Atlantic Adventure (1935)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Albert S. Rogell

Writers:

John T. Neville (screenplay) &
Nat Dorfman (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

25 August 1935 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Mystery

Plot Keywords:

Robbery | Jewel Thief | Police Detective | Lifeboat | Ocean Liner

Cast

Nancy Carroll	...	Helen
Lloyd Nolan	...	Dan
Harry Langdon	...	Snapper
Arthur Hohl	...	Frank
Robert Middlemass	...	Van Dieman
John Wray	...	Mitts
E.E. Clive	...	McIntosh
Dwight Frye	...	Spike

Also Known As:

Sure Fire (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

68 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #1057) | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

RKO-Pathé Studios - 9336 Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

American Film Institute Catalog of Feature Films 1931-1940 credits Nana Bryant with playing the role of Mrs. Van Deusen; this is incorrect. Vivien Oakland plays Mrs. Van Deusen, and Nana Bryant plays Joan Hill, one of the employees of the Chronicle. Both actresses are uncredited.

Soundtrack:

Jingle Bells

Wiseacre reporter, sidekick and girlfriend stowaway on ocean liner to catch a murderer

The very interesting cast makes this otherwise fairly ordinary ace-reporter-cum-detective story worth watching. Lloyd Nolan is serviceable in the role of reporter Dan Miller, but I found myself thinking how Clark Gable or Lee Tracy would have handled it. Nancy Carroll is at the beginning of the end of her career in this picture, but was still bright and lovely as Helen Murdock, Miller's love interest. Silent comedy giant Harry Langdon plays the dim, amiable and always hungry photographer/sidekick Snapper McGillicuddy. Dwight Frye, best remembered for his role as the bug-eating Renfield in Dracula (1931) is along for the ride as one of the crooks. E.E. Clive, known for his many turns as Bulldog Drummond's butler Tenny Tennison, brightens up the film as one of the ship's officers who doesn't quite grasp the American sense of humor. The plot is about what you would expect from a newspaper mystery/comedy of the period. Miller, Murdock and Snapper track the D.A.'s murderer on board the SS Gigantic and somehow forget to get off before she sails. In addition to the murderer, rival gangs of jewel thieves are aboard, and general comic mayhem ensues. It's not Gone With the Wind, it's not even The Front Page, but it is a pleasant way to spend 68 minutes, especially if you like the actors in the cast.