Tampico

Tampico (1944)

** (out of 4)

Standard spy yarn has Edward G. Robinson playing a skipper of an oil rig during WW2 when the German's are trying to sink all the rigs. He saves a beautiful woman (Lynn Bari) from the sea and marries her but when his ship gets hit by a torpedo his men think the new wife was a spy. This film only runs 75-minutes but there's not really enough story for a twenty-minute movie. Robinson is pretty good in his role as is Bari but the supporting cast, including Victor McLaglen, doesn't add much spice to the story. The direction is pretty uninspired throughout and some of the dialogue is quite laughable.

This is one of those little gems that makes discovering on a rainy Saturday afternoon a pleasant surprise. It is not a great movie in any sense of the word, but a very enjoyable one. Yeah, like some of the other reviewers, I wondered what in God's Green Earth it was that Kathy saw in Captain Manson (Edward G. Robinson), but short pudgy guys need love too and outside of Hollywood, romances like this very often happen. Also, Victor McLaglen played his role as the ship's First Mate so straight, not in his usual drunk loudmouth Irishman character, that I almost did not recognize him.

The plot was interesting (more fun than riveting), as the story goes from a sea adventure to a spy tale, with a little bit of romance thrown in. The perceived mismatch between the young attractive Kathy and the older Capt Manson only add to the mystery regarding her real motives.

Just a fun little movie to hunker down on the couch under a blanket, pass the time and eat some popcorn.

No big budget for that war spy movie, just the names of Edward G Robinson and Victor Mc Laglen. Not specially exciting story we've seen dozens time, this is a typical ordinary B movie you forget after the vision. The director is German and it is felt in the moody night scenes.

Robinson's career as a leading man was on the downslide at this point and he was jerkily moving into starring support roles like his turn in DOUBLE INDEMNITY when he made this one, a handsome Fox programmer with noir lighting in which his role is a bit of a retread, combining the lovesick dope of TIGER SHARK, the mature sea captain and some World War Two intrigue. He's got good players with him too, with Lynn Bari and Victor MacLaglen.... and when it came to playing a role cleanly and honestly in the movie theater, Robinson's only competition was Spencer Tracy. And if they have film footage of either of them reading the telephone book, it will be worth seeing. So this one is worth your time. Which you should have known when you saw his name on the cast list.

Edward G. Robinson and Victor McLaglen co-starred in this inflated B war time action/adventure saga of the merchant marine. Both of these guys must have had nothing else going on at this point in their careers.

Robinson is captain and McLaglen first mate of an oil tanker operating out of the Caribbean and one fine day they rescue some folks whose ship was torpedoed by a U-boat. Among those rescued are Lynn Bari who has no passport and no one else can quite account for her among the survivors.

She and Robinson hit it off and they have one of those impulsive marriages. But later on Robinson's ship is also torpedoed and when he's rescued he starts to think he might have made a bad decision. And he's determined to find out one way or another.

Tampico is one of those films that gives homage to that famous wartime slogan of 'loose lips sink ships'. But as it turns out it wasn't some flannel mouthed indiscretion by someone that got Robinson's ship sunk. This was quite calculated and planned.

It's also an inflated B film with very little thought given to plot structure and a story line that is well nigh implausible at times. A relic of World War II years much like Robinson's oil tanker.