Atlantic Adventure

The very interesting cast makes this otherwise fairly ordinary ace-reporter-cum-detective story worth watching. Lloyd Nolan is serviceable in the role of reporter Dan Miller, but I found myself thinking how Clark Gable or Lee Tracy would have handled it. Nancy Carroll is at the beginning of the end of her career in this picture, but was still bright and lovely as Helen Murdock, Miller's love interest. Silent comedy giant Harry Langdon plays the dim, amiable and always hungry photographer/sidekick Snapper McGillicuddy. Dwight Frye, best remembered for his role as the bug-eating Renfield in Dracula (1931) is along for the ride as one of the crooks. E.E. Clive, known for his many turns as Bulldog Drummond's butler Tenny Tennison, brightens up the film as one of the ship's officers who doesn't quite grasp the American sense of humor. The plot is about what you would expect from a newspaper mystery/comedy of the period. Miller, Murdock and Snapper track the D.A.'s murderer on board the SS Gigantic and somehow forget to get off before she sails. In addition to the murderer, rival gangs of jewel thieves are aboard, and general comic mayhem ensues. It's not Gone With the Wind, it's not even The Front Page, but it is a pleasant way to spend 68 minutes, especially if you like the actors in the cast.

This is a well-preserved and snappily paced comedy-drama from Columbia, edited for speed and making use of cutaway walls to show events transpiring in two rooms at once. Although the plot with its multiple villains threatens to spin out of control and beyond comprehension it never quite loses the viewer. The cast is quite good, especially Dwight Frye as a smooth crook helping a murderer (John Wray) who is escaping justice by disguising himself as a sick old man and boarding an ocean liner to Europe. Lloyd Nolan (from the same gene pool as Ralph Fiennes if you look at him closely enough) plays a wiseacre newspaper reporter pursuing the murderer with his dimwitted pasty-faced photographer-sidekick (Harry Langdon, formerly a celebrated silent screen comedian). Mixed into this mayhem is innocent Nancy Carroll as the woman Nolan loves but, due to his demanding newspaper schedule, hardly ever sees. I won't even attempt to explain just how she gets mixed up in these shenanigans but I will say that everyone in the cast is up to the task and the whole thing moves along at a breezy pace. Although there is nothing new here, it's not a bad way to spend 68 minutes.

There's a certain class of film, especially hailing from the 30s, 40s, or 50s, that is enjoyable but doesn't make any major impression. It's a crapshoot as to the quality of the storytelling, the sound design, the image quality, and any comedy or drama that is intended; some examples are distinctly better or worse than others. Well made as 'Atlantic adventure' is, I think it's a fairly "middle of the road" title. I had a modestly good time watching, but it's "nothing to write home about" as the saying goes, and it's probably best reserved as something light for a lazy day.

John T. Neville, Nat Dorfman, and Diana Bourbon penned a story that's pretty smart in the broad strokes, with some fine wit. Protagonist Dan Miller is far less than likable, in a variety of ways, but in a tale of mix-ups, missed cues, mistaken identities, and ambition exceeding capability, not to mention many moving parts, the situation Miller stumbles his way into is primed for consistent (if moderate) entertainment. I appreciate the set design, at least one instance of which is especially sharp, and cinematographer John Stumar and editor Ted J. Kent both put in some good work. The acting is unremarkable, but most suitable.

All this is well and good. Yet whether one wishes to place responsibility on the shoulders of the writers or of director Albert S. Rogell, the picture carries itself with such a flat, almost blasé tone that it's almost never even given a chance to strike a chord. There is plenty of light humor, but not in the protagonist's buffoonery as is intended, and the most 'Atlantic adventure' can often achieve is getting a few happy neurons to fire off (only one laugh is forthcoming, and only one smile), even with silent star Harry Langdon present. The crime drama angle is duly engaging, but there is no thrill to be found, and the only baseline excitement we get is at the climax when more definitive, palpable energy finally, belatedly characterizes the proceedings. Given weak identification of characters and plot development in addition to the unhelpful tenor, one must actively work to remain attentive or else the details of the narrative will entirely pass us by. Rather emphasizing the point, some dialogue given to Langdon within the last ten minutes, loosely summarizing the plot up to that point, is better elucidation of the whole than the writing otherwise musters.

All the right pieces are here for what should be a fun, satisfying crime comedy. And, well, it is fun and satisfying, to a degree; it's just also very forgettable, and after watching one can move on with their day as though they hadn't watched at all. It's hard to even pinpoint specific issues, though as the last stretch of the runtime demonstrates, the vibrancy that the feature otherwise lacks is a big one. I would also suggest that if protagonist Miller had been written differently - if he weren't quite as unlikable, or alternatively, if he faced actual consequences for his terrible behavior - then the humor that surrounded the chief character might have met with more success. I still think this is passable, but it's difficult to give a particularly high recommendation. 'Atlantic adventure' is okay, but it would stand taller and be more memorable if it weren't so middling for far too much of its length.

Reporter Lloyd Nolan is frustrated. Every time he has a hot date with girlfriend Nancy Carroll, his editor orders him out on a story. Nolan grumbles ("I've stood Helen up three times in a row already") but covers the big fire as ordered.

One day, desperate to meet Carroll for lunch, Nolan skips the press conference at the D.A.'s office. Of course he's late for the lunch so Carroll dumps him...and then the D.A. gets shot at the press conference that Nolan is skipping, so he gets fired too.

That's a pretty bad day but by that same evening Nolan is down at the pier snooping around the S.S. Gigantic, accompanied by his sidekick and photographer Harry Langdon, who has managed to bring Carroll along too. They all end up on board the ship when it sails for Southampton--and Nolan is sure that this is his big chance to get back his job (and his girl) by capturing the D.A.'s killer, who may be fleeing the country on the ship.

This whole plot line is wildly improbable but the story does take some interesting twists. Besides the escaping murderer, a couple of crooks are on board carrying a stash of stolen diamonds, and yet another pair of crooks is spying on them. Carroll gets mixed up in the mystery when somebody hands her an envelope full of cash, apparently mistaking her for one of the gang.

The various crooks are actually kind of fun, as are the ship's very British officers, who are not amused by their American passengers' shenanigans. Harry Langdon's comic relief consists mainly of making funny faces.

Both Lloyd Nolan and Nancy Carroll are energetic and look good. However, the roles don't quite work--Carroll's character is smart and generally self-sufficient, so what does she see in overconfident dunce Nolan? And why does she keep letting him boss her around?

Not very believable but it mostly moves fast.