One Way Passage

A dying woman and a condemned man fall in love on an ocean liner; how's that for high concept, circa 1932. No, I'm not giving anything away about this tightly plotted, exquisitely produced melodrama. Upper class sophistication, personified by ever-glamorous Kay Francis and gentleman crook William Powell, characterizes the tragic aspect of the story, while ethic warmth and humor, in the classic Warner Bros. style, are perfectly supplied by Aline MacMahon, Warren Hymer, and Frank McHugh. Lots of marvelous small touches, not the least being the way McHugh plays the final scene. If it's on, don't miss it.

I recently saw this movie on television and loved it. It is a beautiful love story, simply told. Kay Francis and William Powell are the doomed lovers and the Warner Brothers stock company provides excellent support. The contributions here by Aline MacMahon, Frank McHugh and Warren Hymer are especially worth noting. The cinematography shimmers. It's a four hanky tearjerker like they don't make anymore. I agree with the previous post, it's dreamlike perfection and the last scene is one for the books.

This runs at 69 minutes. But it seems like so much is packed into those 69 minutes. Nice story directed by Tay Garnett. William Powel plays a convicted man on the run from the law. The marvelous Kay Francis is a terminally ill woman. They are both passengers on a trans-Pacific voyage to San Francisco. Powell's character avoids getting caught by police agents on the ship. At the same time he romances Francis. The interplay between Powell, Francis & even the rest of the cast is great. Warren Hymer as the detective who eventually gets Powell plays his usually shifty self.(Hymer was excellent in The Unholy Garden with Ronald Colman.) A great character actor the likes of which we don't see anymore. Also in the cast are Aline McMahon and Frank McHugh. Parts of this movie may remind one of the Marx Bros. "Monkey Business", which came out the year before, but without the comic shenanigans. This could also be Leo & Kate from Titanic but with a different outcome. The ship don't sink. 9 out of 10.

In between his time with Paramount and MGM, William Powell did a two year stint at Warner Brothers where I don't think Jack and his brothers ever quite knew what to do with him. His films there, vary in quality, but the best of them is this doomed romance with Kay Francis, One Way Passage. The title itself tells how poignant this film will be.

Powell is a fugitive who is tracked down and brought aboard ship in handcuffs by San Francisco Detective Warren Hymer. Powell escaped while being transported to San Quentin to be hung for murder. At the same time good time party girl Kay Francis is traveling home essentially to die. Unsaid at the time because the audience knew what the effects of bootleg liquor were on some people from the Roaring Twenties. Her organs are generally failing and she's coming home to die.

These two people are as poignant a pair of lovers as has ever been brought to the screen. Neither knows about the other and the aura of heartbreak just permeates One Way Passage. It's a cosmic joke played on them, both finding in each other a reason to live and both knowing it can't be.

Warren Hymer plays it a great deal straighter than he normally does. He's not the brightest cop in the world, but he's a far from the dim witted hooligans he usually is cast. Aline McMahon and Frank McHugh are a pair of confidence workers who both team up to help the doomed Powell and Francis. McHugh repeated his own role in the remake of One Way Passage from 1940, Till We Meet Again.

The most cynical heart will melt in seeing One Way Passage.

The more I see of William Powell, the more impressed I am with him. Because he did a lot of light parts and is mostly known these days for the Thin Man movies, his reputation has suffered. He is a remarkably subtle actor, more so than many others in the early 30's, a transitional period as talkies wiped out silents and acting styles were in flux. His Thin Man movies, though fun, don't do him justice. I think his best acting is in earlier films like this one and MANHATTAN MELODRAMA.

William Powell plays a captured crook heading for execution at San Quentin. Kay Francis is a dying woman he meets in a bar in Hong Kong; they wind up together on a ship for San Francisco. The plot centers around their shipboard romance and how they try to keep their respective "terminal" conditions secret from each other. For a 1932 movie, it's quite modern in feel--lots of nice (but not grandiose) stylistic touches, like some sweeping camera movements, especially the ones along a bar that open and close the movie. Considering there is only one plotline, the supporting cast really gets a chance to shine; Aline McMahon plays somewhat against type as a con artist traveling as a duchess, and Frank McHugh is another crook who pulls con jobs while acting perpetually drunk. They team up to help Powell outsmart the cop who has him under lock and key (Warren Hymer). The character of the cop is interesting--he eventually is seen in a fairly favorable light, despite his antagonism toward Powell. I'm not a big Kay Francis fan, but she's adequate here.