Seven Sinners **** (1940, Marlene Dietrich, John Wayne, Albert Dekker, Oskar Homolka, Broderick Crawford, Mischa Auer) – Classic Movie Review 7167

Director Tay Garnett’s fine 1940 black and white adventure comedy knockabout entertainment Seven Sinners expertly mixes romance and brawls, though the scintillating cast is the main reason to watch. Marlene Dietrich and John Wayne show they are both class acts, and prove an entertaining team together.

Oskar [Oscar] Homolka has fun as the bad guy Antro, and there are also Albert Dekker as Dr Martin, Broderick Crawford as Little Ned, Anna Lee, Mischa Auer, Billy Gilbert, Richard Carle, Samuel S Hinds and Reginald Denny as Captain Church to admire and enjoy too.

Dietrich is luminous as Bijou Blanche in Seven Sinners (1940).

Dietrich is luminous as the wonderfully camply named Bijou Blanche, who takes up a singing gig at the South Sea island café of the title and works her wiles on American lieutenant Dan Brent (Wayne), who is soon ready to make an honest gal of her.

Happily, Dietrich trills Frank Loesser and Frederick Hollander’s ‘I’ve Been in Love Before’, ‘I Fell Overboard’ and ‘The Man’s in the Navy’.

Director Garnett has a cameo as a drunken sailor. Also in the cast are Vince Barnett, Herbert Rawlinson, James Craig, William Bakewell, Antonio Moreno, Russell Hicks, William B Davidson, Eric Alden, Willie Fung, Frank Hagney, Al Hill, Soledad Jimenez, Noble Johnson, Mike Lally, Perc Launders, Larry Lawson, Harry Payne, Rolfe Sedan, Tom Seidel, Evelyn Selbie, Harry Seymour, John Sheehan, Charles Stafford, Peter Sullivan, Frank Swan, Nanette Vallon, Henry Victor and Leslie Vincent.

The screenplay by John Meehan and Harry Tugend is based on the boringly titled East of Java by László Vadnay [Laslo Vadnay] and Ladislas Fodor.

South Sea Sinner (1950), with Macdonald Carey, Shelley Winters and Luther Adler, is a remake.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7167

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