Customer Reviews

Across the Pacific [VHS]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was eager to see this film because it reteamed THE MALTESE FALCON leads (Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor), and the Director (John Huston).It did not dissapiont. Not Bogart's best film, but I enjoyed this film a lot anyway. I thought that it was well-acted, with a good plot. The plot is fairly simple: Humphrey Bogart follows some spies to Panama, meeting up with a girl (Mary Astor) along the way. The film is similar to some other films made during the 1940s, but it still has a unique feeling to it. In regards to the film's name, I'm not sure why it's titled "Across The Pacific", but I think it might be refering to what was going on across the Pacific at the time the movie took place. It ended on December 7th, 1941 (HINT HINT).

I would reccomend this film to anybody who is a Humphrey Bogart fan, or a fan of THE MALTESE FALCON.

The movie opens with Humphrey Bogart being discharged from the army for stealing money; he goes to Halifax to join the Canadian army, but they've heard of him and don't want him either. So he hops a freighter for the Orient via the Panama Canal when he sees pretty Mary Astor go aboard (there's the romantic angle for the picture). The scene is set for another outing where Bogart plays the "I-look-out-for-only-me" guy who is forced to change his mind for the good of his country, except that 30 minutes into the picture we see that he is actually working undercover for the US Government already, trailing Japanese spys who want to blow up the canal. It's a nice, but totally unexpected, twist.

Sidney Greenstreet plays the head Japanese bad guy, and he is excellent - his is the best performance in the movie. The dialogue and much of the love-play between Bogey and Astor are top-notch, too. John Huston directed, but left the production (gleefully) right at the point where Bogart is being held captive and the Japanese are about to take off in a plane to bomb the canal. Huston left to join the army, thinking he left Bogart in an impossible situation (a good joke), but he forgot this was Hollywood where anything is possible: Bogey gets free, stops the Japs, arrests Greenstreet, and wins Astor! Hooray for Hollywood! Not a great, great movie by any means, but it's very well done and highly entertaining.

If you're in any way a Bogie fan or liked the Maltese Falcon then this film is a must see. Well directed by John Huston (Maltese Falcon, Treasue of Sierra Madre). Sydney Greenstreet steals the film in one of his usually intriguing character roles. Mary Astor also shines in the role of the heroine. Nice action, music and cinematography. Humphrey Bogart is one of the best actors to have ever graced the screen and this is easily one of his best films.

As a follow up to "The Maltese Falcon" with John Huston directing and Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor paired again, "Across the Pacific" promised to be an entertaining film and so it is. The film is an unbelievable thriller in which Bogart infiltrates a group of Japanese sympathisers plotting to blow up the Panama Canal. Sydney Greenstreet heads the traitors and is as enigmatic as he was in the previous film. The film was made at the time of Pearl Harbour so the plot contrivances are an understandable nod to the current events of the day.

The real interest of the film though is in the amusing by play between Bogart and Astor who were never more relaxed on the screen. They have some very funny moments. The film is beautifully staged by Huston with the exception of some pathetic models of ships. In fact, they are so poor that they add to the unreal comic nature of the film. You can not help but laugh out loud! The DVD preserves the film's beautiful black and white photography in an exceptional print and comes with a load of extras.

First of all, there is an excellent featurette which describes the major role Hollywood would play in the war effort, whether it be with ground breaking films such as "Confessions of a Nazi Spy" or Bette Davis and John Garfield forming the Hollywood Canteen. This is a valuable history lesson. A Warners Blooper reel for 1942 is included and these are always entertaining, particularly if you know your Warner's films.

The DVD also contains a Warners Night at the Movies in which the theme is certainly propaganda. The short film extols the virtues of 4 airman, ordinary men joining the forces for their country. Among the Warners starlets performing is a very young Eleanor Parker. The film is preserved in excellent technicolour and while you may cringe at the naivety and patriotism, one can see how it would have been used as a recruitment tool. One Newsreel item tries valiantly to put a positive spin on the devastation in Pearl Harbour by showing a Jap plane which was shot down. The cartoon is yet another recruiting poster in the form of a draft horse trying to enlist. It is funny in parts, when you are not cringeing. Finally, for coming attractions, there is a superb technicolour trailer for "Captain of the Clouds", a Cagney film which celebrates the Canadian Air Force.

As part of the second set of the Bogart Signature Collections, this DVD is particularly good value.

Excellent fun with Bogart & Mary Astor across the pacific on a gloomy tramp steamer. The movie is flawed with the racist characters and sentiments found in war flicks of the time and the ending is silly but most of the film is solid entertainment. I read somewhere that John Houston (called to war) painted the production into a corner and then left...telling them 'Bogie knew where to go from there'. Of course he left without telling Bogart anything. An explaination that may or may not be true but increases my enjoyment of the movie and explains the bad ending.

Not only did "Across the Pacific" add some brightness to Bogart's rising stature as an actor, it more than justified the promise shown by director John Huston after his success with "The Maltese Falcon."

The story begins on November 17, 1941. Lt. Rick Leland (Humphrey Bogart) is being cashiered from the Army at Governor's Island, New York... The reasons are vague, but before five minutes have passed, Bogie is decked out in his familiar trenchcoat... Leland tries to enlist in the Canadian army, but his disgrace is so widespread that they won't have him... Wondering aloud if perhaps the Japanese will take him on, Leland buys a ticket on the 'Genoa Maru' bound for Yokohama via the Panama Canal... On board the freighter, Leland meets Alberta Marlow (Mary Astor), who lies about her past, and Dr. Lorenz (Sydney Greenstreet), a sociologist with an undisguised affinity for all things Japanese...

It's really not spoiling anything to reveal that Leland is engaged in counterespionage because neither Huston nor the screenwriters take the material very seriously... For most of the film, they're more interested in the cutesy shipboard romance between Leland and Alberta--getting seasick, drunk, sunburned...

As a thriller, the film doesn't really get wound up until the third act, when it has a few fine moments, most memorably a long chase scene in a Spanish-language movie theater, and a conventional conclusion...

Sydney Greenstreet was excellent as a jovial yet cunning Japanese sympathizer and Mary Astor played a doubtful role with the same mental adroitness she had displayed in "The Maltese Falcon."

Bogart, of course, carried the story line here and it was a delight to watch his enigmatic character change from one of calculated indifference to that of relentless determination...

The story is corny, the acting is good and the sets are right out of the sound stages at Warners. What makes this movie special is the interaction between Bogart and Mary Astor. The dialogue between the two is crisp and realistic. Astor gives a much better performance than in The Maltese Falcon. Both Bogart and Astor are relaxed and comfortable with their characters. This movie fan finds himself watching this one more than Falcon.

The film was witty and reunited the stars of the previous year's "Maltese Falcon". The propaganda gets a bit heavy handed at times in the final 3rd.

However, really enjoyable is the Warners blooper reel from '42. It is fun to see some of the studio's big names cursing when they flub lines (John Garfield, Barbara Stanwyck, Olivia DeHavilland, even Reagan.)

across the pacific stars humphrey bogart as an army officer dishonorably discharged who is actually a spy --he sets sail on a japanese freighter to the panama canal zone with fellow passengers mary astor and sidney greenstreet--a tour de force of strong performances by all--this is an extremely well written movie with several very amusing interchanges between the bogart and astor characters--if you are a classic movie buff and a bogart fan this is probably one of your favorites--if you haven/t seen it yet you are in for a treat

Warner Bros. Pictures presents "ACROSS THE PACIFIC" (1942) (97 min/B&W) -- Starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Keye Luke & Richard Loo

Directed by John Huston

Bogart plays a U.S. officer of artillery who is court martial led in disgrace (in 1941) and who leaves the country. He gets a job offer in central America with a stop off in Panama. While there he discovers Japanese plot to attack the Panama Canal along with the Pearl Harbor attack.

Huston's direction is really worth looking at, especially visually stunning during a sequence at a movie theater on the big screen. Without his obvious presence and Bogart, this film would have just been another propaganda story of espionage.

Bogart, of course, carried the story line here and it was a delight to watch his enigmatic character change from one of calculated indifference to that of relentless determination.

Sydney Greenstreet was excellent as a jovial yet cunning Japanese sympathizer and Mary Astor played a doubtful role with the same mental adroitness she had displayed in "The Maltese Falcon."

The three Maltese Falcon leads and director teamed up for this enjoyable WW2 thriller

BIOS:
1. John Huston [Director]
Date of Birth: 5 August 1906 - Nevada, Missouri
Date of Death: 28 August 1987 - Middletown, Rhode Island

2. Humphrey Bogart
Date of Birth: 25 December 1899 - New York City, New York
Date of Death: 14 January 1957 - Los Angeles, California

3. Mary Astor [aka: Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke]
Date of Birth: 3 May 1906 - Quincy, Illinois
Date of Death: 25 September 1987 - Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California

4. Sydney Greenstreet [aka: Sydney Hughes Greenstreet]
Date of Birth: 27 December 1879 - Sandwich, Kent, England, UK
Date of Death: 18 January 1954 - Hollywood, California

Mr. Jim's Ratings:
Quality of Picture & Sound: 4 Stars
Performance: 5 Stars
Story & Screenplay: 4 Stars
Overall: 4 Stars [Original Music, Cinematography & Film Editing]

Total Time: 97 min on VHS ~ Warner Bros. Pictures ~ (03/07/2000)