Blood Alley (1955)

Director:

William A. Wellman
(more)

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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
George Chan	...	Mr. Sing (uncredited)
W.T. Chang	...	Mr. Han (uncredited)
David Chow	...	Boat man (uncredited)
Chester Gan	...	Ferry Boat Captain (uncredited)
Lowell Gilmore	...	British officer (uncredited)
James Hong	...	Communist soldier (uncredited)
Eddie Luke	...	Feng's #2 nephew (uncredited)
Henry Nakamura	...	Tack, engineer (uncredited)
Walter Soo Hoo	...	Feng's #1 nephew (uncredited)
Victor Sen Yung	...	Cpl. Wang (uncredited)

Directed by
William A. Wellman
John Wayne		(uncredited)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Albert Sidney Fleischman		novel "Blood Alley" (as A.S. Fleischman)
Albert Sidney Fleischman		screenplay (as A.S. Fleischman)

Produced by
John Wayne	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Roy Webb

Cinematography by
William H. Clothier

Film Editing by
Fred MacDowell

Production Design by
Alfred Ybarra

Set Decoration by
Victor A. Gangelin		(as Victor Gangelin)

Costume Design by
Gwen Wakeling

Makeup Department
Margaret Donovan	....	hair stylist
Web Overlander	....	makeup supervisor
Norman Pringle	....	makeup supervisor

Production Management
Tom Andre	....	unit production manager
Nate H. Edwards	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Andrew V. McLaglen	....	assistant director
Robert H. Justman	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Joe LaBella	....	property master (as Joseph Labella)

Sound Department
Earl Crain Sr.	....	sound
Carl Mahakian	....	sound editor (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Daniel Hays	....	special effects (uncredited)

Stunts
David Chow	....	stunts (uncredited)
Gene Coogan	....	stunts (uncredited)
Evelyn Finley	....	stunts (uncredited)
Duke Green	....	stunts (uncredited)
Tom Hennesy	....	stunts (uncredited)
Stubby Kruger	....	stunts (uncredited)
Sharon Lucas	....	stunts (uncredited)
Shirley Lucas	....	stunts (uncredited)
Harvey Parry	....	stunts (uncredited)
Regis Parton	....	stunts (uncredited)
Peter Peterson	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jack Sterling	....	stunts (uncredited)
Terry Wilson	....	stunts (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Carl Walker	....	costumes: men

Music Department
Maurice De Packh	....	orchestrator (as Maurice de Packh)
Gus Levene	....	orchestrator
Lloyd Young	....	music editor (uncredited)

Transportation Department
George Coleman	....	transportation coordinator (uncredited)

Other crew
Sam Freedle	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Batjac Productions (as A Batjac Production)
• Warner Bros. Pictures (presents)

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1955) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Bros. (1956) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (????) (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

• U.S. Department of Defense  we wish to express our appreciation for their cooperation and assistance (as the United States Department of Defense)
• United States Coast Guard  we wish to express our appreciation for their cooperation and assistance (as the United States Coast Guard)

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: When Wilder says "Half the Red navy's out there ...", the position of the wheel and the placement of his hands on it changes between shots.

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)

The Bleeding Heart of China

When I watch Blood Alley it does make me wonder that if all these people are so dead set on leaving Communist China than who was it that supported Chairman Mao. My answer is a lot of people who wished they hadn't.

When Blood Alley came out in 1955 the Chinese Communist takeover was in 1949 and we in this country, rightly or wrongly, were not recognizing them. Maybe the policy was bad, didn't mean the Chinese Communists were any good.

Anyway the film is about a sea captain who gets freed from jail in the People's Republic by a village who have hit upon a plan to take themselves to Hong Kong and freedom bag and baggage. The idea is to steal an old river steamboat and have Captain John Wayne pilot the craft down the Formosa straits, or Blood Alley as its called. Lauren Bacall who is the daughter of a medical missionary is along for the ride.

Too bad that the Duke and Betty could not get a better film though they sure did do a winner later on in The Shootist. Nevertheless in her memoirs she spoke with great affection for Wayne and how much she enjoyed working with him.

One other interesting thing has always struck me. John Wayne did three films with William Wellman and this was the least of them. The other two, The High and the Mighty and Island in the Sky are classics containing two of the Duke's best performances. But for whatever reason the Wayne family estate withheld them until last year it rendered discussion about Wayne's acting abilities totally off base. This one which is just a routine action adventure film despite the right wing political message.

In addition Wayne is miscast, but in fairness he was pinch hitting for the originally cast Robert Mitchum. Back in those days Wayne and his Batjac production company did produce films with other people in them. One they did produce was Track of the Cat that starred Mitchum and was directed by Bill Wellman. Wellman also directed Mitchum in his breakthrough role in The Story of GI Joe. But Wellman and Mitchum came to a parting of the ways just before the film was to start shooting and Mitchum got canned.

That left producer Wayne in a bind and after reportedly offering the role to Humphrey Bogart and Gregory Peck, he did it himself with no changes in the script to accommodate his less cynical screen persona.

In fact according to Lee Server's biography of Mitchum, Wayne was to go on his honeymoon with wife number 3, Pilar. It was postponed and Pilar Wayne would not allow the Mitchums in the Wayne home for the time she was married to the Duke, though Mitchum and Wayne were friends. They could be friends, but Mitchum was forbidden to enter her home.

Such occidentals as Paul Fix and Mike Mazurki were cast as Chinese in this film as was Berry Kroeger. It could never happen that way again, though Mazurki in fact did have some Oriental blood in his background.

As for Communist China or Red China if you prefer, you never hear it referred to in that way any more. That's because the second Mao Tse tung couldn't fog a mirror the Chinese set about becoming good capitalist oligarchs. They pay lip service to the 1949 revolution, but that's about all.

Good for them.