More than a decade before he recited those immortal words, "Like sands through the hour glass", masculine MacDonald Carey was a film actor of respectable, if not entirely successful, leading man. He's about as charismatic on screen as a certain future U.S. President was teaching social skills to a baby chimp. MacDonald Carey may have found his niche as the head of a waspy family on "Days of Our Lives", but when cast opposite somebody as hot on screen as Maureen O'Hara, his limited abilities and charisma become extremely obvious.
That is a downer for the colorful adventure "Fire Over Africa", a second rate film about the shipping of stolen goods from North Africa to Europe. The color is strange looking in this, making a good majority of the cast look like they have fake tans and strangely glowing hair. O'Hara is saved this humiliation, looking radiant, although I might have toned down the color tones of the camera work when focused on her.
O'Hara plays a secret agent arriving in Tangier determined to expose the head of a smuggling racket. She's the mysterious agent that Carey is trying to find, but the way he sexually harasses her from start to finish fails to open his eyes to whom she really is. A blowzy Binnie Barnes plays the Sophie Tucker like club hostess (named "Frisco" no less), and has amusing moments, but after a while, thanks to the clichéd script, becomes a bit too much. This is more bland than grand, and it's one of those pretentious racket films where the racket just isn't presented interesting enough to make you devote full attention. Without O'Hara, this would be a huge dud.
That is a downer for the colorful adventure "Fire Over Africa", a second rate film about the shipping of stolen goods from North Africa to Europe. The color is strange looking in this, making a good majority of the cast look like they have fake tans and strangely glowing hair. O'Hara is saved this humiliation, looking radiant, although I might have toned down the color tones of the camera work when focused on her.
O'Hara plays a secret agent arriving in Tangier determined to expose the head of a smuggling racket. She's the mysterious agent that Carey is trying to find, but the way he sexually harasses her from start to finish fails to open his eyes to whom she really is. A blowzy Binnie Barnes plays the Sophie Tucker like club hostess (named "Frisco" no less), and has amusing moments, but after a while, thanks to the clichéd script, becomes a bit too much. This is more bland than grand, and it's one of those pretentious racket films where the racket just isn't presented interesting enough to make you devote full attention. Without O'Hara, this would be a huge dud.