I COVER THE WAR – 1937
This Universal Pictures B-film has a 30 year old John Wayne as its headliner. Wayne and his pal, Don Barclay, are newsreel cameramen who specialize in getting film on the various wars and conflicts of the era. They are sent by their boss to cover a hot spot in the Middle East.
The pair are sent to Samari, a small British Protectorate, located beside Iraq. There is trouble brewing with the local Arab tribesman and their shadowy leader, who goes by the handle, Muffadhi.
On the aircraft taking them to Samari, Wayne makes friends with the only female on board. The woman, Gwen Gaze, is going to see her uncle, Sam Harris, who is the officer in charge of the small British garrison. Also on the post is, her fiancé, Pat Somerset.
Once Wayne and Barclay are in Samari, they discover that the men they are replacing seem to have met with a most untimely end. Their sound and film truck has more than a few bullet holes in it. Oh well, it will not be the first time the pair have been in a dangerous spot.
Also in Samari are newsreel crews from several other companies. Everyone wants to be first on the scene for that big shot. Wayne and Barclay move into the only hotel in town and wait for some news to break. Running the hotel is local slime ball, Charles Brokaw.
Now arriving on the scene is Wayne's younger brother, James Bush. Bush has quit medical school and wants to become a newsreel guy like big brother. Wayne is bound and determined to ship him back to school in the States. This of course leads to more than a little animosity between the brothers.
While out on patrol the British come up on the village of a friendly local tribe. Everyone, men, women and children have been killed. Now Wayne and Barclay drive up with their truck and start shooting film. The British grab the film and tell Wayne that the massacre is not to be mentioned.
The British are most worried because they have found empty shell cases from a heavy machine gun. This means the bad boys have heavy weapons, and this will make the British mission more difficult.
Wayne's brother gets involved with a rival newsreel crew and heads out into the desert with them. The rival crew, led by Arthur Aylesworth, have a rather lucrative sideline. They are running guns to the rebel forces. Nobody suspects the camera crews would be up to anything so diabolical.
It also turns out that local hotel proprietor Brokaw is really the leader of the rebel faction. He tricks Wayne and Barclay into taking a trip out to his secret camp. He wants his victory over the British to be recorded. He has an ambush planned to wipe out the British the next time they are on patrol.
Brokaw and the rebels launch their assault and soon have the British force trapped. Wayne and Barclay pull a fast one on their guards and escape in their camera truck. Both are however wounded in a hail of machine gun fire.
They just barely reach town with the info about the ambush. The Brits get on the horn and call up the RAF. They send in a squadron of heavy bombers the next morning. The rebels are blown all to hell and their leader, Brokaw killed.
Wayne and Barclay survive their wounds and are now recovering in the military hospital. Wayne also gets the girl, Miss Gaze as her engagement to Somerset is ended.
All this is done in a quick paced 68 minute runtime. Not a world beater by any stretch, but it makes a decent low rent time-waster.
The director here is Arthur Lubin. Long-time Universal Pictures helmsman Lubin worked mainly on "B" films with the odd lower end "A" film thrown in. He was the number one moneymaking director at Universal for several years. He scored with a series of early Abbot and Costello films. These, as well as several of the popular Jon Hall and Maria Montez films made Universal a bucket of cash.
The cinematographer on this film was the two-time Oscar nominated Stanley Cortez. Screenplay was by writer, producer and director George (The Wolfman) Waggner. Waggner would end up directing Wayne in several later films.
This Universal Pictures B-film has a 30 year old John Wayne as its headliner. Wayne and his pal, Don Barclay, are newsreel cameramen who specialize in getting film on the various wars and conflicts of the era. They are sent by their boss to cover a hot spot in the Middle East.
The pair are sent to Samari, a small British Protectorate, located beside Iraq. There is trouble brewing with the local Arab tribesman and their shadowy leader, who goes by the handle, Muffadhi.
On the aircraft taking them to Samari, Wayne makes friends with the only female on board. The woman, Gwen Gaze, is going to see her uncle, Sam Harris, who is the officer in charge of the small British garrison. Also on the post is, her fiancé, Pat Somerset.
Once Wayne and Barclay are in Samari, they discover that the men they are replacing seem to have met with a most untimely end. Their sound and film truck has more than a few bullet holes in it. Oh well, it will not be the first time the pair have been in a dangerous spot.
Also in Samari are newsreel crews from several other companies. Everyone wants to be first on the scene for that big shot. Wayne and Barclay move into the only hotel in town and wait for some news to break. Running the hotel is local slime ball, Charles Brokaw.
Now arriving on the scene is Wayne's younger brother, James Bush. Bush has quit medical school and wants to become a newsreel guy like big brother. Wayne is bound and determined to ship him back to school in the States. This of course leads to more than a little animosity between the brothers.
While out on patrol the British come up on the village of a friendly local tribe. Everyone, men, women and children have been killed. Now Wayne and Barclay drive up with their truck and start shooting film. The British grab the film and tell Wayne that the massacre is not to be mentioned.
The British are most worried because they have found empty shell cases from a heavy machine gun. This means the bad boys have heavy weapons, and this will make the British mission more difficult.
Wayne's brother gets involved with a rival newsreel crew and heads out into the desert with them. The rival crew, led by Arthur Aylesworth, have a rather lucrative sideline. They are running guns to the rebel forces. Nobody suspects the camera crews would be up to anything so diabolical.
It also turns out that local hotel proprietor Brokaw is really the leader of the rebel faction. He tricks Wayne and Barclay into taking a trip out to his secret camp. He wants his victory over the British to be recorded. He has an ambush planned to wipe out the British the next time they are on patrol.
Brokaw and the rebels launch their assault and soon have the British force trapped. Wayne and Barclay pull a fast one on their guards and escape in their camera truck. Both are however wounded in a hail of machine gun fire.
They just barely reach town with the info about the ambush. The Brits get on the horn and call up the RAF. They send in a squadron of heavy bombers the next morning. The rebels are blown all to hell and their leader, Brokaw killed.
Wayne and Barclay survive their wounds and are now recovering in the military hospital. Wayne also gets the girl, Miss Gaze as her engagement to Somerset is ended.
All this is done in a quick paced 68 minute runtime. Not a world beater by any stretch, but it makes a decent low rent time-waster.
The director here is Arthur Lubin. Long-time Universal Pictures helmsman Lubin worked mainly on "B" films with the odd lower end "A" film thrown in. He was the number one moneymaking director at Universal for several years. He scored with a series of early Abbot and Costello films. These, as well as several of the popular Jon Hall and Maria Montez films made Universal a bucket of cash.
The cinematographer on this film was the two-time Oscar nominated Stanley Cortez. Screenplay was by writer, producer and director George (The Wolfman) Waggner. Waggner would end up directing Wayne in several later films.