American Guerrilla in the Philippines

After his ship is sunk in 1942, an American officer finds himself stranded in the Philippines, where he joins the local resistance against the Japanese occupiers… This is one of Lang’s least-known works—partly because it is the only film the master himself was ashamed of. While he certainly makes the most of the exotic landscapes (filmed on location) and the possibilities offered by color film in this vehicle for star Tyrone Power, the rest is little more than a routine assignment carried out under studio-imposed conditions: "Even a film director has to eat!" Among its notable defenders are Lotte Eisner and Helmut Färber, who see parallels between the Filipinos’ struggle for freedom and Lang’s own anti-Nazi films. In any case, this is a rare opportunity to see the film on the big screen. (Florian Widegger)