China Passage

This film begins with two Americans by the names of "Tommy Baldwin" (Vinton Hayworth) and "Joe Dugan" (Gordon Jones) hired to transport a valuable diamond from Beijing to Shanghai. Unfortunately, upon their arrival in Shanghai it is stolen during a gunfight and the man who hired them expects his diamond to be returned at the pain of death. Needless to say, they immediately begin to interrogate everyone who was in the general vicinity of the robbery and in a strange coincidence all of them have booked passage on a passenger liner back to the United States. So since all of the suspects are gathered together on this ship that is where their investigation begins. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a satisfactory mystery movie with adequate performances all around although the comedy supplied by the character named "Philip Burton" (Dick Elliott) got a bit stale after a while. But all in all this film was but good enough for the time spent and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.

In RKO's "China Passage", Tom Baldwin (Vinton Hayworth) and Joe Dugan (Gordon Jones) are to transport a diamond, for a nice fee. Coming just two years after MGM's "China Seas" with Clark Gable and Jean Harlow, this one claims to have a different writer, and thus a different story. There is a big fight, and when it's over, we are introduced to all kinds of characters who are probably all after the diamond. You'll recognize Dick Elliot... he was the mayor in "Andy Griffith". And of course, Billy Gilbert, who sneezed and coughed his way through all his films, is the bartender. Leslie Fenton (plays the writer), Constance Worth (Jane Dunn), and miscellaneous others are lurking about, clearly also after the diamond. It's a grand adventure... kind of goes all over the place. Neatly wrapped up at the end. Extra points if you figured out who had the diamond! Entertaining. This one focuses more on the missing diamond than the love story, and I guess that's the main difference between this one and the Gable/Harlow one. Only 40 votes on IMDb on this one. Must have been locked away for years. Worth watching. Directed by Ed Killy... a bit more info on him at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Killy .

Vinton Hayworth and Gordon Jones are supposed to carry a famous diamond from Shanghai to its destination. A gun battle erupts, and the diamond disappears. Girl detective Constance Worth finds herself on a ship bound from Shanghai to San Francisco with every one who was in that street (except for perpetually sozzled Dick Elliott, who insists he is going to Sydney). Since the trip takes only 50 minutes in this movie, and some one is poisoning suspects, she has to move fast.

It's directed by Edward Killy, an RKO assistant director who occasionally was turned loose on B programmers. He directed six the year he made this one, then went back to managing crowds for others until 1940, whereupon he directed a spate of B westerns, then back to assistant directing.

This one is competently directed for speed, but there is enough humor and even a skeet-shooting match to let the audience relax. Keep an eye out for Skippy, the terrier who's best known for playing Asta in MGM's "Thin Man" movies.

This movie is very well done. The settings are interesting, starting in 1937 Shanghai, and then moving onto a passenger steamship for most of the story. I always enjoy those old mysteries set on a ship!

All the characters are good, and the script is top-notch, with many nice lines. This movie definitely deserves a higher rating than it has.

RKO did a fine job with this movie. One of the merits of the plot is, that there are a lot of suspects among the liner's passengers, which makes it more interesting. The plot is similar to what you might expect in a Charlie Chan film of that period, but without a standout hero such as Chan, this movie has been very obscure. It is well worth your viewing time, especially if you like 1930's mysteries.