Burma Convoy (1941)

Director: Noel M. Smith                                  Writer: Stanley Rubin & Roy Chanslor
Film Score: Hans J. Salter                              Cinematography: John W. Boyle
Starring: Charles Bickford, Evelyn Ankers, Frank Albertson and Cecil Kellaway

This low-budget war film from Universal is one of Evelyn Ankers’ first American films, produced right before she began work on The Wolf Man. Though Berma Convoy is certainly a B picture, it still manages to be fairly entertaining. The story concerns the Burma Road on which the British supplied the Chinese from their colony in Burma at the beginning of World War Two. But little of the story takes place along the route. The film is essentially a mystery/spy story where Bickford and Ankers attempt to discover who is planning to attack the convoy, though at that time in 1941 the film couldn’t directly state that it was the Japanese who were causing all of the problems.

Charles Bickford plays the lead truck driver along the Burma Road. He’s on his last trip, though, planning to head back to the United States as soon as he returns. Evelyn Ankers is the receptionist of the hotel run by her father, Cecil Kellaway. When Bickford gets back from his final run he finds his brother, Frank Albertson, has come to take his place which makes Bickford angry because he knows how dangerous the job is. While the two brothers argue about the situation, Albertson discovers his suitcase has been switched with one that looks the same, and this one has the convoy schedules in Chinese with a note that paratroops will attempt to intersect the convoy and steal the supplies. Unfortunately Albertson is killed, but not before learning who the note belongs to, and Bickford and Ankers spend the rest of the film following the clues to the murderer.

It’s a good, solid B movie cast. Bickford and Ankers do a fine job. Cecil Kellaway, however, has a difficult time with his Irish brogue and it’s a bit of a struggle figuring out his dialogue. When the film really lights up, however, is when Frank Albertson hits the screen. It’s a shame that he’s killed a mere ten minutes later, because it would have spiced up the entertainment value considerably. There are plenty of Asian extras on hand, as well as Universal regular Turhan Bey. Hans Salter provides the film score, though little of it is very memorable. For director Noel Smith, who had begun his career in the silent era, this was one of his last films. Burma Convoy is solid B film from Universal, but mostly interesting to fans of Evelyn Ankers and Frank Albertson.