Voyage sans retour

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.

In the grim year of 1932, with Warner Bros. losing money like all the major studios except MGM (RKO and Paramount both went into receivership thanks to the Depression), along comes the movie One Way Passage, dealing with what seems are the petty cares of grifters on a Pacific cruise. Only this movie is not a screwball comedy or a story about rich people in tuxedos chitchatting when they are not dancing. Writer Robert Lord's frequent writing partner in 1932 and 1933, Wilson Mizner, specialized in stories about people on the margins of society, peaking with the great Heroes For Sale. In one way or another, most of the characters in One Way Passage are nearing the end of their line. When Frank McHugh's character Skippy drinks alone at a bar in Agua Caliente on New Year's Eve, there is no longer the usual smile on his face as he stares at his drink. The opening credits of the movie put Kay Francis' name above the title, but she is just one of several Warners stock company actors at their peak in this movie, including Warren Hymer as the tough detective who always gets his man.

The year 1939 is described as Hollywood's peak year, when movies like Gone With The Wind and Gunga Din were in release. But judging movies by how they stand the test of time, movies released in 1932 and 1933 stand up better. One Way Passage is proof of that. Warner Bros. may have treated its employees like slaves, working stars and crew until 2:00 AM (with no overtime) to meet the 12 day production time limit the studio imposed on most movies, with a 6 day work week, but look at the results. One Way Passage. Baby Face. Mystery of the Wax Museum. Lady Killer. Joan Blondell described Warners Bros. studio then as a place where things were "really cooking." And now, almost 75 years later, One Way Passage can still hold a viewer's attention with its story of some passengers on a last voyage before everything changes.

What's wrong with this film?.......nothing. It has all the ingredients that make this type of film so wonderful......actors, set design, pathos, romance and it's pre-code to boot.

William Powell, one of my favorites, is paired with the soigne Kay Francis. They are two doomed lovers, each ignorant of the other's "condition". Powell is headed for the hangman and Francis has some unidentified terminal illness(which apparently doesn't affect her looks). Francis who could wear a burlap bag and look glamorous is lovely here and Powell is at his suave best. Along for the ride are Warren Hymer as the cop taking Powell to his fate, Aline McMahon as the con who is conning Hymer, and Frank McHugh as the dipsy crook. All are in fine form.

What ensues on shipboard is romance at its weepiest......a love that is fated to end when the ship docks. But the promise is made to meet on New Year's Eve in Mexico, thus leading to that ending that causes the audience to bring out the hankies.

Often movies made in the early 30s are a bit corny but not so here. The film seems rather modern and the dialogue, although there are a lot of "darlings and dearests" is fairly contemporary. If you don't like weepers, better pass on this one....BUT if you are a sucker for a tragic love story with an almost ethereal feel to it, this is the one for you. Be sure to bring the Kleenex.

Kay Francis and William Powell are doomed lovers in "One Way Passage," a 1932 film also starring Frank McHugh, Aline McMahan and Warren Hymer.

Right after meeting the lovely Joan Ames in a bar, escaped murderer Dan Hardesty is caught by Sgt. Steve Burke and brought back to San Francisco via ship to be hanged. Ames is also on board ship; she's dying of an incurable illness (probably some form of heart disease they couldn't do anything about in 1932).

Knowing the sergeant can't swim, Hardesty, handcuffed to him, jumps overboard and, while trying to drown Burke, steals the handcuff key and frees himself. When Burke yells for help, it draws attention from passengers, and Hardesty has no choice but to save him.

To thank him for saving his life, Burke lets Hardesty walk around the ship with no handcuffs. Thus, when he and Joan meet again, she has no idea he's headed for a death sentence, and he doesn't know about her.

I saw Carol Burnett do a send-up of either this or the remake - just think if Burnett were on TV today, no one would have any idea what she was doing. How times have changed.

This is a beautiful film with wonderful performances, not only from Powell and Francis, but from Frank McHugh, Aline McMahon, and Warren Hymer. McHugh is a petty crook who runs into McMahon, another crook who is posing as a countess. She catches the eye of Sgt. Burke. It's a great subplot with some fun moments.

Powell is gallant, melancholy, and charming, and Francis is glamorous and lovely; both give very touching and sweet performances, each knowing he/she isn't going to live.

Each time they drink together, they break their glasses and cross the stems, and this crossing is something the camera focuses on as they sit in a cove in Hawaii and toss away their cigarettes. The ending is one of the best ever and will make the viewer smile and cry at the same time.

It's 1932, so some of the sound seems to have been done in an echo chamber, but that shouldn't bother anyone. "One Way Passage" is a treasure of a film.

This is an update of an earlier comment. One Way Passage is likely the most underrated romance picture of all time! The stars--William Powell and Kay Francis--are superb. The supporting players--Aline MacMahon, Frank McHugh, and Warren Hymer--have never been better. The music score is a classic; the story a perfect gem. Francis is dying from a rare malady; Powell is going home to face execution. They meet and fall in love.

From the opening shot at a Far East bar, complete with a marvelous singing trio (Jane Jones is one of the singers), to the final, heartbreaking moment, this film is the perfect 1930s concoction of great stars and a ridiculously silly plot made totally believable and palatable. Kay Francis was one of the top stars of the decade, and this is one of her best films; William Powell, always underrated, has never been more suave. Both deserved Oscar nominations for this great film, as did MacMahon and McHugh for support (not a category for another few years).

Kay Francis did everything during her reign as a top star. It's amazing how she was able to go from fragile heroine to hard-edged woman and then throw in a comedy. A truly versatile and wonderful star rescued by TCM from obscurity. William Powell would hit his stride a few years after this film in The Thin Man. He started out in silent films as a villain (When Knighthood Was in Flower in 1922) but talkies turned him into the epitome of the debonair gent.

Two great stars, but neither Powell nor Francis would ever win an Oscar.