just about every song Sabu sings at least one of the listeners just stares at him afterwards and says, "What was that???" A guy could get a complex. A bit more serious than the usual Sabu/Montez joint and not a Jon Hall nor Turhan Bey to be found, but it doesn't matter, Montez is still a glistening red cherry on top of a frothy milkshake no matter how noir they tried to make her.
