Theme
China Venture is almost unique among Seigel's films, in that it lacks the key character elements that normally preoccupy the director. [3] The protagonists do not struggle with heroic vs. anti-heroic tendencies, nor does a femme fatale emerge to manipulate male characters. Pessimism, manifested in a damaged hero, is largely absent. [4] Biographer Judith M. Kass writes:
China Venture is atypical of Seigel's films in several respects. Although there is an insane criminal type (Leon Askin) he has no opposite among the American servicemen. O’Brien's and Sullivan's determination to do their job is not presented as an outgrowth of any abnormal personality trait…The company is not doomed, simply threatened by the progression of events. Nor are the heroes—who are real, not anti-heroes—psychologically damaged. War may be a sphere which this group customarily inhabits, but in more traditional Seigel films, the war is a deranged microcosm of a larger world. [5]
Kass adds that “the only woman present (Jocelyn Brando) is responsible for saving the admiral's life and is neither seductive nor fatal, rather the opposite, while retaining her femininity.” [6]
The action film is a film genre which predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as David Bordwell suggested they were films that favor spectacle to storytelling, others such as Goeff King stated they allow the scenes of spectacle to be attuned to story telling. Action films are often hybrid with other genres, mixing into various forms ranging to comedies, science fiction films, and horror films.
Hogan's Heroes is an American television sitcom set in a prisoner-of-war (POW) camp in Nazi Germany during World War II, which concerns a group of Allied prisoners who use the POW camp as an operations base for sabotage and espionage purposes directed against Nazi Germany. It ran for 168 episodes from September 17, 1965, to April 4, 1971, on the CBS network, the longest broadcast run for an American television series inspired by that war.
Leon Askin was an Austrian Jewish actor best known in North America for portraying the character General Burkhalter on the TV situation comedy Hogan's Heroes.
Heroic bloodshed is a genre invented by Hong Kong action cinema revolving around stylized action sequences and dramatic themes, such as brotherhood, duty, honour, redemption, and violence that has become a popular genre used by different directors worldwide. The term heroic bloodshed was coined by editor Rick Baker in the magazine Eastern Heroes in the late 1980s, specifically referring to the styles of directors John Woo and Ringo Lam. Baker defined the genre as "a Hong Kong action film that features a lot of gun play and gangsters rather than kung fu. Lots of blood. Lots of action." Heroic bloodshed films often feature gun fu action sequences.
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Baby Face Nelson is a 1957 American film noir crime film based on the real-life 1930s gangster, directed by Don Siegel, co-written by Daniel Mainwaring—who also wrote the screenplay for Siegel's 1956 sci-fi thriller Invasion of the Body Snatchers—and starring Mickey Rooney, Carolyn Jones, Cedric Hardwicke, Leo Gordon as Dillinger, Anthony Caruso, Jack Elam, John Hoyt and Elisha Cook Jr.
Night unto Night is a 1949 American drama film directed by Don Siegel and written by Kathryn Scola. It is based on the 1944 novel by Philip Wylie. The film stars Ronald Reagan, Viveca Lindfors, Broderick Crawford, Rosemary DeCamp, Osa Massen and Art Baker. The film was released by Warner Bros. on June 10, 1949.
The Duel at Silver Creek is a 1952 American Western film directed by Don Siegel; his first film in the Western genre. It starred Stephen McNally, Audie Murphy and Faith Domergue. It was the first time Murphy had appeared in a film where he played a character who was good throughout the movie. The working titles of the film were Claim Jumpers and Hair Trigger Kid.
No Time for Flowers is a 1952 American romantic comedy film directed by Don Siegel and starring Viveca Lindfors and Paul Christian and Ludwig Stössel.
Count the Hours! is a 1953 crime film noir directed by Don Siegel, featuring Macdonald Carey, Teresa Wright, John Craven, and Jack Elam.
Stranger on the Run is a 1967 American made-for-television Western film directed by Don Siegel and starring Henry Fonda, Anne Baxter and Michael Parks. In some countries it premiered in cinemas.
