Across the Pacific (1942)

Director:

John Huston
(more)

Writers:

Richard Macaulay (screenplay)
Robert Carson (serial)

Release Date:

5 September 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Romance | War

Plot:

Rick Leland makes no secret of the fact he has no loyalty to his home country after he is court-marshaled...

Plot Keywords:

Panama | Japanese | Panama Canal | Passenger | Court Martial

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Humphrey Bogart	...	Rick Leland
Mary Astor	...	Alberta Marlow
Sydney Greenstreet	...	Dr. Lorenz
Charles Halton	...	A.V. Smith
Victor Sen Yung	...	Joe Totsuiko (as Sen Young)
Roland Got	...	Sugi
Lee Tung Foo	...	Sam Wing On
Frank Wilcox	...	Capt. Morrison
Paul Stanton	...	Col. Hart
Lester Matthews	...	Canadian Major
John Hamilton	...	Court-Martial President
Tom Stevenson	...	Unidentified Man
Roland Drew	...	Capt. Harkness
Monte Blue	...	Dan Morton
Chester Gan	...	Capt. Higoto
Richard Loo	...	First Officer Miyuma
Keye Luke	...	Steamship Office Clerk
Kam Tong	...	T. Oki
Spencer Chan	...	Chief Engineer Mitsuko
Rudy Robles	...	A Filipino Assassin
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Philip Ahn	...	Man in Theatre (uncredited)
Dick Botiller	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Anthony Caruso	...	Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Gordon De Main	...	Dock Official (uncredited)
Eddie Dew	...	Unidentified Man (uncredited)
Charles Drake	...	Officer (uncredited)
Frank Faylen	...	Sidewalk Toy Vendor (uncredited)
Ruth Ford	...	Secretary (uncredited)
Paul Fung	...	Japanese Radio Operator (uncredited)
William Hopper	...	Orderly (uncredited)
Eddie Lee	...	Chinese Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
James B. Leong	...	Nura (uncredited)
Frank Mayo	...	Trial Judge Advocate (uncredited)
Will Morgan	...	Officer (uncredited)
Jack Mower	...	Major (uncredited)
Garland Smith	...	Officer (uncredited)
Beal Wong	...	Usher (uncredited)

Directed by
John Huston
Vincent Sherman		(final scenes) (uncredited)

Writing credits
Richard Macaulay		(screenplay)
Robert Carson		(serial)

Produced by
Jack Saper	....	producer
Jerry Wald	....	producer

Original Music by
Adolph Deutsch

Cinematography by
Arthur Edeson

Film Editing by
Frank Magee

Casting by
Phil Friedman		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Robert M. Haas		(as Robert Haas)
Hugh Reticker

Costume Design by
Milo Anderson		(gowns)

Makeup Department
Perc Westmore	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Lee Katz	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Everett Alton Brown	....	sound

Special Effects by
Byron Haskin	....	special effects
Willard Van Enger	....	special effects

Stunts
Harvey Parry	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Wally Meinardus	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Jack Woods	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Casting Department
Bill Tinsman	....	casting assistant (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Jeanette Storck	....	wardrobe (uncredited)

Music Department
Leo F. Forbstein	....	musical director
Heinz Roemheld	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)
Max Steiner	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Clifford Vaughan	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)
Clifford Vaughan	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Edward A. Blatt	....	dialogue director (as Edward Blatt)
Don Siegel	....	montages

Production Companies

• Warner Bros

Distributors

• Warner Bros (1942) (USA) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2000) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #8248) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Canada:G (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros

Trivia:

As the passengers debark in New York, there is a prominent shot of the Great White Fleet's head house. This was a real shipping company. It was, and is, the popular name of the United Fruit Company's shipping line. The title "Great White Fleet" in fact derived from the name given the United States Navy's main battle fleet which circumnavigated the globe in 1907-08. Painted white, the battle fleet must have been an impressive sight. The United Fruit Company's fleet was also painted white in order to help reflect the intense heat whilst operating in the tropics.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The background for the opening titles is a map of the Panama Canal. The orientation of the map and the compass is correct, but the labeling of the map is incorrect. In fact, the Atlantic end of the canal and the city of Colon are at the upper left (Northwest), and the Pacific end of the canal and Panama City are at the lower right (Southeast). The map is correctly labeled behind the closing credits.

Quotes:

Rick Leland:I never saw anybody like you, you never have any clothes on.
Alberta Marlow:Well if anyone heard you complaining about it they would put you in a psychopathic ward.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Play It Again, Sam (1972)

Maltese Albatross

This film is okay -- watchable and even interesting -- but one can't help comparing it to "The Maltese Falcon" which appeared the previous year. Same principle actors -- Bogart, Mary Astor, Sidney Greenstreet -- no Peter Lorre fondling the handle of his cane, alas, and no gunsel -- and, for the most part, the same Director, John Huston. Huston was called up for Signal Corps duty halfway through filming and as a gag shot the scenes up to the point at which Bogart was strapped helplessly into a chair and surrounded by armed guards, a situation seemingly without the possibility of escape. Then Huston cheerfully said goodbye and walked off the set, leaving his replacement, Vincent Sherman, to try to figure out how to get Bogart free.

It may be unfair to compare "Across the Pacific" to a lucky shot like "The Maltese Falcon," but this film invites the comparison. Not just the same performers but similar lines -- "You're good, Angel, very, very good." But in Falcon the actors fit their fictional characters like enzymes accommodating themselves to a substrate. Here they are just actors playing familiar roles: the obese villain, the officer who's dishonorable discharge is faked so he can go undercover (Gary Cooper could have done as well, and in fact DID in a later movie), the innocent woman made to look bad because the enemy has imprisoned her dissolute father. The Japanese are all plain-vanilla bad guys, even the familiar young one who makes amusing wisecracks in American slang. And all the Japanese have real names like Tong, Chan, Loo, Fong, and Ahn. (To be fair, the last one is Korean, not Chinese.)

If the characters are not nearly as much fun to watch as in "The Maltese Falcon," the plot is no more than a simple war-time mystery involving secret information that the Japanese want to use to start the war by torpedoing the locks of the Panama Canal. Actually, the Japanese did develop such plans later in the war. They intended to deliver a handful of torpedo planes to the vicinity of the Canal in huge submarines, which were available. The planes were not, and the plans folded when the war ended.

In the movie, the characters move from New York to Canada, then board a Japanese steamer, back to New York, then to Panama, where they disembark. They travel from the Atlantic side of the canal to the Pacific -- but they never make it across the Pacific.