The Sun Never Sets
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Rowland V. Lee
Douglas Fairbanks
Basil Rathbone
Barbara O'neil
Lionel Atwill
Virginia Field
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Loyal, self effacing service in England's far flung colonies has long been considered the patriotic duty of the Randolph family. Clive, the elder brother, has just returned home from a mission in the unsavory Gold Coast of Africa when his younger brother John balks at carrying on the familiy tradition. Convinced of his duty by his grandfather, Sir John, John enlists in the service and is sent to fill his brother's post in Africa. Much to Clive's dismay, he is also sent back to Africa to investigate the source of a series of radio broadcasts that are sewing unrest throughout the world. Because the government believes that Hugo Zurof, a man posing as a scientist while plotting to rule the world, may be linked to the broadcasts, Clive is ordered to keep his mission secret. In Africa, Clive enlists Carpenter, a district commissioner, to spy on Zurof's operations, and on the day that Clive receives an urgent message to meet Carpenter in the upcountry, Clive's pregnant wife Helen falls ill with the fever. Putting his duty first, Clive leaves his wife behind when Zurof appears and, desperate to prevent Clive from reaching Carpenter, Zurof convinces John to call his brother back. Clive, disgraced and recalled for dereliction of duty, returns to England while Zurof intensifies the campaign to instigate a world war. Ordered to Zurof's mine to investigate, John feigns drunkenness, breaks in on the broadcast and shouts a family code which his uncles hear in England. John's information leads a bombing mission, headed by Clive, to the site of the broadcast. When the planes are heard overhead, Zurof throws John out of the radio station just as the bombs hit their target. With the elimination of Zurof's threat to peace, the stain is removed from the Randolph name and the brothers win back their family honor.
Director
Rowland V. Lee
Cast
Douglas Fairbanks
Basil Rathbone
Barbara O'neil
Lionel Atwill
Virginia Field
C. Aubrey Smith
Melville Cooper
Mary Forbes
John Burton
Arthur Mulliner
Theodor Von Eltz
Douglas Walton
Cecil Kellaway
Frederick Clarke
Robert Emmett Keane
Walter Mcgrail
Harry Cording
Mary Field
Eric Snowden
Ivan Simpson
Brandon Hurst
Holmes Herbert
Al Duval
Lionel Belmore
General R.d. Napier Raikes
Lew Payton
Jess Lee Brooks
Edward Keane
Claude Horton
C. Montague Shaw
Olaf Hytten
Eric Wilton
Hilda Plowright
Phillip Kurlic
James Eagles
Sidney Bracy
Russell Burroughs
Hassan Said
Jack Deery
Crew
Bernard B. Brown
Gordon Clark
Fred Frank
Arthur Fritz-richards
R. A. Gausman
William Hedgcock
Jerry Horwin
Ted Kent
Rowland V. Lee
W. P. Lipscomb
Jack Otterson
Charles Previn
Major C. S. Ramsay-hill
Richard H. Riedel
George Robinson
Frank Skinner
Vera West
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
According to news items in Daily Variety and Hollywood Reporter, Edmund Grainger was to have produced this film and Myles Connolly was to have written the screenplay, but their participation in the final project has not been confirmed. A pre-production news item in Hollywood Reporter notes that Universal considered casting Marlene Dietrich in this film, but decided that the woman's part was too insignificant for the star and would require a complete rewrite of the script. Other news items in Hollywood Reporter add that Universal built a mile-square exterior set near Tarzana, CA to duplicate an African Gold Coast Village. Technical advisor Major C. J. Ramsay was a member of the King's Eleventh Hussars.
