Dangerous Passage

The good story setup keeps this action feature going, and makes it worth seeing even though the rest of it is not of particularly good quality. The cast is only adequate, and the production is low-budget in almost every respect. Some of it is covered over by the use of fog, dark passageways, and similar devices in many of the scenes, which gives it a little bit of atmosphere.

The story idea itself is a good one. It follows an American who is living in semi-exile in Central America when he receives news of a large inheritance back in Texas. As he returns to claim it, he finds himself in the middle of two hazardous situations, with one group planning to get him out of the way so that they can grab his inheritance, and part of the ship's crew wanting to get rid of him for reasons of their own. For much of the story, he's not sure whom, if anyone, he can trust.

It's the kind of story that can make a great movie with the right cast and director. Here, it has little help, although it's good enough to make the rest of the movie watchable. The cast is largely unexceptional, although Alec Craig provides a good characterization of the frightened ship's steward, and Phyllis Brooks is at least pleasant to look at. The shady lawyer character is rather obviously intended to be a low-budget version of Sydney Greenstreet's character in "The Maltese Falcon". He provides a few mildly amusing moments, while at other times he falls a bit flat.

Robert Lowery gets some news that he's inherited $200,000.00 and he's got to leave his job as an oil rigger and get to Galveston to claim it. He gets himself mugged on the docks in Tampico and decides to take an earlier sailing tramp freighter as a passenger. But there are some people who want to do him out of the inheritance.

Not only that there's a mysterious dame played by Phyllis Brooks on board, a solicitious steward in Alec Craig and all kinds of other people with mixed motives.

There's two situations going at the same time. Some people are out for the inheritance that he has and another group that means harm to the ship itself. Lowery has to deal with both.

This is not one of the better Pine-Thomas B films from Paramount. It's cheap and it shows. But I will say that Charles Arnt plays a most intriguing and voluble villain. Arnt is definitely taking his cues from Dudley Digges and Sydney Greenstreet as Casper Gutman, though without the gut. Lowery is nowhere near the 'character' that Humphrey Bogart was.

If you watch this film, do it mainly to see Charles Arnt.

A Mr. Beck shows up to a South American solicitor's office to find out he has inherited a fortune from a discarded uncle. The solicitor makes him show him his proof of who he is. Then gives him instructions on traveling back to Texas to claim his fortune. That evening he is attacked in an attempt to get his proof of identification papers and he accidentally kills the attacker defending himself. Realizing he has to get out of town quickly, he talks his way on to the only boat leaving port that night. The boat has an additional passenger, a woman who he thinks is a singer escaping her lot in life. On board the ship things aren't what they seem. The lady has a scheme hatched with a crew member...and the captain and other crew members have a scheme of their own going...to top it of the solicitor and another thug board the boat at one of the port stops!

This was a great twisted film noir plot...with a wonderful mid-movie Mexican serenade beachside moment.

If you are a film noir fan...this is one you should know in your repertoire.

Studio-bound programmer. I expect the movie was good diversion for wartime audiences on the late shift. Seems inheritance-rich Beck (Lowery) gets onto a ship where the fog never lifts, a touch that's both atmospheric and cost cutting. On board, he quickly runs into intrigues where nobody can be trusted, not even the fetching Nita (Brooks)-- so, should he kiss her or search her. And will he ever get to Texas and claim his inheritance. He won't if the deck hands don't tie down the heavy oil drums better, or is it the shadowy guy with the rope-cutting knife. Well, after all, the movie is titled Dangerous Passage not Sunshine Cruises.

Plot-wise, the two separate intrigues are awkward and overloaded for a 60-minute runtime, suggesting that the insurance scheme, at least, should have been dropped. Except for LaRue's uncertain character, the acting is good for a programmer. And hats off to Lowery who must have jumped from one movie set to the next, so busy was he during this period. Nothing special here, just serviceable entertainment, even for generations later.

What is it about kissing in older films that make them seem so very staged, and forced? Was it a requirement of film censors for this approach, so impressionable audience members wouldn't be quite as scandalized? Or is it just an extension of how contrived most romances were in a time when the industry was even more male-centered? In any event, the latter certainly describes in general how interactions between stars Robert Lowery and Phyllis Brooks appear on film here. Put that aside, and 'Dangerous passage' holds promise as the story of a shipping vessel where those on board are shady, desperate, or some combination thereof, with a dash of varied hopes and aspirations on top. Pictures from the 30s and 40s that clocked in at such a minute length, as this does, tended more than not to make the most of their span to hook audiences and keep them hooked; while this feature maintains a steady pace, it doesn't seem quite as concerned about its plot development. This isn't to say that it's altogether bland, but story beats come, and go, and build, but there's no real air of urgency or drama about them. I don't think that's anyone's fault per se, just an unfortunate truth of how this production turned out, but it's noticeable all the same.

Spearheaded by Paramount, 'Dangerous passage' comes across as the type of picture that's pitched to an executive, and slammed into production, to fill the release schedule and make a quick, easy buck. This isn't to say that it's rushed, or bad, but only that the relative lack of meaningfully impactful narrative, or characters to get invested in, translates into simple, passive entertainment. It's suitably well made, and acted, with fine production design. Yet even when we do get a burst of plot, or a scene that should carry charged energy, the execution feels almost lackadaisical. All the elements are here for what should be a reasonably compelling drama, yet it seems like there wasn't enough real care put into any one part to impart any earnest vibrancy to the viewer. Alas, it turns out that the same inauthenticity that marks kissing between Lowery and Brooks is a rather accurate summation of the title as a whole.

You could do a lot worse; you could also do a lot better. This is the type of movie to put on when you want to watch something without getting actively engaged in it. Indeed, even if you try, the film itself will discourage your investment, and it's so unbothered about its own plot that the conveyance thereof becomes muddled for the fact of the middling tedium. 'Dangerous passage' is an okay watch for a lazy hour if you come across it, but temper your expectations and don't go out of your way for it.