On S List of Movie Reviews
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Sirocco (1951)
Rate:
7
Viewed:
10/14
10/14:
Humphrey Bogart is tailor-made for Sirocco which goes down the Casablanca
route while making trenchcoats de rigueur.
The setting is perfect to give the picture a genuine film noir feel. Unfortunately, that's about it for
the positives which is too bad because it's that kind of picture which should've been right up there with the greats.
The problem is Lee J. Cobb. He looks out of place and doesn't mix in well. In fact, his acting belongs in television
(he'll do a lot of work there). His character isn't interesting or essential.
What should've happened instead is the continuation of the relationship between Humphrey Bogart's and
Märta Torén's characters. A hit was already in the works when they were having a stimulating cat-and-mouse
conversation which was abruptly interrupted, and there's no follow-through.
What a shame because any film that pairs Humphrey Bogart with an attractive leading lady and lets that be the main show
has always been successful. Some of them are Mary Astor in The Maltese Falcon,
Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca, Lauren Bacall in
To Have and Have Not, Gloria Grahame in
In a Lonely Place, Katherine Hepburn in The African Queen, and Ava
Gardner in The Barefoot Contessa. So, why mess with the tried-and-true
formula? By the way, Märta Torén tragically died from cerebral hemorrhage in 1957 at the age of 31.
All in all, Sirocco had it, but the filmmakers got too smart and therefore ruined a potential winner.