A Message to Garcia

.. from 20th Century Fox and director George Marshall. Lt. Andrew Rowan (John Boles) is on a secret mission from President McKinley to deliver a message to Cuban revolutionary General Garcia. Rowan enlists the help of local scoundrel Dory (Wallace Beery) and vengeful plantation owner's daughter Raphaelita (Barbara Stanwyck) to find the reclusive revolutionaries, all the while being hunted by the Spanish government forces led by German Dr. Krug (Alan Hale).

This is a highly-fictionalized account of a real incident during the Spanish-American War. Boles is passable as the heroic lead, and he gets some good scenes near the end when he's being tortured. Stanwyck isn't exactly the first name I'd think of when casting a Cuban girl, and she really doesn't do anything to make that more believable other than use a few Spanish phrases and maybe darkening her hair a little. Beery plays the same boozy, disheveled slob with a heart of gold that he played so often. I'd heard this was awful, so maybe that tempered my expectations enough that I didn't mind it so much. Hale is effective as the villain.

I guess I've seen so many films that take place in foreign countries that bad casting no longer bothers me. Once you've seen Katharine Hepburn in Dragon Seed, there are no more shocks left.

Here we have Barbara Stanwyck of all people playing a Cuban in "A Message to Garcia" from 1936. I saw an awful print of this. However, it wasn't awful enough not to see how beautiful Stanwyck looked with darker hair and darker eye makeup. She was very sexy, and I think she had good chemistry with John Boles.

The story concerns President McKinley send. Ing a messenger, Lt. Rowan (Boles) to Cuba during the Spanish-American war with, you guessed it, a secret message to General Garcia, who leads a rebellion against Spanish rule in Cuba.

Rowan poses as a Canadian. Once in Cuba, he meets a con artist, Dory (Wallace Beery), who is a deserter from the Marines. For money, Dory says he will take Rowan to a patriot who can lead him to Garcia. But by the time they reach him, he has been killed.

The patriot's daughter Raphaelita (Stanwyck) joins them in their quest to meet Garcia. Many problems ensue, including Raphaelita being shot. Finally, Rowan is taken to Garcia. Or is he.

Reading other reviews, I guess this thing was panned. I actually kind of liked it. Wallace Beery steals the film as the hard-drinking Dory, whom Raphaelita doesn't trust initially. Alan Hale plays Dr. Krug, who is set on diverting the message.

I wish the print had been better, but I was interested in what was going on during the film.

A Message to Garcia has two sterling stars in its cast; Wallace Beery and Barbara Stanwyck. It also features John Boles as a romantic lead for Stanwyck. The film vaguely interesting, but only for the two lead stars. The storyline is not strong enough to gain any momentum. Stanwyck as a Cuban is not the best of casting. (Wouldn't Delores Del Rio have been a much better choice?). Interesting from a historical perspective.

Elbert Hubbard's famous essay on how Lieutenant Rowan of the United States Army delivered a message to Cuban rebel general Garcia from President McKinley was embellished to an action adventure story with some horrible casting. I'm betting the real story of Rowan's journey through Cuba was far more interesting.

The horrible miscasting of Barbara Stanwyck as a Cuban senorita is the main problem. She who adopted a nice brogue for The Plough And The Stars and Union Pacific probably would have made it worse had she talked with an accent in A Message To Garcia. I'd like to think that Darryl F. Zanuck in one of the first features of the newly formed 20th Century Fox Studio would have tried for Dolores Del Rio.

I'm sure Zanuck laid out some big bucks to Louis B. Mayer for the services of Wallace Beery. I agree with another reviewer that someone who had spent 10 years in Cuba living hand to mouth as Beery's character had, would have picked up some working knowledge of Spanish. But Beery was good box office back then and Zanuck was no fool that way. What there is of the picture he steals from John Boles playing the real life Lieutenant Rowan and Stanwyck playing a fictional senorita with whom he has a romance.

A Message To Garcia is a nice, but feeble attempt to tell the story of a most intriguing espionage tale.

This was an interesting recounting of the real-life events around Lieutenant Andrew Rowan carrying a message from American President McKinley to General Garcia in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. He did so under grave peril and withstood many hardships while alluding Dr. Ivan Krug who's mission it is to stop him. Along the way he enlists the help of a native Cuban Raphaelita (played by the gorgeous Barbara Stanwyck, who my one complaint...didn't even attempt a plausible Cuban accent-I love her though, it is more of an observation) and an AWOL marine who is a bit of a con artist living by his wits in Cuba.

This was a wonderful docu-drama, although I am not sure how accurate as they cross a river crawling with alligators by bopping them on the head with a stick. Either way it was a fun film to watch and Barbara Stanwyck is gorgeous and at her lovely prime in this film...so I say give it a view.