East of the Rising Sun (1949)
"Malaya" (original title)

Newspaperman Royer convinces government officials of a plan to obtain rubber by stealing it out from under the Japanese. Carnahan is let out of prison to help.

Director:

Richard Thorpe

Writers:

Frank Fenton (screenplay), Manchester Boddy (story)

Stars:

Spencer Tracy, James Stewart, Valentina Cortese

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Spencer Tracy	...	Carnahan
James Stewart	...	John Royer
Valentina Cortese	...	Luana (as Valentina Cortesa)
Sydney Greenstreet	...	The Dutchman
John Hodiak	...	Kellar
Lionel Barrymore	...	John Manchester
Gilbert Roland	...	Romano
Roland Winters	...	Bruno Gruber
Richard Loo	...	Colonel Genichi Tomura
Ian MacDonald	...	Carlos Tassuma
Tom Helmore	...	Matisson
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lester Matthews	...	Matisson (scenes deleted)

Storyline

After living abroad for several years, journalist John Royer returns to the United States just after the U.S. enters World War II. His boast that he could easily smuggle rubber, a key wartime natural resource, out of Malaya has him tasked with doing just that. He manages to get someone from his past, Carnaghan, sprung from Alactraz and together they head off to South East Asia posing as Irishmen. Once there, Carnaghan lines up some of his old cronies and with Royer and a few plantation owners plans to smuggle the rubber out from under the Japanese army's watchful eye.

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Plot Keywords:

world war two

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 April 1950 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Operation Malaya

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden - 301 N. Baldwin Avenue, Arcadia, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Loew's

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min 95 min (TCM print)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The PT Boat attack on the cruiser was lifted from the film They Were Expendable

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Goofs

Spenser Tracy says to Luana that the Earth is moving toward the Sun at the rate of a half an inch a century. In fact, the Earth is in a stable orbit that over an astronomical time scale will in fact move away from the Sun. As the Sun loses mass as it fuses hydrogen into helium, the Earth's orbit will increase by a minuscule amount; approximately 150,000 kilometers over approximately the next 5 to 6 billion years.

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Quotes

Carnaghan: A man can't belong to the world, it's too big, and every night it dies.

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Connections

Edited from They Were Expendable (1945)

User Reviews

A great blend of 40's patriotism and film noir

Someone had the wits to make a 1940's patriotic war movie in the style of film noir. Is it hokey? Of course it is!! But when it's done like this, you have a sense of watching a war film at its best. Part of it is a literate script that goes far beyond the usual patriotic hoo-ha and gives a sense of real urgency to the war in Asia. Part of it is some totally professional acting by Stewart, Tracy, Greenstreet and, not least, John Hodiak in the role of an FBI agent. If you're bored, as I am, by the John Wayne, flag-waving nonsense that proliferated during the war, try this on. It manages to be improbable and believable at the same time.