I quickly noticed how many actors that are in this film were in the classic CASABLANCA. I thought it couldn't be a coincidence, and come to find out it wasn't. The studio wanted to capitalize off the success of that film, and they quickly threw this together. Their plan was to reunite all the cast members, and pray for magic again. Unfortunately for them some of the key members (Bogart and Bergman) declined.

Unfortunately for the viewer, this movie feels thrown together and only half thought out. I do still come down on the positive side of the film, but it really feel like a missed opportunity.

Not to take anything away from a favorite actor of mine, Burt Landcaster.…

I quickly noticed how many actors that are in this film were in the classic CASABLANCA. I thought it couldn't be a coincidence, and come to find out it wasn't. The studio wanted to capitalize off the success of that film, and they quickly threw this together. Their plan was to reunite all the cast members, and pray for magic again. Unfortunately for them some of the key members (Bogart and Bergman) declined.

Unfortunately for the viewer, this movie feels thrown together and only half thought out. I do still come down on the positive side of the film, but it really feel like a missed opportunity.

Not to take anything away from a favorite actor of mine, Burt Landcaster.…

Rains, Henreid, Lorre. Intrigue in Africa. All that's missing are Bogart and Bergman--but that's sort of saying all that's missing are Mick and Keith.

This Casablanca rehash came courtesy of that picture's same producer, Hal Wallis, with Burt Lancaster in the Bogart role and newcomer Corinne Calvet imported for the requisite exoticism. Lancaster is a former hunter who has discovered a hidden cache of diamonds; Henreid is the brutal company cop who wants Lancaster to give the location up. Calvet is the temptress in the middle (and much more of a femme fatale than Ilsa Lund ever was, and her dialogue is even harder to understand) and Rains, naturally, is the duplicitous schemer who plays each side against the other.…

Not really a film noir, as it's often classified, but rather a pretty blatant grab at Casablanca's unique territory. Indeed, the two films share a producer in Hal Wallis, and he originally intended the picture as a vehicle for Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Instead, he settled for a bunch of Casablanca's supporting players: Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, and Peter Lorre.

Burt Lancaster stars in Rope of Sand as Mike, a former hunter and tour guide who returns to Africa after two years in exile. He had previously run afoul of the local law enforcement, a sadistic commandant named Vogel (Henreid), when a man who hired Mike strayed into prohibited territory in search of diamonds. Everyone believes they found some,…