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Chuck (Robert Preston) and Bill (Preston Foster) run a teak lumber camp
deep in the Burmese jungle on behalf of blind old Arnold Renner (Albert
Basserman), mainly because they feel deeply indebted to him and even
though it causes them nothing but trouble, making only a share of the
profits it's supposed to - something they keep from Renner to not hurt his
feeling. Then Chuck, the womanizer of the two, brings Arla (Dorothy
Lamour), the first woman he has ever fallen genuinely in love with, to the
camp - while she tagged along mainly because she was on the run ... which
he knew but reckoned she'd fall in love with him as well eventually - and
why not, he's handsome and likeable enough ... Bill is the more
responsible of the two, but also the rougher one, and at first, he gives
Arla a less than pleasant treatment, and she soon starts to detest him ...
until she learns about his noble motives, and wouldn't you know it, she
falls in love with him on the spot - and he with her, too ... much to the
dislike of Chuck, who (as mentioned) loves Arla. He tells Bill to back
off, and Bill does - until his sort-of fiancée Cynthia (Doris Nolan)
shows up, notices she has lost Bill right away, and sets things straight -
for almost everybody but Chuck. Then though disaster strikes when a
saboteur (Addison Richards) - incidently an employee of Cynthia's evil
banker dad (Frederick Worlock) - blows up a dam to release all of Renner's
logs down the river prematurely, and it's up to Chuck and Bill to save the
day. They both risk their lives for this, and both save each other's lives
repeatedly, but only when Chuck has saved Bill's life yet one more time,
he realizes his friendship to Bill is more important than fighting over a
woman, and he gives up Arla for Bill ... There's pretty much
nothing original about this film, the story has been told a hundred times
before (and probably better, too), the directorial effort is mostly
functional (without being bad, though), and the exotic locations - well,
look a bit too much like the studio backlot. However, Moon Over Burma
is a nice movie nevertheless, it's cast of characters is strong and
brought to life by a solid cast, Dorothy Lamour brings just about the
right hint of irony to the otherwise very serious proceedings, and the
whole thing moves along at a very swift pace. The movie's not a
masterpiece, that's for sure, rather a routine product - but if you enjoy
good old, vintage, classic Hollywood just as much as I do, you'll almost
certainly enjoy this one!
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