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Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Betrayed (1954)

During WWII, a Dutch intelligence officer (Clark Gable) reluctantly sends a woman (Lana Turner) into the Nazi occupied Netherlands as a spy even though he is suspicious of her loyalties. Her mission is to join forces with a Dutch resistance fighter (Victor Mature). The story itself has a potential that the script doesn't take advantage of but miscasting compromises any chance of believability. The scowling Gable, a brunette Turner and the swaggering Mature are more Hollywood than ever and placed in actual Holland locations and a European cast, they stand out like Wall Street brokers in a "hippie" commune. Turner looks quite pert in her brunette locks but she compensates for her miscasting by getting all actress-y and while it works beautifully in BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL or IMITATION OF LIFE, it's quite out of place here. This was the last of the four movies Turner and Gable did together and the chemistry on display in the previous three isn't in evidence here. Directed by Gottfried Reinhardt (TOWN WITHOUT PITY). The large supporting cast includes Louis Calhern, Wilfrid Hyde White, Nora Swinburne, Niall MacGinnis, Roland Culver, Anton Diffring and O.E. Hasse.

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