Griffes jaunes

This film contains many aspects of the noir, including the clipped bantering dialogue with the clever intent. Coming soon after The Maltese Falcon, Across the Pacific is something of a mystery movie too.

Rick Leland (Humphrey Bogart) is a disgraced military man with dubious loyalties. He gets on a Japanese ship that is sailing to New York City, the Canal Zone and the Orient. While onboard, he becomes familiar with the other passengers: a western businessman named Dr. Leland (Sydney Greenstreet) who has a penchant for all things oriental and a smalltown woman named Alberta (Mastor Astor) who is taking a pleasure cruise.

But we sense all is not as it seems. Will Rick sail off into the Japanese sunset, bitter at the country that snubbed him? Will the doctor reveal an insidious intent? Will Alberta prove to be more than a romantic foil for Rick?

The action takes place not long before the U.S. would be forced to enter the war. Tensions are high. Eventually there is gunplay and all motives are revealed. Along the way, ATP proves to be an interesting film. The ending reminded me of another film that would follow in 1959--North by Northwest. ATP is a high stakes game of cat and mouse that coexists with a lighthearted romance.

My one complaint is that Mary Astor is not an actress I think would inspire lust in Bogart's Rick. Someone like Rita Hayworth would better fit the bill.

Richard Macaulay had to do some fast rewrites on this John Huston-directed picture, based upon a magazine serial by Robert Carson. When dishonorably discharged Army Officer Humphrey Bogart is revealed to be a spy staking out a powerful Japanese sympathizer aboard a vessel to the Orient, the portly commander was originally supposed to be supervising the bombing of Pearl Harbor. When that occurred in real-life while the picture was in production, Macaulay hurriedly switched the locale to the Panama Canal (making the film's title irrelevant). However, even if the story structure is patchy--and Mary Astor's role as a plantation owner's daughter ultimately doesn't make much sense--"Across the Pacific" has a dryly joshing quality about it, and the end results are pleasant if unremarkable. Bogart (playing 'Rick', sometimes 'Ricky') is in jovial spirits throughout, especially when comparing gun sizes with Sydney Greenstreet (never better) or fingering Astor's back after she's acquired a sunburn; his blithe, easy performance makes the film enjoyable. Astor (ostensibly the love-interest) doesn't pour on the charm in her scenes with Bogie; she plays it rather big-sisterly with him, a seen-it-all kind of gal, and this works extremely well. The finale is a sign of the times--American fighter planes fill the skies--but even this corny touch works a little magic, despite the film's misshapen quality and sluggish beginning. **1/2 from ****

WWII intrigue is served up in the days leading up to the bombing on Pearl Harbor. However, in an apparent late decision by the writers to not mention Pearl Harbor, the bombing target becomes Panama so history can be ignored. Bogart is cool as always as an artillery officer. He is reunited with his co-stars, Astor and Greenstreet, both in fine form, and director Huston from "The Maltese Falcon." Unfortunately, the script is rather convoluted and rambling, seemingly written in a rush to cash in on the success of the earlier film. The dialog is crisp and witty. If only the plot had been better, this could have been a classic.

"Across the Pacific" is a fairly well done spy movie that takes place in the last days before America's entry into World War II. Rick Leland (Humphrey Bogart) is cashiered from the U.S. Army for stealing funds. The events that follow involve a love interest (Mary Astor) and an enemy agent (Sydney Greenstreet) and a trip on a passenger ship from New York to the Panama Canal. Humphrey Bogart as an American spy is convincing in a role that might have been played by Sean Connery 20 years later.

The subplot of a Japanese plot to torpedo the Panama Canal and put it out of action was a case of truth being stranger than fiction with the recent revelation of Japanese submarines which carried planes designed to knock the canal out, but which were never used. "Across the Pacific" has humor, action and romance and is one of Bogart's lesser known but very good movies.

Good WW2 spy movie with the three leads and director from The Maltese Falcon. The plot is about Humphrey Bogart getting tangled up with baddie Sydney Greenstreet and love interest Mary Astor. Greenstreet's a Japanese sympathizer and is trying to recruit Bogie. Good luck with that, Gutman. Bogart is excellent playing a character he was totally at home playing: wisecracking tough guy ladies' man. Greenstreet is villainous as ever and perfect at it. Just as in Maltese Falcon, Mary Astor is playing a stunning beauty that makes heads turn. Just like in Maltese Falcon, she doesn't match the character description. Perhaps Huston had a bit of a crush. Otherwise I don't get her being cast in these types of parts at a time when the likes of Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner were around. Still, despite that element of the casting being off, Astor does fine.

This movie has an interesting backstory. It was originally to be about a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor but when that actually happened in real life, they changed it to Panama. They never changed the title, though, despite the movie taking place nowhere near the Pacific. Then John Huston got called to serve before filming was complete so Vincent Sherman had to step in. Oddly, it seems Huston was the only one who knew how the movie was supposed to end so Sherman had to make up the final fifteen minutes or so of the movie!