''Saigon'' is a 1948 American

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by

Leslie Fenton Leslie Fenton (12 March 1902 – 25 March 1978) was an English actor and film director. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1923 and 1945. Early life Fenton was born on 12 March 1902 in Liverpool, Lancashire, England. He emigrated to ...

starring

Alan Ladd Alan Walbridge Ladd (September 3, 1913 – January 29, 1964) was an American actor and film producer. Ladd found success in film in the 1940s and early 1950s, particularly in films noir and Westerns. He was often paired with Veronica Lake ...

and

Veronica Lake Constance Frances Marie Ockelman (November 14, 1922 – July 7, 1973), known professionally as Veronica Lake, was an American film, stage, and television actress. Lake was best known for her femme fatale roles in film noirs with Alan Ladd ...

. In their fourth and final film together. It was distributed by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

and was one of the last films Veronica Lake made under her contract with the studio. Ladd and Lake made four films together; ''

This Gun for Hire ''This Gun for Hire'' is a 1942 American film noir crime film directed by Frank Tuttle and starring Veronica Lake, Robert Preston, Laird Cregar, and Alan Ladd. It is based on the 1936 novel ''A Gun for Sale'' by Graham Greene (published in Amer ...

'' and ''

The Glass Key ''The Glass Key'' is a novel by American writer Dashiell Hammett. First published as a serial in '' Black Mask'' magazine in 1930, it then was collected in 1931 (in London; the American edition followed 3 months later). It tells the story of a ga ...

'', both in 1942, ''

The Blue Dahlia ''The Blue Dahlia'' is a 1946 American crime film and film noir with an original screenplay by Raymond Chandler''Variety'' film review; January 30, 1946, page 12.''Harrison's Reports'' film review; February 2, 1946, page 19. directed by George M ...

'' in 1946 and ''Saigon''. While the earlier films all proved to be big box office successes, ''Saigon'' did not do as well financially. Ladd continued to remain one of Paramount's top male stars, while Lake's career was in decline. By the end of 1948 her contract with Paramount had expired and the studio chose not to renew it. For Ladd, ''Saigon'' was one of a series of adventure films set in foreign locales, starting with ''Two Years Before the Mast'' (1946) and ''Calcutta'' (1947).

Plot

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

has ended and Major Larry Briggs finds out that his friend Captain Mike Perry has only two months to live due to a head injury. Larry and Sergeant Pete Rocco are determined to show Mike a good time before he dies. For a $10,000 fee, Larry takes a flying job working for Alex Maris, a profiteer. Everything is set until Maris' secretary, Susan Cleaver, shows up to board the aircraft. Mike falls for Susan and Larry convinces her to play along but she has fallen in love with Larry. The first flight is disrupted by Maris arriving a half-hour late with the police right behind. Larry takes off but is forced to make an emergency landing after both engines fail. After checking into a small hotel, the

Americans Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many Multi ...

find Police Lieutenant Keon, who is shadowing them, believing that they are smugglers. When Larry sees Mike falling for Susan, he wants the romance to end and despite her carrying $500,000 for Maris, Larry tells her to leave immediately. When Mike longs for Susan, Larry relents and blackmails her into seeing him or he will turn her into Keon. Sailing to Saigon on a boat, Larry tricks Keon by stowing the money away into an envelope he mails to himself, and throws all suspicion off Susan. On reaching Saigon, Larry knows he has fallen in love with Susan even though Mike has proposed to her. At Susan's hotel, an enraged Maris and his valet Simon hold Larry hostage, demanding the money that has been posted. Bursting in, Pete realizes what is happening, and fights with Simon, but both men fall off a balcony to their deaths. Susan has secretly arranged to retrieve the money from the post office, returning it to Maris. Mike and Larry confront him but in an exchange of gunfire, Mike and Maris are killed. After Mike's funeral, Larry and Susan start a new life together.

Cast

as Major Larry Briggs *

as Susan Cleaver *

Douglas Dick Douglas Harvey Dick (November 20, 1920 – December 19, 2015) was an American actor and occasional screenwriter. His most famous role came in the 1948 film ''Rope''. In 1971, Dick left the entertainment industry to work as a psychologist. Early ...

as Captain Mike Perry *

Wally Cassell Wally Cassell (born Oswaldo Silvestri Trippilini Rolando Vincenza Castellano; March 3, 1912 – April 2, 2015) was an Italian-born American character actor and businessman. Early years Wally Cassell was born as Oswaldo Silvestri Trippilin ...

as Sergeant Pete Rocco *

Luther Adler Luther Adler (born Lutha Adler; May 4, 1903 – December 8, 1984) was an American actor best known for his work in theatre, but who also worked in film and television. He also directed plays on Broadway. Early life and career Adler was born on ...

as Lieutenant Keon *

Morris Carnovsky Morris Carnovsky (September 5, 1897 – September 1, 1992) was an American stage and film actor. He was one of the founders of the Group Theatre (1931-1940) in New York City and had a thriving acting career both on Broadway and in films un ...

as Alex Maris * Luis Van Rooten as Simon * Mikhail Rasumny as Hotel clerk * Eugene Borden as Boat captain * Griff Barnett as Surgeon

Production

In May 1943,

Harry Hervey Harry Hervey (November 5, 1900 – August 12, 1951) was one of the most highly sought screenplay writers of the first half of the 20th century, praised by critics of literature, stage and screen. Early life Harry Hervey was born on November 5, 19 ...

sold an original story to MGM about the

Japanese Invasion of Indo-China The was a short undeclared military confrontation between Japan and France in northern French Indochina. Fighting lasted from 22 to 26 September 1940; the same time as the Battle of South Guangxi in the Sino-Japanese War, which was the mai ...

called ''Saigon''. This film was never made. In October 1945 it was announced Paramount would make a film called ''Saigon'' about the relationship between a British officer and American woman during the Japanese occupation of Indo-China.

Wells Root Wells Crosby Root (March 21, 1900 – March 9, 1993) was an American screenwriter and lecturer. In the mid-1930s he was involved with the Screen Writers Guild and in the 1950s the University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever ...

was to write and produce. Eventually the studio abandoned this project, in early 1946. Later, the studio decided to use the title for a new story, set in post-WWII Indo-China and starring

, who had previously appeared in exotic adventure tales such as ''China'' and (the then still unreleased) ''Calcutta''. In September 1946 it was announced Ladd would star, PJ Wolfson would produce and James Henagan and John Leman were writing the script. Leslie Fenton was assigned to direct in October. It was meant to start that month but shooting was pushed back when ''

Wild Harvest ''Wild Harvest'' is a 1947 film directed by Tay Garnett and starring Alan Ladd and Dorothy Lamour. Plot Joe Madigan's crew harvests wheat for farmers. Jim Davis, a good mechanic who irresponsibly drinks and gambles too much, is fired by his frie ...

'' (1947), starring Ladd, took an extra 10 days to film. This meant that Fenton was replaced as director on ''

The Big Clock ''The Big Clock'' is a 1946 novel by Kenneth Fearing. Published by Harcourt Brace, the thriller was Fearing's fourth novel, following three for Random House (''The Hospital'', ''Dagger of the Mind'', ''Clark Gifford's Body'') and five collections ...

'' by

John Farrow John Villiers Farrow, KGCHS (10 February 190427 January 1963) was an Australian film director, producer, and screenwriter. Spending a considerable amount of his career in the United States, in 1942 he was nominated for the Academy Award for B ...

was cast in November.

joined the same month. Filming took place in late 1946 and early 1947. For the movie,

reverted to her famous "peek-a-boo bob" hairstyle, which she had abandoned during the war at the request of the government because female factory workers kept getting their hair caught in machinery while imitating it.

Reception

Critical

Film critic Philip K. Scheuer in his review of ''Saigon'' for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', called the film "long on atmosphere and short on logic." In a similar vein,

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

simply dismissed the film as "sorry" and "a fine lot of super-silly moonshine, more to be laughed at than esteemed." ''Diabolique'' magazine says "it's the least effective" of the Lake-Ladd teamings arguing" It starts off excellently but tails away in its second half. The storyline feels cobbled together from elements of previous Paramount hits, particularly ones starring Ladd."

Box office

Although commonly regarded in retrospect as a flop, due to comparison with Ladd's more successful motion pictures, the film was reasonably popular. ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' listed ''Saigon'' as the fourth most popular film at the box office in March 1948 and the 7th most popular film in April. The film was also popular at the British box office.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Pendo, Stephen. ''Aviation in the Cinema''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. .

External links

* * {{IMDb title, id=0040753, title=Saigon
Review of film
at ''Variety'' 1948 films American aviation films American black-and-white films Films set in Saigon Paramount Pictures films Films directed by Leslie Fenton Films scored by Robert Emmett Dolan American crime films 1948 crime films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films