Pacific Liner (1939)

The S. S. Arcturus sails from Shanghai to San Francisco, and Dr. Jim Craig takes the post of ship's physician in order to be near Ann Grayson, the ship's nurse. Chief Engineer 'Crusher" ... See full summary »

Director:

Lew Landers

Writers:

John Twist (screen play), Anthony Coldeway (story)

Stars:

Victor McLaglen, Chester Morris, Wendy Barrie

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Victor McLaglen	...	Crusher McKay
Chester Morris	...	Doctor Craig
Wendy Barrie	...	Ann Grayson
Alan Hale	...	Gallagher
Barry Fitzgerald	...	Britches
Allan Lane	...	Bilson
Halliwell Hobbes	...	Captain Mathews
Cy Kendall	...	Deadeyes (as Cyrus W. Kendall)
Paul Guilfoyle	...	Wishart
John Wray	...	Metcalfe
Emory Parnell	...	Olaf
Adia Kuznetzoff	...	Silvio
John Bleifer	...	Kovac
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Charles Trowbridge	...	San Francisco Doctor (scenes deleted)

Storyline

The S. S. Arcturus sails from Shanghai to San Francisco, and Dr. Jim Craig takes the post of ship's physician in order to be near Ann Grayson, the ship's nurse. Chief Engineer 'Crusher" McKay also has his eyes on Ann, and this brings an immediate conflict between the two men. When an epidemic breaks out below decks, Craig tells McKay the engine-and-fire rooms must be put under quarantine, but all of Craig's efforts to keep the disease from spreading are opposed by McKay.

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Plot Keywords:

ship | quarantine | physician | disease | engineer | 

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Taglines:

"Crusher" McKay...the roughest, toughest son of steam who ever mastered men or fought to win a woman's favor---AT BAY!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 January 1939 (USA)

Also Known As:

Drama ston okeano

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

76 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Eddie Bracken's film debut, albeit in an uncredited role.

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Connections

Referenced in The Rookie Cop (1939)

User Reviews

It Seems To Continually Forget Its Own Story

A ship sailing from Shanghai, China to the United States is suddenly stricken with a cholera outbreak after the disease is brought aboard by a Chinese stowaway. That's the basis of the story here. It sounds as though a pretty good movie could be made out of that, as the cholera spreads throughout the ship and causes rising panic. Somehow, though, that was never really accomplished. Instead, from the very beginning, the disease was pretty well contained - kept in the boiler room where the stowaway was found. Yes, some of the boiler room crew died, but there was never any sense that the entire ship was at risk, the biggest issue seeming to be how much of a delay would be caused as the boiler room crew keep succumbing to the disease. On the side, there's a competition going on between the ship's doctor and the chief engineer for the attention of a beautiful nurse, and a lot attention paid to the relationship between the chief engineer and his men. All those things, though, seemed to keep distracting the movie from what should have been its real focus - the cholera outbreak. The only point at which there was any real drama - and when it looked for a moment as though this was really going to become a suspenseful movie - was the point when several of the boiler room crew started to mutiny and threatened to take the disease above decks, which would have put the passengers at risk. But that just fizzled out. The story overall was disjointed and disappointing.

The problems with the story were somewhat (but not totally) compensated for by pretty good performances, especially from Chester Morris as the ship's doctor and Victor McLaglen as the chief engineer. Unfortunately, their talents could have been made better use of. 4/10