Too much of everything

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Boring

Cary Grant is a noted surgeon traveling with his wife (Paula Raymond) in a Latin American country when there's a "Crisis." This 1950 black and white film also stars Jose Ferrer, Leon Ames, Ramon Novarro, and Gilbert Roland. Grant, as Dr. Ferguson, and his wife are trying to leave the country due to political unrest when they are kidnapped and brought to the home of the country's dictator, Raoul Farrago (Ferrer). There, they learn from his wife (Signe Hasso) that the leader is dying of a brain tumor, and options for an operation are few as no one wants him to live. Ferguson agrees on certain conditions. Ultimately, his wife is involved in a riot, and he sends her home. It isn't until the surgery is over that he learns that certain things have been kept from him.This is actually a very good and underrated film, not the usual Cary Grant type of role or movie, which in itself should have sparked some interest when it was released. People know the handsome Grant and his debonair persona, his gift for physical comedy and the way he has with a line - but it's nice to remember occasionally that underneath all that star power and tailored suits there's a fine actor. Here he plays a man who makes a commitment to a patient he plainly doesn't like, and he has to fight to control his emotions. His anger over the situation makes this difficult. Ferrer is terrific as a violent man who thinks of his people as dumb children as he feathers his own nest with money that rightfully belongs to them. As his Evita-like wife, Signe Hasso has a chance to show her capabilities, and she's excellent - charming on the surface, worried about her husband, and hard as nails underneath. Hasso was a wonderful Swedish actress often relegated to B movies or to small roles in A films. Eventually she turned to theater and television. Here we see, had the roles been there for her, what a find she truly was.It's always great to see old-timers Gilbert Roland and Ramon Novarro, the latter as Colonel Dragon, and the former as a revolutionary who wants Grant to kill Farrago on the operating table. Actually he's no better than Farrago, and Ferguson gets a bird's eye look at oppression politics.A very good film; worth seeing for Grant, Ferrer and Hasso.

I had thought I'd seen just about every film Cary Grant made until I saw "Crisis" on Turner Classic Movies today. I found it a well-done suspense thriller, which at the same time examined some heavy moral decisions that must be made in times of stress and crisis. The moral dilemma of a doctor facing a decision to save a life, when the patient's death would benefit so many is truly a difficult one. Does the doctor live up to his oath to heal, or does he live up to his moral values which demand that tyranny be opposed and destroyed? Do professional ethics supersede moral values? The battle within the doctor is well delineated. The climax of this battle within himself is sobering. The acting is excellent, especially that of Grant and Jose Ferrer. Ferrer's depiction of the dictator is chilling indeed. The end comes as a decided relief.

CRISIS remains perhaps the only film that is completely forgotten when lists of Cary Grant films are offered. Even some of Grant's lesser vehicles are discussed, in depth, but Richard Brooks' CRISIS, which features a really stellar cast is 'lost' in contemporary cinema circles. There is no logical reason for this. Grant gives one of his very rare straight dramatic performances -- and one very very different from the dramatic range in NONE BUT THE LONELY HEART. It is a strong, forthright piece of work. The film deserves rediscovery for any number of reasons -- Grant's work, the first sign of Brooks' major talent... and one of the few (if only) Grant films that deals with modern political issues. I had remembered the film very well from my youth and never saw it listed for TV showings or any retrospectives. Thus, finding a rare DVD copy was wonderful ... and, surprisingly, very rewarding. Here's to someone pulling CRISIS out of obscurity and into a rung on the Cary Grant pantheon.

Sometimes timing of movies ruins a possible award - witness how two splendid films, ALL ABOUT EVE (about the underbelly of the theatre)and SUNSET BOULEVARD (about the underbelly of the movies) came out in 1950, and managed to keep each other from sweeping the Oscars that year (although both did share in the Oscars). Each had great actresses in performances of stature (Bette Davis and Anne Baxter as Margo and Eve, and Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond) up for best actress - but it was the year for Judy Holiday for Billie Dawn in BORN YESTERDAY. That same year, this nice little political thriller came out. It told the story of political intrigue in Latin America, complicated by the failing health of a dictator, and how an American doctor is torn between the threats of the dictator's regime and of the local revolutionaries. Cary Grant actually had a non-suave role here - he had serious things confronting him, like his dislike of his prospective patient (Jose Ferrer) and fears for his wife. Richard Brooks in his screenplay looked at such figures as the Argentine Perons (Signe Hasso plays the dictator's wife, like a clone of Evita), and notes the huge statues and pictures of the dictators - an early observation of what we call "the cult of personality". Ferrer is properly despicable, as a man capable of any act of violence for advantage, but also sickly due to his brain tumor. He also occasionally brings out points that pure democracy fans do not like to discuss: as he tells Grant Americans are perfectly willing to patiently stand in line for purchasing items or seeing movies, but in his country after a few minutes people standing in line start fighting and rioting. The opposition to Ferrer is little better than he is. Witness Gilbert Roland, who okays the kidnapping of Grant's wife, and once the dictator is dead starts telling Grant "These people are children who need a leader to tell them what to do." Someone disagrees with Roland, for he is shot by a sniper shortly after. The film ends with Grant sarcastically taking care of a panicking Roland and sneering at his political beliefs at the same time.It was ahead of its time in dissecting Latin American political reality. So why is CRISIS so little recalled, while other Grant thrillers (like NORTH BY NORTHWEST or NOTORIOUS - both by Hitchcock) are remembered. Not due to production or script or acting. Rather timing. In 1950 Douglas Fairbanks and Glynis Johns and Jack Hawkins appeared in the movie STATE SECRET. Set in a fictional Balkan country (supposedly Yugoslavia, but fictitious) a British surgeon is forced to take care of an ailing dictator, who undergoes a secret operation. But the dictator dies, and Fairbanks tries to flee the country aided by Johns. Almost the same type of plot (although a different part of the world). Both films deserve revival. And like ALL ABOUT EVE and SUNSET BOULEVARD, both checkmated each other's full effectiveness in that year of coincidences 1950.