Candlelight in Algeria - - Love scene? Entertaining film!

Movie girl: I am a big fan of James Mason and ran across this film a year or so ago. I was quite impressed with the cast; particularly James Mason and CArla Lehman. As the eventual love interest of our star, Carla was cool and charming. I love the one-liners in the film.

Though on a serious subject of war and containing the threatening presence of Dr. Muller (well-played by Walter Rilla), the film was quite enjoyable.

Raymond Lovell is always great to see. He could play any part; ranging from an aristocratic butler (The Romantic Age), a killer looking for an alibi in the film Alibi, etc. The glamorous Enid Stamp-Taylor made good comic relief as a jealous actress who thinks her boyfriend (Lovell) had an eye on Susan.

The romance between James Mason's character and CArla's is quite subtle the night she stays at the Casbah. She could not be talked out of sleeping in the chair and stated firmly that he should take the bed. He asserts that she would take the bed, nevertheless.

In the next scene, we see the cloudy sky for a moment or so, as Carla awakes (in the bed, of course) and she smiles as she tucks him in as he lies sleeping in the chair. She is wearing his pajamas. At one time, I would have thought this was a bid for women's lib, that she wanted to be treated equally and therefore did not mind sleeping in the chair. It would seem that he was acting out of chivalry. However, I think it went a step farther than that. Hence, the night sky scene.

The next day when the French girl Yvette (who had a crush on Allan) asks if they slept well, she says yes. Alan says, "We won't go into that." So one wonders, of course, if we had witnessed a tactful love affair that was just beginning. I recall the night sky scene in Romeo and Juliet and other 30's films, which suggested an affair. This was the early 40's and was still enclosed by the Hays Code. I for one prefer it to many of the films of today. I just wanted to know if anyone else has noticed the nuances of the characters at this point as being different.

This being said, it would have been a whirlwind affair. They certainly did not know each other very long; just a day or so. EArlier when it seemed he would kiss Susan, she edges away.

After the bedroom scene he asks, "Still mad at me?" and she says, "No." I think he was well aware of her changed feelings. She seemed to be angry that he had a fake mustache, but I believe she was really irate because he felt it was "no job for a woman." When she "went to bat" for him and stole the camera, she really won his admiration.

I can well understand that in times of war people often got involved hastily. I am glad that the end worked out well, though they never found out that Yvette had died from the shot Schultz had fired back.