Moon Over Burma (1940)

The scene is a teak plantation in Burma. Robert Preston and Preston Foster manage it, but they are running short of cash. They tell Harry Allen to watch after things while they go to Rangoon to try to raise money Frederick Worlock for the owner, Albert Bassermann. Foster sends Preston to buy supplies, but he turns it over to the merchant and chases a girl. Foster is romantically involved with Worlock's daughter, Doris Nolan. As soon as Foster is gone, Worlock sends Addison Richards to sign on with them and sabotage the operation. Foster and Preston go to a nightclub where Dorothy Lamour is singing. Preston gets her to come to their table, and after he rescues her from the advances of the owner, goes with him to the plantation. Bassermann at first will not let her stay, but Preston pretends that they are married in order to make it work. The natives serenade them at night, but think it fishy that Lamour sleeps in a separate room from the men.

In the meantime, Richards is slowing down the operations badly. Lamour is redecorating the house, which is a problem because Bassermann is blind. She is causing problems with the natives because of her sunsuit. She looks at the food they are eating, and this causes them to throw away the food. She takes a bath in a giant water jar and cannot get out, so they wrap it in a cloth and break the masonry. She is getting acquainted with Bassermann, though, and he enjoys her company. She reads him the reports from the logging camps, but falsifies the numbers to make them look good. While they are visiting a cobra crawls into the room. Bassermann smells it and tells her to be still. The snake moves toward her when she moves, and Foster comes running to shoot it. Later that night, of course, they work in a song by Lamour, and the plot thickens between her and Foster, but Preston asks him to lay off, and he promises he will.

The natives are afraid to work because of a "ghost tiger." They find the tracks, which are phoney. Then someone sets the jungle on fire. There follows some pretty good footage of firefighting. They finally get the blaze under control. When they get back to headquarters, Worlock and Nolan are there. Foster kisses her fervently. Lamour starts sulking, and it is evident that she is in love with Foster, and even Nolan can tell it. She tells Foster to grab her while he can, and Preston gets drunk. Preston confronts them. They are about to fight when the rains come, which means they can bring their logs down the river. Worlock tells Richards not to bungle any more attempts to stop their operation. Allen perceives their intentions, and Bassermann sends him to keep an eye on the situation. Then he sends Lamour to bring Richards back to headquarters. He takes a bullwhip to him after he knocks out the light to even the odds. After Richards is disarmed, he admits what that he has dynamited the gorge to cause a logjam.

Lamour hurries to the camp to tell Preston and Foster about the jam. In the pouring rain, they set out to dynamite it loose. The logs break loose and the pair swim to escape the charging logs. Foster is hit by a log, but Preston grabs him and they manage to pull him to safety.




 
Richards


Nolan