Conceived in the 19th century by Ormond G. Smith and realized as a literary character by several writers, detective Nick Carter has had a long life in newspaper serials, novels, movies, radio series and comics. From his first appearance in September 1886, Carter has evolved according to the times, and it would not be a surprise for a revival in this century with new adventures and cases to solve. In 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer launched a trilogy with Walter Pidgeon in the role of Carter, composed of "Nick Carter, Master Detective", and the following year by "Phantom Raiders" and "Sky Murder", all three based on original scripts.
«Phantom Raiders» (known in Latin America as "Nick Carter in Panama") has the peculiar distinction (for Panamanians) of being set in the city of Colón, on the Atlantic coast of Panamá, and belonging to a group of films that use the country as exotic location and little else. As in many productions imagined in Los Angeles, the cities below the Rio Grande are rather rural villages, with music combining Spanish cadences, rancheras and Cuban rhythms. The first establishing shots are places on the other ocean (Pacific), giving way to the Colón of Culver City, a Moroccan-looking set with hotels and a club for cheerful sailors and women called La Cita Café, where much of the plot takes place.
That bizarre mishmash seems a hint of what continues, an agile and funny plot of sabotage (although there are countless dead on the road... or at the bottom of the Caribbean sea) which, fortunately, has nothing to do with Asian or Eastern European spies trying to destroy the Panama Canal. No, this time it is a knife-throwing villain from San Francisco, one Al Taurez (Joseph Schildkraut), who sinks ships from his office in Colón, by exploding bombs ingeniously located on the vessels, in order to collect insurance. But his greed betrays him, because, when the third ship is sunk in the course of a fortnight, the insurance company Llewelyn's of London hires Carter to solve the case.
In addition to the traps that Taurez tends, in which Carter falls and escapes from, with the usual elegance of Pidgeon, the plot is dotted with humor and spark, thanks to the interventions of the "bee man" Bartholomew (Donald Meek), Carter's assistant; and from a Mexican prostitute named Dolores Arango (played by Hungarian Steffi Duna), who entangles everything, including her boyfriend (Nat Pendleton), a jealous former boxing champion who wants to finish Carter off. The direction is aptly handled by Jacques Tourneur, the man behind the classics «Cat People», «I Walked with a Zombie», «Out of the Past» and «Night of the Demon», which guarantees a pleasant 70-minute ride. Enjoy.
