Tropic Zone (film)
| Tropic Zone | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Lewis R. Foster |
| Produced by |
William H. Pine William C. Thomas |
| Screenplay by | Lewis R. Foster |
| Starring |
Ronald Reagan Rhonda Fleming Estelita Rodriguez Noah Beery, Jr. Grant Withers John Wengraf |
| Music by | Lucien Cailliet |
| Cinematography | Lionel Lindon |
| Edited by | Howard A. Smith |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 94 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Tropic Zone is a 1953 American crime film written and directed by Lewis R. Foster. The film stars Ronald Reagan, Rhonda Fleming, Estelita Rodriguez, Noah Beery, Jr., Grant Withers and John Wengraf. The film was released on January 14, 1953, by Paramount Pictures.[1][2][3]
Plot
Reagan's character, Dan McCloud, is an American (described as a "soldier of fortune" in the publicity for the picture's release[4]) 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.[5]
Reagan later dismissed this film as a "sand and banana" picture with a "hopeless" script.[6][7]
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
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.[8] 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".[9]
See also
References
- ↑ "Tropic Zone (1953) - Overview". TCM.com. Retrieved 2015-03-24.
- ↑ "Tropic-Zone - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes". NYTimes.com. Retrieved 2015-03-24.
- ↑ "Tropic Zone". Afi.com. Retrieved 2015-03-25.
- ↑ "Orpheum Slates Banana Bonanza", The Spokesman-Review, March 11, 1953.
- ↑ Michael Thomas Carroll, Popular Modernity in America: Experience, Technology, Mythohistory (SUNY Press, 2000), ISBN 978-0791447147, pp. 199-200. Excerpts available at Google Books.
- ↑ "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), ISBN 978-0307405135, p. 261. Excerpts available at Google Books.
- ↑ "Gigantic Set Built For Pine-Thomas Film", The Spokesman-Review, April 20, 1952.
- ↑ Jay Jorgensen, Edith Head: The Fifty-Year Career of Hollywood's Greatest Costume Designer (Running Press, 2010), ISBN 978-0762441730, p. 186. Excerpts available at Google Books.