Tales of Innocence is an almost unique movie in the series as it takes the existing TV episode, Northern Italy, June 1918 and glues on a brand-new episode that didn’t air as a standalone on TV named Morocco, November 1917. The last time I remember a non-TV episode being tacked onto another episode was back in the very first movie, My First Adventure, where a previously unseen episode was added.
As a result of this, what was formerly, Northern Italy, June 1918 is now known as Northern Italy, November 1917 so the Morocco episode fits into the timeline as falling just after the Italian adventure. All clear?
In terms of story, we’re back into a Frankenstein’s monster mash-up of two stories that don’t really gel. I think there’s supposed to be some sort of intention that “love” is the theme, but when the first part is an “Indiana Jones as comedy” episode and the second is a very weird, “Indy has slightly flirty conversations with an older woman during an adventure… but nothing really happens” story, the movie is a misfire.
So, Northern Italy, November 1917. We get off to an interesting start with Indy in German uniform, running around like a maniac, pretending he has one arm and trying not to get shot by his own side. This story unfolds into Indy working behind enemy lines, encouraging Germans to surrender. This is an interesting premise, but is hardly touched on during the episode, save for two other scenes – one where his defectors are nowhere to be found on the day of defection, and the other being an alternate day of defection… and they all defect pretty quickly. Job done. This could have been a much larger storyline.
The vast majority of the episode is Indy courting an Italian girl (whose mother is played by Pernilla August, aka Shmi Skywalker; presumably this is when she first came onto Lucasfilm’s radar), while pouring out his heart to Ernest Hemingway (working as an ambulance driver), who gives him advice on love. It soon becomes apparent that Hemingway is courting the same girl – news to both of them – and turns into a war of escalation between Indy and Hemingway, in terms of who can take her the most flowers, the biggest gifts, and so on. This is meant to be funny, but it’s more of an eye-rolling, can-we-please-just-get-through-this sort of thing. I will confess, however, to laughing at the scene where Hemingway is playing cello while the object of his affections plays piano. Indy joins in on a soprano saxophone and increases the tempo, until Hemingway’s bow explodes. Yes, it’s that kind of episode.
(And of course there’s the obligatory on the nose moment where Indy tells Hemingway about the running of the bulls in Pamplona – something that Hemingway seems excited about seeing, commenting he’s never been to Spain, and which he will of course eventually write about in The Sun Also Rises.)
Morocco, November 1917 is a far more serious episode – hallelujah – with Indy dropped into the French Foreign Legion to discover who is secretly supplying arms to the Berber rebels in Morocco. You know, it’s incredible how French intelligence moves Indy around the globe looking after seemingly every problem they have, as though there are no other secret service agents available. But I digress. If you can put that thought aside, the idea of Indy going on this mission is quite neat. Less neat is the idea that the American novelist, Edith Wharton, would be sent along, too. Yes, we’re in that particular Young Indy territory of, “What historical person can we shoehorn in here?” and Edith gets the chocolates here.
While Wharton indeed traveled to Morocco in her lifetime, it was in 1919. Her journey was part of a broader European trip following WWI, and her experiences in Morocco were turned into a novel called In Morocco. So that’s the link the episode is trying to make with the real history, just a couple of years early, not in peacetime, and in the company of an American spy assigned to the French Foreign Legion!
My feelings on this part are mixed. The real-life Wharton would have been around 55 years old in 1917 and while she’s played in the episode by an “older” actress in the form of Clare Higgins (and I say “older” compared to Sean Patrick Flanery, who would have been pushing 30 here, playing an 18 year old), I note that Higgins was only around 40 when she took this role, presumably to make the pairing look more natural. In spite of this, the ‘relationship’ – such as it is – between the two is incredibly unrealistic, but written in a way that I think is meant to come across as deep. Just a few hours after meeting, Indy is describing a relationship he had in Paris (presumably Mata Hari in Demons of Deception), and Wharton blurts out, “Do you mean SEX?” in a way that I suppose is meant to make us gasp and think, what a modern thing to say in 1917! But honestly, it just sounds silly. Nothing really happens between the two at all, but they still share a passionate kiss when saying goodbye to one another at the end of the episode, like they’re old lovers. It’s very strange. It feels like there was meant to be something more going on, but it was edited to hell and what we’re left with are two people who barely know one another, acting like they have some deep cosmic connection that they can’t fully act out on for some reason.
That’s the less interesting side of the adventure. Other scenes, such as Indy’s initial capture by Berbers – which provides the lead to where their arms are coming from – is done well. And Indy’s subterfuge at the palace of Hidron where he is trying to uncover how the stolen arms are getting to the Berbers is basic, but quite solid, spycraft. If the first part of this story had focused on Indy undercover as a German, sowing dissent in the ranks, and the second part had just stuck to his investigations – perhaps utilising the real-life journalist character, Lowell Thomas, a little more – this could have been a ripping movie, showing Indy’s growth as an undercover agent and telling a fun story. Alas, with the Hemingway comedy in the first part and the bizarre Wharton story in the second part, this one scrapes to 7/10.