This is the sort of movie the British simply love. Or, at least, that seems to be what Hollywood would have us believe.
Sundown is about a District Commissioner in British East Africa who has to deal with German 5th Columnists running guns and stirring up rebellion amongst the natives. The District Commissioner is played by Bruce Cabot, who does not speak or behave in a manner even remotely British, so he is conveniently palmed off as a Canadian, even though he does not sound like a Canadian, either. He is abetted in his efforts by an indolent British assistant, played by Reginald Gardiner, a stuffy British officer, played by George Sanders, and a "White Hunter" played by Harry Carey reprising his famous role in "Trader Horn", who inexplicably strolls in out of the night for no apparent reason. Also about the place is the obligatory obsequious Italian POW, played by Joseph Calleia. A mysterious Dutch refugee also shows up, played by Carl Esmond, whom the audience instinctively distrusts from the moment he is introduced, but whom the characters in the movie, being British and instinctively trusting of everyone, stupidly accept at face value.
Adding spice to the intrigue is the presence of 21-year-old Jean Tierney, playing some sort of mysterious female Arab trader who supposedly operates a string trading posts all over East Africa, which she personally supplies by leading her own caravans of camels. The camels she uses are clearly of the two-humped Bactrian variety, which live only in Asia, but that is of little consequence. After all, one has to be willing to suspend a certain amount of belief in any movie in which the primary concern of Nazi territorial ambition seems to be taking over Africa by stirring up the natives against the British.
Will the stalwart British manage to stop the Hun from carrying out their dastardly plan to arm the child-like natives with Vickers heavy machine guns and stir them up into a warlike frenzy? Is Jean Tierney (with whom, since she is a "native", the British will not sit at the same dining table) in cahoots with the nefarious Boche? Or, is she really a Good Egg after all? You'll simply have to see the movie to find out the answers.
Sundown is about a District Commissioner in British East Africa who has to deal with German 5th Columnists running guns and stirring up rebellion amongst the natives. The District Commissioner is played by Bruce Cabot, who does not speak or behave in a manner even remotely British, so he is conveniently palmed off as a Canadian, even though he does not sound like a Canadian, either. He is abetted in his efforts by an indolent British assistant, played by Reginald Gardiner, a stuffy British officer, played by George Sanders, and a "White Hunter" played by Harry Carey reprising his famous role in "Trader Horn", who inexplicably strolls in out of the night for no apparent reason. Also about the place is the obligatory obsequious Italian POW, played by Joseph Calleia. A mysterious Dutch refugee also shows up, played by Carl Esmond, whom the audience instinctively distrusts from the moment he is introduced, but whom the characters in the movie, being British and instinctively trusting of everyone, stupidly accept at face value.
Adding spice to the intrigue is the presence of 21-year-old Jean Tierney, playing some sort of mysterious female Arab trader who supposedly operates a string trading posts all over East Africa, which she personally supplies by leading her own caravans of camels. The camels she uses are clearly of the two-humped Bactrian variety, which live only in Asia, but that is of little consequence. After all, one has to be willing to suspend a certain amount of belief in any movie in which the primary concern of Nazi territorial ambition seems to be taking over Africa by stirring up the natives against the British.
Will the stalwart British manage to stop the Hun from carrying out their dastardly plan to arm the child-like natives with Vickers heavy machine guns and stir them up into a warlike frenzy? Is Jean Tierney (with whom, since she is a "native", the British will not sit at the same dining table) in cahoots with the nefarious Boche? Or, is she really a Good Egg after all? You'll simply have to see the movie to find out the answers.