Across the Pacific (1942)

One of my all time favorites.

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

The music is completely intrusive and over the top. Zappa would love this.

This is Bogart between classics as he does Casablanca in a short time after this movie. He is after the classic Maltese Falcon and Astor and Greenstreet join him again here. Astor is 38 years old when this movie is made and looks older due to wearing over sized old lady wardrobe a well. It is noteworthy she is about 7 years younger than Bogie, yet he looks good in this one.Even though this is war propaganda, it plays pretty much like a noir film as far as Bogies role, as he plots to try and stop a spy ring whose plan is to bomb the Panama Canal on the same day Pearl Harbor is bombed. John Huston originally was directing this but left late in the production to go to war and took the original script with him. This creates an unexpected hole in the plot late in the film.Not that the plot does not have some other holes earlier. This one does not have the script of Casablanca or The Maltese Falcon, but it is quite good because of the cast. Bogart is already Rick, getting ready to run the Cafe here. As happens in these war era films, he winds up the hero. What is refreshing is this film does not go over the top preaching about the war.

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.

Bogart, fresh from a dishonorable discharge (in which we participate cinematically) is not however disqualified from the world, and is soon on a ship to South America. Along the way he discovers that his shipmates, behind their appearances, are all financed by dubious relations with the Japanese. Bogart himself is on the verge of negotiating a little of the sweet action. This is the next film after The Maltese Falcon but it is not a classic. Where exactly it falls short is difficult to say but I think the various intrigues lack interest value. I would have to watch it over again at least once to catch the exact details of each.What it does have is great historical contemporaneity. Pearl Harbor is never mentioned and it is not clear that it has even happened yet in the film. But it really does make the story pop historically. Also interesting that after Pearl Harbor, Hollywood did not turn to a Mr. Roberts type but continued with the downbeat, variously scrupled Bogie. Of course, Bogart turns out to be an honorable man, on his terms.So all in all, I think it has lots to offer. Highly recommended.