Out of Singapore (1932)

Too much of everything

Just perfect...

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

For Dorothy Burgess fans (hopefully, I'm first in line here), Out of Singapore (1932) (available on a very good Alpha DVD) is an absolute must-see. Although she makes a late entrance, Dorothy does a dance number that will knock your socks off. And Miriam Seegar is no slouch in the beauty department either. Alas, Wallace Beery plays the villain with such patent wickedness, we wonder how the "good" boys, and most particularly Miss Seegar, could possibly be taken in by him. I also thought that Jimmy Aubrey way overdid the "comic" relief, even though his actions do enable Fred "Snowflake" Toones to get his teeth into a first-class dramatic role as a particularly vicious cook. Indeed the movie is overloaded with evil characters. We haven't even mentioned Montagu Love and Leon Wong (who escapes retribution, would you believe?), but the film is directed with such a sure hand by 1920's serial king, Charles Hutchison, that these quibbles only surface after "The End" is flashed on the screen

This film is short and sweet, and Top stars Noah Beery as a baddie. Dorothy Burgess is fiery and sensuous, and Miriam Seegar fine as the "good" girl. Typical entertaining low-budget programmer probably played small houses or the second half of double bills, but today is an painless way to spend an hour seeing some stars from the early sound era who are all but totally forgotten today. (The poverty row studios seemed to specialize in offering decent parts to players whose luster had dimmed a bit after the initial boom of the first talkies). I find more and more films from poverty row which are entertaining, even some with production values which are pretty good considering their low budgets. That so many have survived at all is amazing since these were made by companies that long ago went out of business and the films were thought to have no value beyond their initial releases. There is a satisfying ending to this film. I won't spoil it for you, but try to see this when you can't decide on anything else to watch. I think you'll like it.

The captain of a ship takes ill not long after hiring Noah Beery Sr, a man with a bad reputation- every ship he's been on for the last three years has sunk burned or disappeared. Of course Beery is behind the illness, which puts the pretty captain's daughter in peril. Another pre-code melodrama with a great deal of exposed female flesh and suggestions of things that nice people didn't do. This is just an okay film. The problem is that Beery is so clearly the bad guy you can't believe that anyone would be so stupid as to hire him. I mean Long John Silver was a bad guy but at least he could hide it, Beery can't and it sinks the movie. It also doesn't help that the film's plot ultimately makes no sense, there are just too many twists and turns that none of it comes off as anything other than contrived. Not really bad, but not really worth your time and effort.

Noah Beery once again plays the heavy, this time a sailing officer who is also a ship wrecker. And he has his eye on the captain's pretty daughter Mary played by blonde Miriam Seegar. His course is complicated by his former girlfriend, the half-caste Concha, played to the hilt by Dorothy Burgess in what may be her ripping-est role ever. The darkly beautiful Miss Burgess is mesmerizing as she determines to hold on to her man or make him pay. George Walsh is rather wooden as the hero. Jimmy Aubrey gives a great impression as the lovable drunk. The characters reflect many degrees of morality. For some, it will be fatal. The great thing about these old films is that they sometimes give us a look at things as they once were. This story rings true enough and much of what you see in characters and scenery is probably much like it was.