Those Who Came Back

A passenger plane bound from Mexico City to Buenos Aires goes down in a storm over the Andes. There are nine survivors. They still have a radio, but can't transmit, and soon learn that they are being searched for in the wrong place. They work hard to get the plane working again, between the desire to get back to civilization and the threat of head-hunting Jivaro Indians. But the plane is missing a motor. Only five can go back.

It's a remake of RKO's 1939 movie FIVE CAME BACK. Made as a B movie, and a cheap one at that, it was a surprise hit for the struggling studio. Fast forward nine years, and RKO, fattened by wartime profits, now has a subsidiary making Spanish-language films in Mexico. What better film to make that this one, which was an inexpensive one anyway?

One of the pleasures in watching it is that I am unfamiliar with any of the actors. It's a joy to watch a favorite performer do his or her stuff, but it affects my judgment. Here, I was favorably pleased by Antonio Palacios as the learned author, in the role taken in the original by C. Aubrey Smith. Palacios brings a sad, unassuming humor to the role, making me wonder how Felix Bressart would have handled it. The others are at least competent, the lighting of the set by cinematographer Alex Phillips is excellent, and workhorse director Alejandro Galindo handles the big scenes very well. While it treads established paths in its run time, it's a very good remake of a minor classic.

This plodding remake of the 1939 hit, "Five Came Back," was RKO's effort to cash in with a Spanish speaking market. But the remake, with a screenplay by Salvador Novo and directed by Alejandro Galindo, focused on creating a utopian society featuring male authority and female subservience. The much superior original, written by no less than Dalton Trumbo and Nathaneal West, develops the irony of an anarchist who must impose social order for the sake of a future, in which he has no part. The conversations between the Professor C. Aubrey Smith and the rebel Joseph Calleia were intriguing and suspenseful. Superb director John Farrow got excellent performances from a great 1939 cast and was brought back for the 1956 remake, "Back From Eternity."