7/10
Not Over-Exciting, But It Has Its Moments!
24 July 2008
What a disappointing picture! Just look at those credits! Well, I'll admit the cast isn't much, except for Ralph Forbes (who is great in small doses like "The Hound of the Baskervilles") and Ben Alexander's legions of fans, although even Dragnet die-hards will find little to cheer about here. However, I must admit I really enjoyed Hala Linda's performance (and I loved her songs). And this "Missing Men" is her only movie too! But I expect a a fair degree of excitement from a classy director like Hamilton "Charlie Chan" MacFadden; and for the first ten minutes or so of fast action and multiple camera angles with scores of extras, it looks like he's going to deliver. But then the boring part of the "Beau Geste"-derived screenplay (unaccountably hashed up by three of the best writers in Hollywood's ten-thrills-a-second business) takes over. And while all this tedious brothers-falling-out stuff is flat-footedly proceeding, what is Charles Hutchison doing? Lightning Hutch himself! Presumably he was hired just for the strength of his name. The action spots at the beginning and end of the picture feature only a small amount of stunt work. Nothing to get too excited or wide-eyed about—which is a fair description of the whole movie itself.

Sample dialogue: (Heroine)"You are clean and fine! So different from the others who come here." And (Sheik) "How many men did you lose?" — (Henchman) "As many as the fingers of two hands twice!"
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