Fans of Cary Grant should see this under appreciated film. It proves that Grant could indeed act - and that he has far greater range than his standard light comedy fare would indicate.This is not a great movie, but it is a very well made movie. It has high production values. The film features three of the major "Latin Lovers" from the Silent era - Gilbert Roland, Ramon Novarro, and Pedro De Cordoba. Jose Ferrer and Signe Hasso play a Latin American Dictator and his wife. They are the weakest points in the production - Ferrer insists on "Acting" through every scene. His performance comes across as very dated and unbelievable. Hasso, normally a fine actress, comes across as wooden and barely lifelike.The weakest point in the production is the script. It insists on being very "politcal" and this detracts from the enjoyment value. Yet, because of this political viewpoint, it treats Latinos with much more respect and consideration than other movies filmed during this era.

I had thought I'd seen just about every film Cary Grant made until I saw "Crisis" on Turner Classic Movies today. I found it a well-done suspense thriller, which at the same time examined some heavy moral decisions that must be made in times of stress and crisis. The moral dilemma of a doctor facing a decision to save a life, when the patient's death would benefit so many is truly a difficult one. Does the doctor live up to his oath to heal, or does he live up to his moral values which demand that tyranny be opposed and destroyed? Do professional ethics supersede moral values? The battle within the doctor is well delineated. The climax of this battle within himself is sobering. The acting is excellent, especially that of Grant and Jose Ferrer. Ferrer's depiction of the dictator is chilling indeed. The end comes as a decided relief.

This Cary Grant film is shown less often on TV than most of his films. Part of this may be because it certainly isn't among his very best films but part of it also must be due to its odd plot. Cary is a famous brain surgeon who's on vacation in South America with his wife. A nasty dictator is dying and needs brain surgery, so Cary and the wife are abducted and brought to meet the "president for life" (Ferrer). Grant is told that he really has no choice about doing the operation, because his and his wife's lives are forfeited if he refuses or botches the operation, as they know that Grant would much rather see this evil little dictator assume room temperature. Because of this, it's a tense little film. Also, I particularly liked the ending. On so many levels, it was an excellent wrap-up for the film--both in what occurred to the dictator as well as his replacement.

Sometimes timing of movies ruins a possible award - witness how two splendid films, ALL ABOUT EVE (about the underbelly of the theatre)and SUNSET BOULEVARD (about the underbelly of the movies) came out in 1950, and managed to keep each other from sweeping the Oscars that year (although both did share in the Oscars). Each had great actresses in performances of stature (Bette Davis and Anne Baxter as Margo and Eve, and Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond) up for best actress - but it was the year for Judy Holiday for Billie Dawn in BORN YESTERDAY. That same year, this nice little political thriller came out. It told the story of political intrigue in Latin America, complicated by the failing health of a dictator, and how an American doctor is torn between the threats of the dictator's regime and of the local revolutionaries. Cary Grant actually had a non-suave role here - he had serious things confronting him, like his dislike of his prospective patient (Jose Ferrer) and fears for his wife. Richard Brooks in his screenplay looked at such figures as the Argentine Perons (Signe Hasso plays the dictator's wife, like a clone of Evita), and notes the huge statues and pictures of the dictators - an early observation of what we call "the cult of personality". Ferrer is properly despicable, as a man capable of any act of violence for advantage, but also sickly due to his brain tumor. He also occasionally brings out points that pure democracy fans do not like to discuss: as he tells Grant Americans are perfectly willing to patiently stand in line for purchasing items or seeing movies, but in his country after a few minutes people standing in line start fighting and rioting. The opposition to Ferrer is little better than he is. Witness Gilbert Roland, who okays the kidnapping of Grant's wife, and once the dictator is dead starts telling Grant "These people are children who need a leader to tell them what to do." Someone disagrees with Roland, for he is shot by a sniper shortly after. The film ends with Grant sarcastically taking care of a panicking Roland and sneering at his political beliefs at the same time.It was ahead of its time in dissecting Latin American political reality. So why is CRISIS so little recalled, while other Grant thrillers (like NORTH BY NORTHWEST or NOTORIOUS - both by Hitchcock) are remembered. Not due to production or script or acting. Rather timing. In 1950 Douglas Fairbanks and Glynis Johns and Jack Hawkins appeared in the movie STATE SECRET. Set in a fictional Balkan country (supposedly Yugoslavia, but fictitious) a British surgeon is forced to take care of an ailing dictator, who undergoes a secret operation. But the dictator dies, and Fairbanks tries to flee the country aided by Johns. Almost the same type of plot (although a different part of the world). Both films deserve revival. And like ALL ABOUT EVE and SUNSET BOULEVARD, both checkmated each other's full effectiveness in that year of coincidences 1950.