JUEGO SUCIO EN CASABLANCA (Dirty Game in Casablanca) 1984

A surprisingly well-resourced Manacoa Films production, this remake of Tulio Demichelli's JUEGO SUCIO EN PANAMA (Ace of Hearts) has an important change of setting (to the Casablanca of Hollywood mythology) as well as an admirably sustained downbeat mood. This 1984 Jess Franco neo-noir was written by Santiago Moncada, a prolific Spanish writer, a novelist, playwright and screenwriter of such Jess Franco films as LA ESCLAVA BLANCA (1985), LAS ÚLTIMAS DE FILIPINAS (1984) and the excellent JUEGO SUCIO EN CASABLANCA, all in dire need of a HD restoration in an English friendly versions. It is a 1980s neo-noir set in the legendary city, featuring an outstanding performance by the late William Berger as an alcoholic writer trapped in plot hatched by corrupt colleagues. It's also a downward spiralling love story embedded in a thriller which also culminates in a twisted story of unrequited love.

The main action takes place in a crooked nightclub not unlike Rick's Cafe Americaine in the Michael Curtiz CASABLANCA (1942). Franco had also satirized the classic war romance by playing a piano player named Sam in his 1983 neo-noir LOS BLUES DE LA CALLE POP (AVENTURAS DE FELIPE MALBORO, VOLUMEN 8) who keeps the PI protagonist (Antonio Mayans) informed through musical cues. That film also features a poster of Bogart in CASABLANCA on the wall of the bar. Dean Baker (William Berger) an expatriat American writer, who has become a pathetic alcoholic, haunting Casablanca's gambling dens, manages to win a small fortune at a card game which he consigns to payment to one of the card players to fulfill his death wish by killing him by a certain date. Continuing the CASABLANCA parallels the owner of the gambling club is played by the gargantuan character actor Ricardo Palacios (ATTACK OF THE ROBOTS) recalling the mammoth Sydney Greenstreet in the 1942 version. A further layer of classic noir is added by the startling image of Baker's body floating in a swimming pool which directly references Wilder's SUNSET BOULEVARD.

Franco handles the action as somber flashbacks followed by a structural twist which intoduces a bittersweet third act featuring a collective unhappy ending for the main characters. The atmospheric score by Julian Sacristan sends vocal and guitar rhythms wafting through the tropical nights during which most of the film unfolds. A rare break from the familiar Daniel White cues Franco was still using during this period. Analia Ivars and Muriel Montessey (as Silvia Motez) are both impressive as the two women who struggle for Baker's attention as he tries to solve the mystery.

It's also suprising how convicing the various interior sets and locations are considering Franco's previous dependance on hotel rooms and tourist style shots for interiors and exteriors (here including locations on the Costa Del Sol and in Spanish Melilla on coastal Morroco) in the majority of his 1970s and 80s films. A Blu-ray was promised by Dorado Films but has yet to materialize, a restored HD English friendly release is long overdue .

(C) Robert Monell, 2024