I Cover The War (1937)

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  • I COVER THE WAR


    DIRECTED BY ARTHUR LUBIN
    PRODUCED BY TREM CARR/PAUL MALVERN
    UNIVERSAL PICTURES


    Photo with the courtesy of lasbugas


    INFORMATION FROM IMDb


    Plot Summary
    Bob Adams (John Wayne), ace newsreel cameraman, is told by his boss, "Get the picture---we can't screen alibis." He heads for Samari, a desert hot-bed of tribal unrest in Africa, to do just that, which includes getting footage of El Kadar (Charles Brokaw), bandit and rebel leader. He gets his pictures but only after a romance with the Colonel's daughter Pamela (Gwen Gaze), saving his wimpy, hacked-off brother Don (James Bush) from being a dupe of the gun-runners, and run-ins with spies and throat-cutting tribesman. For a finale, he saves the British Army.


    Full Cast
    John Wayne .... Bob Adams
    Gwen Gaze .... Pamela Armitage
    Don Barclay .... Elmer Davis
    Pat Somerset .... Captain Archie Culvert
    Charles Brokaw .... El Kadar/Muffadi
    James Bush .... Don Adams
    Arthur Aylesworth .... Logan
    Jack Mack .... Graham
    Franklin Parker .... Parker (as Franklyn Parker)
    Sam Harris .... Colonel Armitage (as Major Sam Harris)
    Earle Hodgins .... Blake
    Frank Lackteen .... Mustapha
    Keith Hitchcock .... Sergeant Major (as Keith Kenneth)
    Olaf Hytten .... Sir Herbert
    Abdulla .... Abdul
    Richard Tucker .... Army Officer


    Cinematography
    Stanley Cortez
    Harry Neumann


    Goofs
    Character error
    Early in the film, Bob Adams's boss tells him he is going on assignment to Samarra, "near the Iraq border."
    But when points to the local on a globe, he points somewhere north of the Arctic Circle, thousands of miles from Iraq.


    Filming Location
    Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA


    Watch the Movie


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    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited 13 times, last by ethanedwards ().

  • I Cover the War is a 1937 American drama film
    directed by Arthur Lubin and starring John Wayne.


    This was Duke's 4th. film of a 6 picture Universal deal,
    and it was not a happy time ,the films were mediocre,
    but things were about to change, because, just after
    Duke returned to REPUBLIC,
    for The Three Mesquiteers
    and thereafter Stagecoach


    Athur Lubin, whose films with Abbot and Costello, saved Universal
    from going bankrupt, he was promoted to director of the epic
    Phantom of the Opera, which was a huge success.
    However, he wasn't quite so successful with the films,
    he made with Duke.


    There were 4 films,
    California Straight Ahead
    I Cover the War
    Idol of the Crowds
    Adventure's End


    The action films, were entertaining, but were cheaply made,
    and proved to be disappointing at the box office


    I Cover the War John Wayne 1937-500x500.jpg


    User Review

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited 5 times, last by ethanedwards ().

  • I remember seeing this film on tv looooong ago. There was a scene where Duke and his cameraman were faking Jap planes being shot down. They lit wooden models and filmed them sliding down a wire as they crashed in flames in a big wooden bucket of water, for lack of any other stories to film at the time!

  • Hi

    I bought it from the Film Society a year or so ago. It's not a bad film nor a great one. The villain is a lttle man who looks ludicrous. There is also a man named Abdullah who if I remember walks into a tent looks around and go out never to be seen again.

    This man was reputed to have been adopted by Victor McLaglen when he served in Bagdhad after the Ist World War.


    Regards

    Arthyr

    Walk Tall - Talk Low

  • i bought dvd in july or so off e-bay its not a great film but i love seeing the duke in a movie ive never seen before-has a pet monkey in movie

    Edited once, last by kevin k: misspelling ().

  • Wanda, I found it on eBay so you should be able to--eventually. It takes time, but these old movies do show up. I have a pretty complete collection except for the Three Musketeers films.


    The best search term is "John Wayne rare DVD." The same guy sells most of them and I think he's an OK seller.


    Some of the '30s movies, including "I Cover the War," are not in the best shape, but I don't think that's the seller's fault. Restoration of ancient JW films doesn't seem to be much of a priority. Wish it were.


    I'm happy that we have them at all, considering how many of JW's earliest parts are in films have been lost.


    It's kind of an odd movie. Duke plays a newspaper reporter trying to cover some sort of Mideast war and manage his kid brother at the same time. His acting has more breadth than in the Bs, showing how his craft was maturing.


    It's later than most of the Bs, 1937 I think. This was during a time when the studio was trying Duke out in what might be called B+ or A- movies--not exactly full-length feature films, and not made with that kind of care. But they were longer than the 55-minute Westerns Duke had been making. "Conflict," with JW and Ward Bond as rival boxers, is from the same period.


    Anyway, Duke sets it all right of the end as always. It's hardly a distinguished movie, but it's worth watching as an indication of the studio's experimentation with JW in roles outside the Western hero he was by the late '30s playing with such authority.

  • I agree that "I Cover the War" is a bomb. The Arabs are all stereotyped; I suppose that's what to expect in a 1930s film, but I still don't like it. The worst part is that Duke has this clueless younger brother who is always doing stupid things and getting both of them in trouble. This evidently is supposed to be an entertaining subplot, but it doesn't work any better than the movie as a hole.


    The only thing worth watching is Duke doing his best with rotten material.

  • Of those five universal films , this is probably the weakest one of the bunch. Could have done without the dopey brother and the monkey. Its OK, but that's all I can give it.


  • I have it on DVD. Got it on eBay. Good luck.


    nordy

  • Of those five universal films , this is probably the weakest one of the bunch. Could have done without the dopey brother and the monkey. Its OK, but that's all I can give it.


    9o
    Hi there Deputy,


    I agree with your critique as far as it goes. The always-in-trouble kid brother was supposed to be funny and wasn't. However weak the movie was, it was part of a deal that got Duke out of the Bs, even though the film is no more than an A-. Thus it also demonstrates that Duke could act in other roles besides Western good guy. It also shows better acting than the B movies did. As a film it's a dog--I find the racist treatment of the Arabs especially obnoxious--but it's interesting as a case study in the evolution of Duke's acting.

  • Yeah! I'll give it that Nordy! Atleast it wasn't a quickie western. That's one of the reasons I bought the set. The other four were much more entertaining. Hopefully the lost one ( adventures End ) shows up someday!