Review: Fire Down Below (1957)

Cynical Robert Mitchum and good-natured idealist Jack Lemmon are a couple of smugglers in the Caribbean who agree to ferry a mystery woman presumably in trouble (Rita Hayworth) illegally from island to island. Both men fall in love with her, but Mitchum wins out because they’re both like-minded people. Meanwhile, Lemmon is left embittered and drunk for losing out. And then tragedy strikes. Bernard Lee plays a doctor, Herbert Lom is a conflicted harbour master, Anthony Newley plays a contact of Mitchum’s, and Edric Conner is Jimmy Jean, the loyal first mate.

 

No, not the late 90s Steven Seagal flick, but a 1957 Robert Parrish (“Lucy Gallant”, “Saddle the Wind”) star vehicle. The film starts terrifically, and features top work by Mitchum and especially Lemmon. Even when it switches gears and becomes more of a disaster/rescue movie it still works, largely because of Lemmon’s excellent, likeable performance. Unfortunately it nearly gets torpedoed by one of the most inappropriate, dishearteningly cynical endings to any motion picture I have seen. It appears to have come in from another film altogether and made me truly despise Hayworth’s character. I don’t think that was the intended reaction, somehow. Some have suggested a reading where Lemmon’s character is somehow a representative of toxic masculinity, but I can’t see that at all given the era the film was made in and how the characters are actually portrayed in the film (and who they’re portrayed by). No, I think they just went the wrong direction in the end.

 

Other than that rather major flaw, this is a most enjoyable B-picture classed-up by a trio of A-grade stars. There’s also a nice small turn by character actor Lom, in a rare nice guy role. Scripted by Irwin Shaw (“War and Peace”), from a novel by Max Catto (“The Devil at 4 O’Clock”), the film is still worth a look if you’re a fan of the three stars. It’s entertaining, but lumpy and ends on a real downer. The lovely Trinidad scenery sure does help.

 

Rating: B-

 

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