Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
ACROSS THE PACIFIC, May 27, 2001
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.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bogart takes down a Japanese plot in WW II, March 15, 2006
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.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
UNDERRATED GEM, November 17, 2004
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.
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