MovieChat Forums > Blood Alley (1955) Discussion > Very disappointing movie

Very disappointing movie

posted 16 years ago by jayhn1111
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I couldn't find anything compelling about this movie at all. We didn't get to know any of these characters at all. They didn't make you feel anything for all those refugees either. Even John Wayne's character, under developed. The whole thing with him talking to his imaginary girl was very annoying as well. The whole thing was about them getting to Hong Kong. There was nothing interesting or exciting about their journey whatsoever. The whole romance thing felt very forced as well

[–] spookyrat1 10 years ago

I tend to agree with you.

The best reason for seeing the film IMO is to see Wayne and Bacall on the screen together if your a fan of both, as I am.

But in most other aspects the film is pretty ordinary.

It's obviously heavily influenced by The African Queen, but just doesn't have that film's charm and humour, though it strains mightily and unrealistically on occasions to achieve the same results.

For a two hour Wayne "actioner", the action is pretty thin on the ground at times, and the voyage to freedom itself doesn't really get underway till the film is over half way gone.

Though the cinemascope photography is good and the brief underwater scenes add interest, the scenes involving "special effects" are frankly laughable. Crucially, I was never convinced the paddleboat was out on the open ocean, which is supposedly at the dramatic core of the movie.

For me, it's really only about its curiosity value.