Blood Alley (1955)

Director:

William A. Wellman

Writers:

Albert Sidney Fleischman (novel)
Albert Sidney Fleischman (screenplay)

Release Date:

1 October 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure

Tagline:

Adventure on the danger waters of the Orient!

Plot:

A merchant marine captain, rescued from the Chinese Communists by local visitors, is "shanghaied" into...

Plot Keywords:

Captain | Bayonet | Drunken Doctor | Father Daughter Relationship | Steam Whistle

Cast

John Wayne	...	Capt. Tom Wilder
Lauren Bacall	...	Cathy Grainger
Paul Fix	...	Mr. Tso
Joy Kim	...	Susu, Cathy's maid
Berry Kroeger	...	Old Feng (as Berry Kroger)
Mike Mazurki	...	Big Han
Anita Ekberg	...	Wei Ling

Also Known As:

William A. Wellman's Blood Alley (UK) (complete title) (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

110 min | Argentina:116 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording) (optical prints) | 4-Track Stereo (WarnerPhonic/RCA) (magnetic prints)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Finland:K-16 (re-rating) | Finland:(Banned) (original rating) | Norway:16 | Netherlands:6 | USA:Approved (certificate #17459) | West Germany:12 (f) | Germany:12 | Sweden:15 | UK:U | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Belvedere Island, California, USA

Company:

Batjac Productions

Trivia:

Average Shot Length = ~6.2 seconds. Median Shot Length = ~5.6 seconds. Both of these figures are fast for an early CinemaScope film, and much faster than William A. Wellman's first CinemaScope film, The High and the Mighty (1954).

Goofs:

Continuity: Bacall tells Wayne that the map he had been making was burned in the kitchen because there was no time to hide it before the troops arrived. A short time later, Wayne is seen writing on the same map (note the human anatomy on the front side of it).

Quotes:

Capt. Tom Wilder: [spoken through voice tube to engine room] If you want a last look at home, you'd better take it now.
Tack: [heavy with sorrow] I looked.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "I Love Lucy: Lucy and John Wayne (#5.2)" (1955)

Not bad, but ....cheesy

Not a bad movie, but since it is made by Americans, there is a lot of USA born Chinese trying to speak Chinese without much success, and it turns out to be goobledegook. Should have hired some real chinese to do the speaking parts.

John Wayne's reference to "baby" makes me want to puke, it is cheesy to the extreme. Some great actions by the steam boat, unfortunately not by actors. I will not watch this film again, once is enough.