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Tropic Zone (film)
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Wikipedia article
'Tropic Zone' is a 1953 American crime film written and directed by Lewis R. Foster and starring Ronald Reagan, Rhonda Fleming, Estelita Rodriguez, Noah Beery Jr., Grant Withers and John Wengraf. It was released on January 14, 1953, by Paramount Pictures.TROPIC ZONE
Monthly Film Bulletin; London Vol. 20, Iss. 228, (Jan 1, 1953): 111.
Plot
Reagan's character, Dan McCloud, is an American (described as a "soldier of fortune" in the publicity for the picture's release[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19530311&id=TTBWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FeYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6984,4879295&hl=en "Orpheum Slates Banana Bonanza"], 'The Spokesman-Review', March 11, 1953.) who becomes the foreman of a Central American banana plantation. Learning that his employer, Lukats, is corrupt and trying to corner the market, McCloud joins with one of the smaller growers (played by Rhonda Fleming) to organize the workers and stop Lukats' scheme.Michael Thomas Carroll, 'Popular Modernity in America: Experience, Technology, Mythohistory' (SUNY Press, 2000), , pp. 199-200. [https://books.google.com/books?id=emo5v31oPBAC&lpg=PA199&dq=%22tropic%20zone%22%20ronald%20reagan&pg=PA199#v=onepage&q=%22tropic%20zone%22%20&f=false Excerpts available] at Google Books.
Cast
*Ronald Reagan as Dan McCloud
*Rhonda Fleming as Flanders White
*Estelita Rodriguez as Elena Estebar
*Noah Beery Jr. as Tapachula Sam
*Grant Withers as Bert Nelson
*John Wengraf as Lukats
*Argentina Brunetti as Tia Feliciana
*Maurice Jara as Macario
Production
The film was based on a 1939 novel by Tom Gill called 'Gentlemen of the Jungle' about a banana plantation in British Honduras.PARAMOUNT SIGNS DONALD O'CONNOR New York Times 24 Jan 1952: 23. In May 1951 the producers at Pine-Thomas Productions read a copy of the novel en route to the premiere of their film 'The Last Outpost' in Tucson. They bought the film rights intending to make it a vehicle for Rhoda Fleming, as the last of a four-picture deal she had with Pine-Thomas. (Earlier films included 'Last Outpost', 'Crosswinds' and 'Hong Kong'.)Drama: Rhonda Fleming Due to Boss Plantation Los Angeles Times 15 May 1951: 27. Ronald Reagan eventually signed to co star.
Estelita Rodriguez was borrowed from Republic.
Paramount built a large set for the film, reportedly the studio's biggest new set in ten years. Designed by art director A. Earl Hedrick together with studio supervisor Hal Pereira, and covering four stages, the set depicted "a complete Caribbean native village", with "16 buildings, irrigation ditches, five hilltops, a schoolhouse, two roads, two streams, a complicated powerhouse" and more.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=eTBWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7uUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4276%2C4379522 "Gigantic Set Built For Pine-Thomas Film"], 'The Spokesman-Review', April 20, 1952. Edith Head, who had already won the first four of her eight Academy Awards, handled the costumes for the film, highlighted by Fleming's fourteen different outfits, all of them in "jungle tones".Jay Jorgensen, 'Edith Head: The Fifty-Year Career of Hollywood's Greatest Costume Designer' (Running Press, 2010), , p. 186. [https://books.google.com/books?id=gyjob_gq3yoC&lpg=PA186&dq=%22tropic%20zone%22%20rhonda%20fleming&pg=PA186#v=onepage&q=%22tropic%20zone%22%20rhonda%20fleming&f=false Excerpts available] at Google Books.
Reception
Reagan later dismissed the film as a "sand and banana" picture with a "hopeless" script.[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20077401,00.html "Here's the Rest of Him: The Complete Movie Career of Candidate Ronald Reagan"], 'People', September 15, 1980.Marc Eliot, 'Reagan: The Hollywood Years' (Three Rivers Press, 2009), , p. 261. [https://books.google.com/books?id=qdZQmvXD2b4C&lpg=PA261&pg=PA261#v=onepage&q=%22tropic%20zone%22&f=false Excerpts available] at Google Books.
See also
* Ronald Reagan filmography
References
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