Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1950)

After the end of WWII, a former OSS officer (Alan Ladd) returns to Italy to find the traitor responsible for betraying his hiding place and causing the death of his partner (Paul Lees) and the woman he loved (Wanda Hendrix). But when he arrives in the small village, he finds the girl alive and well and married. Based on the novel NO SURRENDER by Martha Albrand and directed by Mitchell Leisen, the film never progresses beyond commonplace. Ladd, dim as ever, walks through the film with that cold denseness that passes as a performance and Hendrix is hopelessly miscast as an Italian though she gives it the old college try. The film manages to hold your interest for awhile (just who is the traitor?) but the tediousness overcomes the mystery. The film is perhaps most famous for the love song Mona Lisa which was a big hit and won the Oscar for best song. Funnily enough, the song isn't used romantically in the film but used as a warning that the Fascists are approaching. With some more magnetic stars, it might have worked as a poor man's CASABLANCA. As it is, it's watchable ... just. With Francis Lederer, Joseph Calleia, Russ Tamblyn, Celia Lovsky, Angela Clarke and Jane Nigh.