Tycoon

John plays an engineer helping to build a bridge over a dangerous South American gorge, and Laraine Day plays the daughter of the wealthy man trying to get the bridge built. This is a tough film to wade your way through; it's over 2 hours long, and not especially exciting. Cedric Hardwicke and Judith Anderson are good, but they can't help this piece much.

A few negative comments here must be countered. This film is a little more drama than action, but it strikes a good balance between the two, pleasing surely both wives and their blue collar husbands who saw it back in 1947. Far from terrible, this story offers up some decent conflict, a couple funny moments (get outta the way, pigeons!), romance, suspense, two fisted action, explosions, and the exotic setting of the Peruvian Andes.

Not one of John Wayne's very best films, but solid and entertaining fare, a cut above many of his more regarded 40's outings such as The Spoilers and Angel and the Badman. Good performances and a bit of everything for everybody. Duke doesn't disappoint here. Deserves a higher rating.

Tycoon (1947)

An appealing role for John Wayne, rugged but not quite a western archetype. This RKO Technicolor big budget film is unusual for that studio (it was their biggest movie to date), and they snagged Wayne along with Anthony Quinn. Somehow, as good as it is in many ways, it lost a million dollars (a whole lot for the time). It's good, however, and watchable, if still a bit contrived within its wild Andes excess.

Though set in the mining roughneck edge of the mountains, this is a romance. Wayne, a savvy worker and engineer, falls in love with the mine owner's daughter. That never goes well, and it yet it goes very well at times. The love affair is sweet and innocent, due both to Wayne's scruples and to the leading woman's equally good intentions. This is Laraine Day, a good Nixon Republican who was faithfully Mormon her whole life. She's charming and truly attractive in the movie star mould of the day, and was an MGM star of some importance during these years. I think Wayne and her have an odd, believable consonance, and since they make so much of the movie, they hold it all together well.

The larger plot is about a conflict in how to manage building he railroad. This sets up the structure for the different social strata of the leading characters (Wayne and the mine owner), but it distracts somewhat from the other, deeper plot. The scenery vibrates, the music pulses, the romance is intense.

Whatever the general predictability of the plot, the story is well enough done, and warm enough (it's not a gritty tale, whatever the dirty environs), it makes you want to watch. There might be a social message in here somewhere about individualism and hard work, about true love in the face adversity, about the ruthless power of money, about the folly of building things without getting permission first (actually), and so on. But it's not convincing enough on any level to quite take it so seriously.

Why did the movie fail so miserably? For one it's a kind of grandiose movie that audiences were probably a little familiar with. For another, this was the total height of the film noir boom, which is essentially the opposite kind of film. And for another, the female star was not a particular draw, and Wayne was so completely known by this point as a cowboy, the casting might have doomed it from the start.

In the end, after fighting the elements of the hot mountain desert, the mine owner sells it all and goes, with his woman, to what he calls paradise. Where? Vermont.

Despite the fact that the technicolor location photography is great, John Wayne and Laraine Day have to deal with a script that is way too long (2 hrs. 8 min.) for the kind of romantic adventure seen here. One of the chief compensations for the overlong film, is seeing Laraine Day look lovelier than ever in technicolor. But other than that, the script is too long-winded and lacks enough action or drama to sustain itself over the long running time.

Let me quote from my "LARAINE DAY: All-American Girl" article that appears in the Spring 2001 issue of FILMS OF THE GOLDEN AGE:

"'Tycoon' is a spectacular action-romance co-starring her with John Wayne in which he carried most of the film. Once again, she was easy on the eyes in technicolor as a woman in love with a railroad constructor (Wayne) in conflict with his employer over construction of tracks through the Andes mountains. She handled the role capably enough but it was one that any young actress could have played and offered no new challenges."

The nice supporting cast included Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Judith Anderson, James Gleason and Anthony Quinn. It passes the time, but don't expect anything much.

MGM never had any idea what to do with its contract star, Laraine Day, other than cast her as Lew Ayres' girlfriend in the "Dr. Kildare" series. Other than that, they loaned her out. I'm not sure if she was still with MGM when "Tycoon" was filmed - I have absolutely no clue why anyone would think of her as a South American, but there she was, with black hair and her skin darkened.

I digress. "Tycoon" stars John Wayne, Day, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Anthony Quinn, and Judith Anderson in a technicolor film about the travails of a) falling in love with the boss' daughter; and b) then having the boss make sure you don't have the materials to build your railroad, tunnel, or whatever else you're building. Seems a bit self-defeating and spiteful.

Filmed in technicolor, some of the shots are gorgeous, and some are hilarious - for instance, the South American town, which is a painted backdrop.

I actually like John Wayne when he's not in a western, and here, he's handsome and tough and brings some life to the proceedings. I've always been a fan of Laraine Day, and she's lovely - but a chimpanzee could have played her part. I understand Day's husband, Leo Durocher, was on the set most of the time and was jealous of John Wayne. Judith Anderson as her duena is very good and Hardwicke is dignified. Anthony Quinn, as he often was back then, was shown to great advantage in a supporting role.

It might have been a better film if it had been shorter - there's just too much down time in "Tycoon." The script is a bore. The explosions are good.