Van Johnson stars with Martine Carol and Herbert Lom in "Action of the Tiger" from 1957. Sean Connery has a small role.

Johnson plays Carson, an American contraband runner in Greece who is approached by a beautiful woman, Tracy (Carol) who wants to pay him to take her to Communist Albania. She will only say she has to see someone there. He is categorically not interested. His conscience won't let him - even if she arrives there, she won't get out alive.

Later, Carson and his buddy Mike have to flee the police when they become involved in a drunken brawl. They board Carson's boat - and there is Tracy. They finally agree on a $10,000 price to leave her ashore in Albania. He has to return with cargo - perishable, he says, so he can't be there for long.

In Albania, Carson arranges to meet his contact there, Kol (Jose Nieto). Tracy admits she wants to see her brother, and if he will agree to take him back to Greece with them, she will pay him extra. Her brother is a French diplomat, and the Communists won't want him to leave. Again, Carson says no way - just see him and get out. Later, Kol agrees to take her to see him, due to her brother's condition.

It turns out the perishable cargo is children whose parents are paying to get them out of the country. Before Carson knows it, he's stuck with Tracy, her blind brother, his girlfriend, and a bunch of kids. They then make their way back to the border, and it's treacherous.

I see this film has been roundly criticized as an average adventure film - I actually don't see many of these, and I found this one absorbing and the ending quite sweet. Van Johnson was a great asset for MGM - he was charming and goodlooking for lighter fare, but could do serious drama as well. Here he's actually sexy at times.

Carol said later the part would have been played better by Sean Connery, who was as yet not a name. I'm sure Connery would have been fantastic. Johnson did well nonetheless.

The color and scenery are beautiful.

A woman (Martine Carol) hires an American smuggler (Van Johnson) to try and rescue her brother (Gustavo Rojo) from a political prison in Albania. They end up escorting a group of refugee kids, as well, as they struggle to make it across the border into Greece.

I liked Carol, an actress I wasnt familiar with, and Herbert Lom has fun as the lusty leader of a group bandits on horseback. Johnson tries, and while he isn't awful, I would have preferred someone else in his role. Connery plays Johnson's second mate aboard his small boat, and the future James Bond gets to drunkenly paw at Ms. Carol. Speaking of Bond, 5 years later Connery would shoot Anthony Dawson (here playing an Albanian military officer) in the first Bond film Dr. No, which incidentally was also directed by this film's Terence Young.

Director: TERENCE YOUNG. Screenplay: Robert Carson. Based on the 1955 novel by James Wellard. Photographed in Technicolor and CinemaScope by Desmond Dickinson. Film editor: Frank Clarke. Art director: Scott MacGregor. Music: Humphrey Searle. Sound recording: Sash Fisher. Producer: Kenneth Harper.

Copyright 1957 by Loew's Inc. A Claridge Film Production, released through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. New York opening at Loew's neighborhood cinemas as the lower half of a double bill with "Jailhouse Rock": 19 November 1957. U.S. release: August 1957. U.K. release: 22 September 1957. Australian release: 21 November 1957. Running times: 97 minutes (Australia),93 minutes (U.K.),91 minutes (U.S.A.).

SYNOPSIS: Hero enlists Albanian bandits to help rescue the heroine's dad from a Communist jail.

COMMENT: This is a review of the original 97 minutes version: Very attractive location photography distinguishes this somewhat slackly acted and none too briskly directed adventure yarn. In fact, the movie rates as somewhat disappointing, considering the talents involved. Both the screenplay and the movie itself probably really needed even sharper editing than that given the 91-minute American version. This said, however, the editing needs to be carried out with considerable care. Simply deleting whole scenes – as happened in this case – is generally NOT the way to go! Not only do you risk confusing audiences by deleting important information, but you often end up throwing away some poor actor's whole role. And if the poor actor's name is Sean Connery, for example, you're in real trouble! Mind you, I've not seen the U.S.A. version and I don't know for sure if Sean is still in the movie or not, but it's a risk that – if I was the producer – I'd be most unwilling to take!