Canal Zone (1942)
THE SCREEN; At the Globe
T.S.
Published: March 30, 1942
If "Canal Zone," now at the Globe, is any more than a three-penny canard, certain departments in Washington had better check on the discipline in our outposts—and pronto. Or perhaps it might be more to the point to inquire of the script writers responsible for this feeble fracas whether they have the faintest notion what they are talking about. Personally, we doubt it; we doubt whether any one ever flew a bomber, or even a model of one, from Ginger Bar station across the South Atlantic to Africa. The characters of their Central American relay and training station are too silly to find their bearings in a third-rate drama, much less in the air. Though there is some highfalutin' talk about destiny and "kicking the sky around," the story of " Canal Zone" never gets its wheels off the ground.
As usual, our heroic instructor is torn between his devotion to "that lady up there" and a mere groundling female who can't stand the strain. As usual one of the students turns out to be a cocky young snob who refuses to take orders, casts aggressive glances on the instructor's lady friend and only squares himself after his carelessness in the air has cost the life of another flier. The actors don't help this routine very much. Chester Morris, alone, gives a fairly credible portrait of the tough-spoken instructor. John Hubbard as the swishy socialite flier doesn't make matters any more agreeable and Harriet Hilliard is as colorless, though not as transparent, as a windowpane. Briefly, it's ceiling zero at the Globe this week.
CANAL ZONE; screenplay by Robert Lee Johnson from a story by Blaine Miller and Jean DuPont Miller; directed by Lew Landers and produced by Columbia Pictures.
"Hardtack" Hamilton . . . . . Chester Morris
Susan Merrill . . . . . Harriet Hilliard
Harley Ames . . . . . John Hubbard
Kincaid . . . . . Larry Parks
Madigan . . . . . Forrest Tucker
Hughes . . . . . Eddie Laughton
Baldwin . . . . . Lloyd Bridges
MacNamara . . . . . George McKay
Commander Merrill . . . . . Stanley Andrews
"Red" Connors . . . . . John Tyrrell
Jones . . . . . Stanley Brown
Henshaw . . . . . John Shay
