Maria Montez Movies

This Italian/Spanish swashbuckler was released in Europe as La Vendetta Del Corsaro. In some English-speaking markets, it bore the name Pirates Revenge. No matter how you spell it, this is a strictly formula affair, right down to the Korngoldesque music whenever the pirates attack. Its one distinction is historical. Revenge of the Pirates stars former Hollywood luminary Maria Montez, in what must have been her last film role before her untimely death. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Three powerhouse European screen personalities--Pierre Brasseur, Erich Von Stroheim, Maria Montez---elevate the tawdry melodramatics of Le Portrait d'Un Assassin. Brasseur plays Fabius, a reckless motorcycle driver, currently working in a carnival. When he begins to "choke up" in front of the crowd, Fabius decides it would be best to quit his job and leave for parts unknown. But first he must rid himself of his nagging wife. Attempting to kill his missus, he accidentally wounds carnival owner Catherine (Maria Montez). Fabius decides to continue risking his life when he falls for Catherine, who is "turned on" only by men in dangerous professions. Von Stroheim plays Eric, one of Catherine's ex-lovers, now hopelessly paralyzed. His tendency to "ham" confined by a body brace, Von Stroheim delivers one of his most effective performances. According to contemporary reports, Le Portrait d'Un Assassin was to have been directed by Orson Welles, who presumably would have also played the Pierre Brasseur role (though it would have been fun to see him in the Erich Von Stroheim part--or, for that matter, to watch him try to direct Von Stroheim). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Siren of Atlantis is the third movie version of Pierre Benoit's fantasy novel L'Atlantide, first film in 1921. Jean-Pierre Aumont and Dennis O'Keefe star as Foreign Legionnaires Andre and Jean, who while on a routine mission in the African desert stumble upon the sunken city of Atlantis. Once they've arrived in the subterranean metropolis, they are forbidden to leave by sultry Queen Antinea (Maria Montez). For her own perverse amusement, Antinea romances both Andre and Jean, then sits back and watches the two duke it out over her affections. One of the men survives to tell the tale-if he can find anyone to believe him, that is. To their credit, Henry Daniell and Morris Carnovsky play their supporting roles with utterly straight faces. Of the many deliriously awful Maria Montez vehicles of the 1940s, Siren of Atlantis may well be the worst, though it's not without its campy pleasures. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A rare black-and-white Maria Montez vehicle, Tangier can be described as a second-echelon Casablanca. Montez plays a Spanish dancer named Rita, who is determined to bring Nazi collaborator Colonel Jose Artiego (Preston Foster) to justice. Artiego is at presently working incognito, as military governor of the North African city of Tangier. Maria finds an unexpected ally in the form of Artiego's discarded mistress Dolores (Louise Allbritton). Dominating the film's hotel-lobby set is an old-fashioned "open" elevator, which will obviously figure prominently in the climax. A camp classic, Tangier is distinguished by supporting actor Sabu's offkey renditions of such American standards as "Polly Wolly Doodle" and "She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain"! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

On the eve of her wedding to Ramu (Jon Hall), the beautiful Tollea (Maria Montez) is spirited away from her tranquil South Sea island to the mysterious, forbidden place of her birth, Cobra Island. Ramu follows and, with help from his young-but-not-too-bright friend Kado (Sabu) and their chimp Coco, manages to land on the island and avoid capture, which would mean death. It turns out that Tollea is the rightful high priestess of Cobra Island, the first born of two twin daughters of the earlier priestess. Tollea was not immune to the venom of the king cobra, however, so she was spirited away from the island as an infant to avoid her unnecessary death. Now her grandmother, the Queen (Mary Nash), has secured her return. Tollea's twin sister, Naja (also played by Montez), has turned cruel, greedy, and ambitious, and is killing, torturing, and tormenting her people and perverting their religion; Naja must be deposed, hopefully before the volcano on the far side of the island registers too loud an objection to her blasphemies. But Naja -- who is wanton enough to want Ramu for her own pleasure -- and her confederate, the evil, ambitious Martok (Edgar Barrier), don't plan on leaving quietly.

Meanwhile, Ramu has to keep himself and Kado alive and decide if he's willing to give up the woman that he loves so that she can save her people; Tollea must choose between love and duty, fate and her birthright. One of the most ridiculously and unselfconsciously campy costume adventure movies of its era, Cobra Woman was apparently a lot of fun to work on and a relief from the reality of the Second World War for audiences in 1944. The script, co-authored by Richard Brooks a long time before he wrote The Brick Foxhole, much less directed Blackboard Jungle or made In Cold Blood or Lord Jim, is incredibly sloppy, the mix of harem dancers and ridiculous prop snakes is bizarre, and some of the worst choreography of its era doesn't help -- and yet it all hangs together, somehow, as entertainment. Director Robert Siodmak reportedly liked it, and as a refugee from the Nazis, working on it still beat the fate he'd fled in Germany. The movie is also alleged to be the primary inspiration for Jack Smith's Flaming Creatures -- which starred female impersonator Mario Montez -- and looking at it in the 21st century, one wonders if it was ever seen by Edward D. Wood Jr.; not only does the production sort of anticipate (albeit on a much higher level and budget) his work in the adventure genre, but the script seems to contain the essence of inept moments that he would elevate to an art of sorts. And one can just imagine Wood, as a young marine recruit, watching Cobra Woman eagerly and "learning" all the wrong lessons from its writing and production. But, like the best of Wood's movies -- only more so -- Cobra Woman is still great fun of the "guilty pleasure" sort. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

In this swashbuckler, a princess is raised by gypsies and becomes their queen. The trouble really begins when a count is murdered and the evil, ambitious baron who really did it blames the crime on the gypsies. The baron's messenger knows the truth and tries to prove it. When he notices that the gypsy queen is wearing a pendant bearing the slain count's crest, he reveals her true identity--the count's estranged sister and heir to the throne. The messenger then accuses the baron of the death. The baron has him thrown into the same dungeon as the gypsies and together they team up and escape. Meanwhile the gypsy girl, who has finally promised to marry the wicked baron in exchange for her clan's freedom, is kidnapped by the baron. The gallant messenger rescues her, kills the baron, and gets to marry the young queen. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The general perception of the Technicolor costume adventure movies that Maria Montez and Jon Hall made for Universal in the early 1940's is that they were pure escapist entertainment, intended to make people forget for an hour or so about the Second World War and the general world situation. And generally that is true about them -- they were mostly no "about" much more than having fun for 90 minutes or so amid pretty sets with lots of action and some pretty women in exotic outfits. But watching Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, one has to wonder if even here the screenwriter, Edmund L. Hartmann, was able to totally get away from the day-to-day reality around him. The opening Mongol invasion of Bagdad and the murder of the old Caliph (Moroni Olsen) while trying to set up a government-in-exile without thinking of the German and Japanese conquests and occupations of various nations that would have been going on at the time; additionally, the fact that the old Caliph is murdered with the help of a traitor in his own noble ranks -- a "quisling" in the term coined during World War II -- wouldn't have been missed by audiences at the time. Further, the screenplay very specifically paints the forty thieves as heroes who have gone from being criminals to an active resistance force against the occupying Mongols -- indeed, at the denouement, their invasion of the palace is greeted as a day of liberation by the people of Bagdad. The movie walks a strange tightrope, casting about veiled topical references of that sort, even as is otherwise sufficiently tongue-in-cheek to cast Andy Devine as a desert bandit. Obviously, Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves was sold as -- and mostly intended as -- light entertainment, but just below that glitzy Technicolor surface were some fascinating allusions to the real world. None of this stops Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves from being immense fun -- it is, even if the "fun" isn't totally escapist in nature -- and it's great to look at as well, even 60 years on; Universal has apparently kept preservation-quality source materials on this and Hall and Montez's other Technicolor costume romps. And this particular entry in that group of movies also contains one very instructive clue to the morays and censorship of the time in one scene, in which the hero meets the heroine bathing at an oasis -- the makers seem to have been forced to insert a particular shot that is there for no other reason then to make it clear that she is not totally naked when he sees her. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

In a harem in a Middle Eastern palace, the guardian leads the women he protects in telling the tale of Halroun-Al-Raschid (Jon Hall), the Caliph of Bagdad, who found himself an enemy close to home in the form of his half-brother Kamar (Leif Erickson), who was ineligible for the throne because of his mother's having been a slave. Halroun and his followers initially put down Kamar's attempt at usurpation, until Halroun's ambitious vizier Nadan (Edgar Barrier) changes sides. In the confusion of the ensuing battle, Halroun is wounded -- spotted by the young acrobat Ali (Sabu), he is sheltered by a group of traveling players led by Ahmad (Billy Gilbert), whose ranks also include a player and storyteller (and, if he is to be believed, former sailor) named Sinbad (Shemp Howard) and a man named Aladdin (John Qualen) who is searching for a magic lamp -- and a dancer named Scheherazade (Maria Montez), who had beguiled Kamar and welcomes his ascent to the throne, because she has been told that she is destined to marry a king. She loves the wounded man in her care, whose identity she doesn't know, but is intent on marrying Kamar, now that he is Caliph. But her plans are thwarted by Nadan, who wants no competition from her in his sway over Kamar, and has arranged to have her killed; but when an avaricious officer (Turhan Bey)instead sells her and the entire performing troup to a dishonest slave trader (Thomas Gomez). From that moment, complications ensue for all concerned, as the new Caliph goes after his beloved, the deposed king Halroun tries to protect her and regain his throne, and Nadan hopes to come out sitting on the throne himself. Treachery and narrow escapes, and even a few thwarted plans ensue on all sides as the hero Haroun has to watch out for Scheherazade and himself from several sides at once, all while keeping his identity from her. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

A "B" picture with "A" aspirations, Bombay Clipper mostly takes place on a flight from India to San Francisco. Someone has absconded with $4,000,000 worth of diamonds, and that someone may very well be a passenger on the Bombay Clipper. International news correspondent Jim (William Gargan) hopes to solve the mystery for two reasons-to get a big scoop for his paper, and to repair his tattered marriage to long-suffering Frankie (Irene Hervey). Less than five minutes before the end, the jewel thief is revealed, whereupon the culprit tries to take over the plane and dispose of the other passengers. Fat chance! Obviously made on a tight budget, Bombay Clipper is nonetheless beautifully and meticulously photographed by Stanley Cortez, who on the strength of this and other Universal projects was signed by Orson Welles to lens the classic Magnificent Ambersons. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Set in the burning Arabian desert, this action-adventure centers on the attempts of a well-meaning and wealthy fellow to turn a village into a democracy. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Another of Universal's Richard Arlen-Andy Devine actioners, Lucky Devils casts the mismatched duo as a pair of intrepid newsreel cameramen. When they're not risking their lives coverning the Hot Spots of the world, Dick (Arlen) and Andy (Devine) busy themselves romancing Norma (Dorothy Lovett) and Gwendy (Janet Shaw), respectively. Our heroes' predilection for sticking their noses where they shouldn't gets them mixed up with a gang of Axis saboteurs. Perfect nonthink entertainment, Lucky Devils was specifically designed for the lower half of double bills. Sharp-eyed viewers will spot future Universal star Maria Montez among the bit players. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

That Night in Rio is a musical remake of 1934's Folies Bergère. Don Ameche plays a dual role as a middle-aged Brazilian industrialist, and a young Rio de Janeiro cabaret performer who looks just like him. The highlight of the entertainer's act is an imitation of the industrialist, which impresses the latter's associates. When the industrialist is unable to attend an important business conference, his lieutenants persuade the entertainer to take his place. The entertainer falls in love with the industrialist's wife (Alice Faye), treating her so gallantly that when the real husband returns, he decides to be more attentive to and appreciative of his spouse. Carmen Miranda is supposed to be playing the entertainer's jealous girlfriend, but she's really around just to let loose with such below-the-Equator hits as "Chica, Chica, Boom Chic." The Rudolph Lothar/Hans Adler play on which That Night in Rio was based was given a third go round in 1951 as the Danny Kaye vehicle On the Riviera. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi