Mozambique (1964) Online

I would not be surprised if the film Mozambique came about because of Great Britain throwing a little tourist trade and publicity to the Salazar government in Portugal at the time. The British had divested themselves of most of their African colonies at the time, but Portugal was holding on, in the end futilely to both Mozambique and Angola. I think this British film shot in part in Mozambique was to drum up a little tourist business for the place by shooting a nice action adventure film there. And of course an obligatory American lead for that huge market.

By 1964 you could never use studio back lot jungle sets any more. Even for a routine action adventure film realism was required. The best thing that Mozambique has going for it is the location shooting in a new and modernizing Africa. The climax chase scene at Victoria Falls is quite well done and offers the world a view of one of its great natural wonders. I can appreciate living as close as I do to Niagara Falls.

Steve Cochran like so many American players having trouble finding work probably took this film for an African tour and a paycheck. He's an American pilot who for a past accident is having trouble finding work. After a dust up in a bar in Lisbon Cochran gets an offer from the Portugese police to take a job in Mozambique or spend several months in their pokey.

Once in Mozambique Cochran is hired by casino owner Martin Benson as a pilot for some smuggling. After that it's all kind of intrigue until some unsolved homicides and a couple of new ones are cleared up by the Portuges cops.

One thing about this was the white slavery racket involving young and beautiful Vivi Bach who some Arab sheik wants to add to his harem. Cochran risks all to rescue her in a rather improbable sequence from the palace of this Snidely Whiplash Arab. Of course one look at her and you can see why both villain and hero are with hormones in overdrive.

Hildegarde Knef is the widow of Cochran's original employer and Paul Hubschmid plays the cop. Nothing but the great scenery and the final action climax however is worth looking at in Mozambique.

Of course there's Ms. Bach as well.

A merry yarn and predictably cheesy in all the right places. The fight scenes are particularly wanting and the dialogue is more than inadequate in places, but one is compelled to hang in there to let the plot unravel. The characters are implausible rather than larger-than-life, especially the Arab contingent, but this was 1965 and the swinging sixties seems an acceptable excuse. As usual, for movies of this period and genre, the hero is sadly old enough to be the father of the damsel in distress, leaving one to wonder: where were all the young, virile men before 1970? Perhaps it's also somewhat surprising that, being a British-made film, there is a distinct lack of black actors and extras, especially as this actually was filmed in Mozambique! Overall, it's not the worst way to kill an hour and a half, unless you have something better to do such as walk the dog.

Prolific (and oft-ridiculed) British producer Harry Alan Towers is the man behind this typical 60s adventure flick set in a far-flung corner of Africa. The film is full of none-too-convincing attempts at hard boiled dialogue, murky characters who mostly turn out not to be what they seem, and a few decent action sequences shot on actual locations in Mozambique. Photographically it is perfectly acceptable, even quite good in parts (though some of the night-time sequences are so dimly lit it becomes virtually impossible to tell what is going on). It was the final film of Steve Cochran, here given a rare opportunity to play the male lead (he was usual a memorable supporting character-actor... this film finally gives him a shot at the top-billed hero figure, but later that year he died in suspicious circumstances during a yachting holiday off Guatemala, prematurely ending his career and life at the unfortunate age of 48).

Blacklisted pilot Brad Webster (Cochran) is desperately seeking work in various corners of Lisbon, but as the sole survivor of a disastrous airplane crash a few months earlier he is considered unemployable in most circles. Following a bar-room brawl, he winds up in jail... but the local Commandant, Commaro (Paul Hubscmid), springs him from behind bars and offers him a job opportunity. The job involves going to the African colony of Mozambique and work as a bush pilot for someone named Valdez. If he refuses, he will go to jail for quite some time. Webster heads off to Mozambique, befriending fellow 'last-chance-saloon' passenger Christina (Vivi Bach) on the flight down to the African country. Upon arriving, Webster learns that Valdez is dead and he will be working for the odious Da Silva (Martin Benson) instead, although the job remains essentially the same. Valdez's widow, Ilona (Hildegard Knef), despises Da Silva and is bitter at the fact her husband never left a will, meaning she cannot lay claim to any of the sizable fortune she believes she is entitled to. Further skulduggery is provided by the mysterious Henderson (Dietmar Shonherr), who, like Valdez and Da Silva, seems to have his finger in a number of unsavoury pies. Webster finds himself flying unofficial clandestine flights aiding Da Silva and Henderson in some kind of drug-smuggling racket, but the more he probes the more he discovers this is only the tip of a dangerous iceberg.

Cochran seems too old for the leading role, but Schonherr and Benson make for an agreeably slimy pair of villains. Knef is rather wasted as the enigmatic female lead, either an embittered widow or a scheming femme fatale, while Bach as the romantic female lead is pretty hopeless. The location work is good, though, and provides the film with a bit of unusual local flavour. The final action sequence - which borrows the old Hitchcock trick of basing the excitement at a well- known location (in this case, Victoria Falls) - is actually rather well-done, and is easily the best thing about the film. Mozambique is a routine 60s film, typical of its type and the kind of movie where there's little of it left in your memory the day after you watch it... but it passes the time harmlessly enough whilst on.

Despite the exotic-sounding destination, MOZAMBIQUE turns out to be one deathly dull movie and another lame potboiler from producer Harry Alan Towers. The only thing really interesting about it is that it was actually filmed on location in the country, but sadly the film-makers fail to make use of their locale to add authenticity to the movie. It could just as easily have taken place in London.

The plot sees ageing American hero Steve Cochran off on his holidays when he runs foul of a drug smuggling ring and soon finds himself mixed up in all kinds of spy-style shenanigans. Cochran is uninteresting in the role as are the rest of the no-name cast; the director is more interested in his dancing girls with the likes of Hildegard Knef relegated to eye candy. There are a couple of very average fist fights here but it's all so dull and desperately James Bond style that you just won't care about them or indeed anything in the movie.