Across the Pacific (1942)

Truly Dreadful Film

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Think Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, and Sydney Greenstreet along with John Huston and what do you come up with? "The Maltese Falcon" of course. But think again, because no sooner had Warner Bros created one of the best films of all time, they re-teamed the actors and the director and cinematographer and came up with this piece of flotsam that is hardly worth viewing. Called "Across the Pacific", this 1942 film came out just after the Pearl Harbor attack, so the original script had to be changed from Pearl Harbor to the Panama Canal, although the name somehow stuck.It's nice to see some of my favorite Asian actors at work here, including Richard Loo (Master Sun from "Kung Fu), Keye Luke (Master Po), and Kam Tong (Hey Boy from "Have Gun Will Travel"). But other than that, the film has little value.

Films made around this time always have an interesting behind the scenes story, and "Across the Pacific" from 1942 is no different.Rick Leland (Humphrey Bogart) is court-marshaled and booted out of the service; he then heads for Canada and attempts to enlist, but the Canadians know who he is and say they can't use him.Leland then leaves on a Japanese ship for the Orient, making no bones about the fact that his talents are for sale! He meets an attractive woman, Alberta Marlow (Mary Astor) and one Dr. Lorenz (Sidney Greenstreet). Lorenz loves the Japanese and its people, and speaks the language very well.You'll probably guess most of this.This is a Maltese Falcon template, with the exception of the absence of Peter Lorre. John Huston directed, but when we entered the war, he left to do documentary films for the government. Vincent Sherman started the film at a difficult moment in the action, and he asked Huston how a particular situation would be resolved. Huston said, "That's your problem!" and left.Originally this film had to do with stopping an attack on Pearl Harbor, but we all know what happened there, so the plot was changed to the Panama Canal.I liked this film - there is a lot of light repartee between Bogart and Astor, which is fun and makes the film less intense than it might have been. They worked very well together. And you really can't beat Sidney Greenstreet when it comes to being slimy.The majority of the Japanese in the movie were actually Chinese since most of the Japanese were interred, a black mark not often discussed, which is odd.Some exciting action and solid work by all the cast.

This film contains many aspects of the noir, including the clipped bantering dialogue with the clever intent. Coming soon after The Maltese Falcon, Across the Pacific is something of a mystery movie too.Rick Leland (Humphrey Bogart) is a disgraced military man with dubious loyalties. He gets on a Japanese ship that is sailing to New York City, the Canal Zone and the Orient. While onboard, he becomes familiar with the other passengers: a western businessman named Dr. Leland (Sydney Greenstreet) who has a penchant for all things oriental and a smalltown woman named Alberta (Mastor Astor) who is taking a pleasure cruise.But we sense all is not as it seems. Will Rick sail off into the Japanese sunset, bitter at the country that snubbed him? Will the doctor reveal an insidious intent? Will Alberta prove to be more than a romantic foil for Rick?The action takes place not long before the U.S. would be forced to enter the war. Tensions are high. Eventually there is gunplay and all motives are revealed. Along the way, ATP proves to be an interesting film. The ending reminded me of another film that would follow in 1959--North by Northwest. ATP is a high stakes game of cat and mouse that coexists with a lighthearted romance.My one complaint is that Mary Astor is not an actress I think would inspire lust in Bogart's Rick. Someone like Rita Hayworth would better fit the bill.

Capt. Leland (Bogart) goes undercover among a shipload of suspicious characters to foil a Japanese plot on the Panama Canal.No movie with the great Sydney Greenstreet can afford to be passed up. Here he looks like a beached Moby Dick as he trundles around the tropics in an over-sized white suit. But they give him all this elegant dialogue that he does so well. He's a truly formidable menace, casting his rotund shadow across half the Pacific and most of the sets.It's just an okay movie, looking rushed into production on the heels of Pearl Harbor, as it apparently was. Those jungle sets at film's end are really transparent and not up to usual studio standards. And the staging of the living-room shoot-out wouldn't even pass matinée standards. Up to that point, there's a lot of talk and not much action for a spy movie. Fortunately, in my little book at least, the back-and-forth banter between Bogart and Astor is really lively and well written. Speaking of dialogue, I almost thought no Asian actor could speak anything but pidgin English, that is, until Charlie Chan's number two son, the be-bopping Sen Yung, showed up to enliven proceedings. What a fine actor and clever addition to this story.Anyway, I don't think the 90-minutes measures up for Bogart enthusiasts. Looks to me like most any leading man could have handled a role that really doesn't demand much. I did keep hoping the sneaky Peter Lorre would appear at some point. Somehow Greenstreet without Lorre is like cake without frosting. Nonetheless, the movie is an early look-see at how Hollywood was gearing up for the big war.