Across the Pacific (1942) – full review!

Across the Pacific (1942) – full review!

Directed by John Huston though finished by Vincent Sherman when Huston was called into war service with a screenplay by Richard Macaulay that was based on a story by Robert Carson (or Garson depending upon the source) this war adventure attempted to recapture the magic that director Huston shared with three of its leads in the previous year’s The Maltese Falcon (1941). In this one Humphrey Bogart plays Rick Leland (in his next film he would play his most famous Rick; Blaine in Casablanca (1942)) Mary Astor plays Alberta Marlow and Sydney Greenstreet plays Dr. Lorenz. All three are involved in an intrigue that couldn’t have been more timely a Japanese attempt to blow up the Panama Canal (the original story involved Pearl Harbor hence the film’s incongruent title which actually was attacked during the production). It captures the style if not the substance of the earlier film.

Artilleryman Leland is bucked out the service just before his country would be forced in World War II a curious time to dishonorably discharged; John Hamilton plays the court-martial president. It’s a ruse by the U.S. Military Intelligence intended to draw enemy spies to the ex-soldier who may be able to provide information they need. Leland goes through the motions of attempting to enlist in the Canadian army before he boards a ship headed to the Orient where he hopes to serve China and Chiang Kai-shek against Japan. He meets and is curiously attracted to Alberta but their would-be romance has a rough start (she gets seasick; later she gets sunburned). Leland also meets and is befriended by some other passengers: Dr. Lorenz and Joe Totsuiko (Sen Young). After sharing drinks and pretending to be both intoxicated and willing to part with certain strategic details for a price Leland learns that Dr. Lorenz is a buyer of just this type of information; he’s working for the Japanese.

There’s plenty of intrigue and a lot of it’s confusing (intentional or otherwise). Rick’s not sure if Alberta has any connection to his dealings with Lorenz or whether to trust her – at first she wants to help him but later she disappears. Once the ship from New York reaches Panama the plot thickens. Charles Halton plays A. V. Smith Rick’s go-between who gives the ex-soldier a schedule of air patrols to reel in Lorenz. Lee Tung Foo plays a friend of Rick’s a Panamanian hotel proprietor that assists Rick. Plus the usual suspects in these war pictures Richard Loo and Keye Luke also play roles (as does Philip Ahn though uncredited). Smith is killed Rick is knocked out and eventually everything leads to a plantation where it is learned that Dan Morton (Monte Blue) is being held. Alberta is Morton’s daughter and both were being played by Lorenz. Naturally Rick recovers saves the day and the Panama Canal.

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