Customer Reviews

The World in His Arms (1952) [DVD]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Raoul Walsh was a great director. Only he could have done a film like this. In other's director hands this would have been only another adventure film, but Walsh had that touch. The touch of make films that had everything. He knew how to make a sailing race, and a romantic scene. He was impecable.

Our hero, always dashing Gregory Peck, has a dream, he also has a bizarre crew, but it is his dream who leads him to a great adventure. He wants to find money to buy Alaska from his Imperial Majesty the Czar. So he goes to san Francisco to sell the seal pelts he has and to find the money.

Here comes the girl , Countess Marina Selonova, Ann Blyth, who is trying to scape from an arranged marriage. Being at the same hotel our captain thinks that the lovely girl he has just met is a "lady of the night". But because he is an open minded captain, he falls in love with her.

Of course villains are everywhere. The Portuguese wants Peck's vessel, Prince Semyon wants his girl, his crew wants seals pelts. And so all together sail to Pribiloff Islands where true love, and good business will win.

Wonderful cast with a great John McIntire and Anthony Quinn . A nice seal and her Inuit friend and spectacular images. Who could ask for anything more?

Wonderfully light romantic film full of gorgeous costumes, action and adventure similar to old Errol Flynn swashbuckling movies.

This would be a typical Hollywood costume epic of the 1950's, carried mostly by star power and production values. But!! If you like sailing ship sequences, this has one of the best ever filmed. It is worth getting just for the race to Alaska.

It is a wonderful blend of action, adventure, romance and just the right touch of comedy, even if occasionally absurd. Anthony Quinn's characterization of the Portuguee would have stolen this film from a lesser actor than Gregory Peck, but he manages to hold up his end quite well. Ann Blyth is regal enough to play any royal. She hardly sings in this film at all. I always enjoy The World in His Arms.

Universal Pictures presents "THE WORLD IN HIS ARMS" (1952 105 min/Color) -- Starring: Gregory Peck, Ann Blyth, Anthony Quinn, John McIntire, Carl Esmond & Hans Conried

Directed by Raoul Walsh

Gregory Peck and Anthony Quinn play two seal-hunting rivals in this adventure film set in the days when Alaska was a Russian territory. Peck is adventuring seafarer Jonathan Clark, who falls in love with Russian Countess Marina Selanova (Ann Blyth) while the countess is in San Francisco fleeing an arranged marriage to the vile Prince Semyon (Carl Esmond). The Countess wants to hire a ship to take her to Sitka, AK, where her uncle, General Ivan Vorashilov (Sig Rumann), is governor.

Portugee (Quinn) can't raise money for the voyage, so the countess agrees to sail with Clark (Peck), and the two quickly fall in love. But Prince Semyon sails into San Francisco just as Clark and the Countess are about to be wed, and the prince abducts her and takes her to Alaska, threatening to kill her uncle if she doesn't marry him. Clark and Portugee then agree to race to Alaska, with the winner getting the other's ship and the seal catch. Clark's boat wins the race, but the Russians arrest both the men as seal poachers. Countess Marina agrees to marry Semyon if he will order the seal hunters released.

What is the outcome, well purchase or rent the film and your questions will be answered.

Excellent big-scale adventure story!

BIOS:
1. Raoul Walsh (Director)
Date of Birth: 11 March 1887 - New York, New York
Date of Death: 31 December 1980 - Simi Valley, California

2. Gregory Peck [aka: Eldred Gregory Peck]
Date of Birth: 5 April 1916 - La Jolla, California
Date of Death: 12 June 2003 - Los Angeles, California

3. Ann Blyth
Date of Birth: 16 August 1928 - Mount Kisco, New York
Date of Death: Unknown

4. Anthony Quinn [aka: Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca]
Date of Birth: 21 April 1915, Chihuahua, Mexico
Date of Death: 3 June 2001, Boston, Massachusetts

5. John McIntire
Date of Birth: 27 June 1907 - Spokane, Washington
Date of Death: 30 January 1991 - Pasadena, California

6. Hans Conried
Date of Birth: 15 April 1917 - Baltimore, Maryland
Date of Death: 5 January 1982 - Burbank, California

7. Carl Esmond [aka: Willy Eichberger]
Date of Birth: 14 June 1902 - Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria)
Date of Death: 4 December 2004 - Brentwood, California

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

Total Time: 105 min on DVD ~ Universal Pictures ~ (April 5, 2011)

An oldy but goody . Gregore Peck & Ann Blyth & Anthony Quinn in old Alaska with a great subporting cast . One of my favorits . I have'nt been able to find this old movie any where till Amazon brouht it out for all us older movie bluffs . Thanks Amazon .

This DVD is of very good quality and better than I expected considering the age of the movie. The movie itself is a great sailing adventure with some awesome sea scenes. If you like sailing ships, it has two impressive grand banks fishing schooners racing in moderate to heavy seas. No CGA - this is the real thing!

In old San Francisco, Marina Selanova (Ann Blyth) - a dark-haired Russian countess on the run from imminent union to the ambitious prince Semyon (Carl Esmond) - implores Captain Jonathan Clark (Gregory Peck) to take her to Alaska after been rejected by his eternal rival Portugee (Anthony Quinn).

Jonathan, an American seal pirate, falls for the diminutive, fresh-faced brunette, while giving her a midnight tour of San Francisco--an impressive similar situation to Peck-Audrey Hepburn in William Wyler's "Roman Holiday."

On the eve of their wedding day, her odious Russian fiancé kidnaps her, and sails for Alaska taking her on his gunboat... He promises to kill her uncle unless she married him as it was originally planned...

The film's highlight is the outstanding windswept race between two boats led by Peck and Quinn from San Francisco harbor to the Fur Seal Islands off the coast of Alaska, with the winner acquiring the other's ship and crew to rescue the lovely heroine...

With her slightly oriental eyes and pleasant lyric soprano voice, Ann Blyth provides feminine decoration for this epic adventure...

Anthony Quinn gives a high-spirited performance as the cunning, sympathetic thief... Quinn is challenged in the film in a 'trial of strength,' an amusing drinking and wrestling bout..

Raoul Walsh's direction is simple, direct and muscular... As a popular entertainer he is confident with a sense of humor... His actions, fury, spirit, skill, ambition and unrestrained dreams remain his forte...

Viewing "A World in his Arms" requires that we remember the time frame of its production. It is a swashbuckling story worthy of viewing. The acting is also suited for the purpose of the film--to entertain and engage a viewer in the hopeful success of a common man in gaining an aristocratic woman--a great American story about class and worthiness.

Nancy Owen Nelson

I was glad to get this movie promptly and in good condition. I like Gregory Peck, esp. his romantic movies. I hadn't seen this one before, so it was nice to have it to add to my collection.