Intrigue

Post war Kuomintang China was not a great place as Intrigue shows us. The black market was operating in full force. What is not shown and what Hollywood in 1947 would not show is how slowly but surely Mao Tse-Tung's Chinese Communists were gaining the upper hand. What is not shown is that villainess June Havoc surely could not have operated the way she did without the connivance of Chiang Kai-Shek's government.

Intrigue casts George Raft in this independent film released through United Artists as a cashiered pilot who falls in with June Havoc and her black market enterprise. Appealing to the better angels of his nature is Helena Carter who is the sister of a dead pilot friend of Raft's also cashiered. Carter works for a relief organization so she sees the very human side of suffering, especially from the youngest victims.

What Havoc is dealing with is food and medicine. She's the main reason for watching Intrigue. I saw this film decades ago and it's her portrayal that sticks in your mind.

Raft is his usual tight lipped self. Intrigue for some reason has become lost over the years. If it ever gets broadcast it's worth a look especially for June Havoc.