ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

SincereFinest disgusting, overrated, pointless

Tacticalin An absolute waste of money

GarnettTeenage The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

clanciai I didn't know this Bogart film existed. He called it himself "a stinker", and it's certainly one of his very darkest dramas, if not the very darkest. He plays an unusually unsympathetic character, an American business man selling weapons to rebels against the French, especially grenades, which the rebels use to (not yet suicide) bombings of innocents, especially joyful tavern guests. He is totally immoral while equally totally unpolitical, he is only there to serve himself and no one else, but his acting was almost never better.His counterpart is Lee J. Cobb, who plays an unusually honest character, we are more used to seeing him as an overbearing villain, he is here a very straight French officer in the intelligence, who immediately sees Bogart for what he is and can but despise him, wishing to have as little to do with him as possible, which intention unfortunately is thwarted by the case of his wife, the beautiful Märta Torén, whom Hollywood planned to make a second Ingrid Bergman after Ingrid's fall from Hollywood, (unfortunately Märta Torén died very young at 30 from brain hemorrhage) who is bored by Cobb's uncompromising correctness and wants to run away with Bogart.The main theme of the film however is the war, the terrible civil war, which is such a cruel reality in Syria even today - this makes this film sensationally actual - we have the same problems in Syria today, bombs and grenades constantly exploding and killing innocents. There is hardly one scene in the film without the war noise of bombs exploding, and such is reality in Syria even today.The script is a marvel of complicated intelligent and interesting intrigue and quite logical all the way in all its surprising turnings. This is the main asset of the film, which is a bleak and dark nightmare journey into constantly more hopeless caverns of no escape except into deeper chaos and death. At the same time, it's a very moral film and story, honesty and good will ultimately coming through by its sheer foolish obstinacy. A film of 1951 about 1925 miraculously proves totally modern in its presentation of political problems in an Arab state, and it has been shamefully underrated and ignored. On top of that, in spite of his unattractive character, it's one of Bogart's best films and performances.

manuel-pestalozzi This is a most unusual movie for its time, and it is fascinating to read the comments on it here on the IMDb. Many viewers are apparently undecided what to make of Sirocco as it does not fit any of the known stereotypes. This is neither Algiers (1938) nor Casablanca (1942), there is no romance, you don't find anything exotic about the place in question (Damascus, Syria) and no great friendships are about to develop. It is basically a movie about people who are confronted with a drab and hopeless situation (messagewise I would compare it with The Sand Pebbles (1966)). It painfully reminds todays viewers of the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq (well, the Jasmine salesman bolts off before his handgranades go off in the cafe, the suicide bomber had not been invented yet). Western powers (they have a mandate from the League of Nations) are pitted against so called "patriots" (they have no mandate at all) in a bloody battle without a discernible cause. The Bogart character is an opportunist arms dealer and a coward to boot. At one time he really hits rock bottom in the Catacombs underneath the city as he tries to hide in his tattered Bogey-raincoat - one of the many great visual moments in this beautifully photographed nightmare of a movie with its superb set design.The main message of Sirocco is a depressing one: If things turn bad, the efforts of single individuals are of negligible effect. We have a disillusioned French officer (Lee J. Cobb who I have never seen better). He wants to prevent a planned execution of civilians as a retaliatory act after an ambush, not out of idealistic motives or with any hope but just because he is sick of all the killing. Like all the other characters he gets bogged down by the circumstances and in the end departs on a meeting with the "patriots" with the Bogart character's help. Everyone agrees that this action is meant to be a suicide. The officer even gets out of his uniform which heretofore had the function of a corset.Great sets and scenes abound here. Damascus is a place of eternal night - and we never get out of the place into the open. The Roman Catacombs seem to be inspired by Giovanni Piranesi's "carceri" drawings. There is a great scene in which the Bogart character buys a belly dancer's finger cymbals. Another scene begins with the focus on a visibly tender and juicy steak which the Bogart character starts cutting into. "He brings his own food", the waiter explains to other patrons who would like the same. What a better way to depict a war profiteer?As the lines above suggest, the storyline of Sirocco is pretty sprawling and the film is more of a situation than a story. That makes it only more realistic and instructive. Our time is right for anti-war movies of this kind. In can recommend it.

screenman Released in 1951, we have a very formulaic Bogart movie that was shamelessly ripped-off from his 1940's classic 'Casablanca'.Here we have Bogey once again involved in questionable shennanigans somewhere down amongst the Arabs. This time it's Damascus. Again, he's an American on the edge who has been hardened by past adversity. He has no national allegiance, no political ties, no loyalties but himself and no beliefs but money. The French are also, once again, the erstwhile authorities, but this time they're in conflict with the indigenous population rather than the Bosch.There's a femme fatale and a fractured love triangle as in 'Casablanca'. There's a comradeship of convenience between Bogey and a senior authority figure, just like 'Casablanca'.It's a very noirishly lit and filmed piece which seemed to suit the character Bogey so often played. Yet something is missing.This movie could almost be a sequel to Casablanca. For those who wondered what became of his character after the tearful separation from Ingrid Bergman; here it is. With the assistance of the police chief, he fled to Damascus, and a decade later was making his way running guns to the rebels.The ending, however, is a little more down-beat.It's well worth a watch - what movie with Bogart isn't? He always gave a fascinating screen persona that made up for a lot of other inferior elements. But one star doesn't make a classic, and this piece will never match his best.

bsmith5552 "Sirocco" takes place in 1925 Damascus where French troops are occupying the city and fighting against rebel insurgents. (Hmmmm...that sounds familiar).Harry Smith (Humphrey Bogart) and his pal Nasir Aboud (Nick Dennis) are running guns to rebel leader Emir Hassan (Onslow Stevens). French General LaSalle (Everett Sloane) wants "an eye for an eye" after another of his patrols is ambushed. His Head of Intelligence Colonel Feroud (Lee J. Cobb) wants to negotiate with Hassan. He gets the General to agree to send in an emissary, Lt. Collet (Harry Guardino) to meet with the rebels and start peace negotiations.When Collet is found murdered, Feroud rounds up the usual arms dealer suspects including Smith and forces them to sell their wares to the French. Harry agrees but as a measure of revenge, sets his sights on Violette (Marta Toren) who is Feroud's lady friend. Harry meets with Hassan's man to collect his last payment but is told not to return as his "services" are no longer required.Harry attempts to leave Damascus with Violette but their bus is stopped. Harry escapes and Violette is captured. However, Feroud releases her and gives her a pass out of the city. When an informer Balukjian (Zero Mostel) obtains proof the Harry is supplying arms to the enemy, Harry becomes a wanted man.Despondent over the loss of Violette, Feroud offers Harry a pass out of Damascus if he will arrange a meeting between himself and Hassan without LaSalle's knowledge. Feroud realizes that this will certainly result in his death. LaSalle learns of the scheme and implores Harry to arrange for Feroud's release for $10,000. Harry has plans to leave the city with Violette but reluctantly agrees to undertake the mission.Together with Major Leon (Gerald Mohr) Harry approaches Hassan's headquarters and.............................................This "film noire" was produced by Bogart's production company Santana and reminds one somewhat of "Casablanca" (1942). Bogey is somewhat of rogue in this one with few redeeming qualities. Toren makes a good "femme fatale" ultimately destroying the two men that love her. The picture has a dark tone, playing for the most part, as it does, at night in the rain swept streets and damp underground catacombs of 1925 Damascus.Sloane and Mostel has appeared with Bogey in "The Enforcer" the same year. Cobb would appear with Bogey in "The Left Hand of God" (1955).Entertaining film, better than some would have you believe.