MALAYA (1949)

Sleep fucking city.  I love Jimmy Stewart and Spencer Tracy, but this movie has nothing going for it.  It took me four sittings just to get through it! 

Newspaper man Stewart is recruited by the US government to sneak into Malaya and smuggle out rubber to help the American war effort.  Stewart takes along buddy Spencer Tracy.  Tracy is a tough as nails dude who goes around non-stop talking shit and never worries about anything (example: he sneaks into a Japanese base at nighttime wearing a solid white suit and white hat).  Boring and predictable stuff happens and all the while I kept wondering to myself how this film even got made with such a high-caliber cast?!

Zero tension, discombobulated story, unneeded love aspect, stiff dialogue, quicksand pacing, unsatisfying beginning, middle and ending.  Outside of a feeling of boredom there is nothing notable about this film.  Skip it with a vengeance.

KEY LARGO (1948)

Bogart versus Robinson with an all-star supporting cast!

World War II vet Humphrey Bogart travels to Key Largo to visit the family (father: Lionel Barrymore, widow: Lauren Bacall) of one of the soldiers he served with.  The guy was killed in battle in Italy, so Bogart is hoping to give them some closure.  The family owns a hotel and even though it's off season the entire hotel is rented out...by one mysterious, unseen guest and his hoodlum crew.  There's some tension in the air, but things seem to be going alright, until a hurricane warning is issued and the coppers start snooping around.  Next thing you know some bad shit goes down and it's up to Bogart to do some quick thinking or ain't nobody gettin' out alive.

Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore, Claire Trevor, Harry Lewis (doing an impersonation of Richard Widmark in KISS OF DEATH), Marc Lawrence, William Haade, Dan Seymour and Thomas Gomez all directed by John Huston...how cool is that?!  I really enjoyed KEY LARGO, especially the scenes with Robinson holding court and being an asshole.  Yeah, the film has some blemishes (the outdoor shots by the dock were obviously shot on a man made pool and not the ocean, boom microphone reflection, dead body moving, visible wires used to pull the palm trees during the special effects shot, etc.), but the acting out shadows all of that.  Edward G. Robinson is wonderful as the aging gangster who's too proud to realize that his brand of gangsterism is over and he's now a dinosaur.  On the other end is Humphrey Bogart as a ex-military guy with personal demons who has to use his wits save the day.

Good story, great supporting cast (it's always a joy to see Lionel Barrymore), quick pace, hilarious facial expressions by Robinson.  KEY LARGO is a must see.  And "No." I don't consider it to be a film noir even though I often see it listed as one.