Pacific Liner

If one is thinking that Victor McLaglen and Chester Morris are doing yet another version of Captain Flagg and Sergeant Quirt in Pacific Liner that is most definitely not the case. There are some hijinks to be sure, but for the most part this is involved with fighting the serious business of a cholera epidemic.

McLaglen is the chief stoker and Morris the ship's doctor on board the passenger liner The Arcturus. Cholera breaks out among the crew and those still on their feet try to keep it all from the blithely unconcerned passengers.

These two are also in competition for Wendy Barrie the ship's nurse. She has some history with both guys.

Newsreel footage of ship's operations are blended nicely into the story. Like you would see in an O'Neill play, these sailors do live in a world of their own away from the passengers. The sailors are a lot of familiar character players headed by Barry Fitzgerald and Alan Hale.

Pacific Liner holds up very well after 80+ years.

This 1939 film has a plethora of great supporting actors including Barry Fitzgerald ("Going My Way", "The Quiet Man"), Alan Hale Sr. (Little John in "Robin Hood"), Paul Guilfoyle, and Halliwell Hobbes. Look for a young Eddie Bracken among the sailors. Of course you need to love Victor McLaglen who chews through the scenery as few can do.

A ship sailing from Shanghai, China to the United States is suddenly stricken with a cholera outbreak after the disease is brought aboard by a Chinese stowaway. That's the basis of the story here. It sounds as though a pretty good movie could be made out of that, as the cholera spreads throughout the ship and causes rising panic. Somehow, though, that was never really accomplished. Instead, from the very beginning, the disease was pretty well contained - kept in the boiler room where the stowaway was found. Yes, some of the boiler room crew died, but there was never any sense that the entire ship was at risk, the biggest issue seeming to be how much of a delay would be caused as the boiler room crew keep succumbing to the disease. On the side, there's a competition going on between the ship's doctor and the chief engineer for the attention of a beautiful nurse, and a lot attention paid to the relationship between the chief engineer and his men. All those things, though, seemed to keep distracting the movie from what should have been its real focus - the cholera outbreak. The only point at which there was any real drama - and when it looked for a moment as though this was really going to become a suspenseful movie - was the point when several of the boiler room crew started to mutiny and threatened to take the disease above decks, which would have put the passengers at risk. But that just fizzled out. The story overall was disjointed and disappointing.

The problems with the story were somewhat (but not totally) compensated for by pretty good performances, especially from Chester Morris as the ship's doctor and Victor McLaglen as the chief engineer. Unfortunately, their talents could have been made better use of. 4/10

A mediocre yarn about an outbreak of cholera on an ocean liner and the differing attitudes of the engine room's foreman (Victor McLaglen) and ship's doctor (Chester Morris) about how to handle it. There are a lot of sweaty men shoveling coal and then dropping dead on the spot, as if that's the way cholera even works. There's a love interest running around in the background that the men fight over, but it's hard to hear anything over McLaglen's constant shouting. This is a B programmer all the way, and the only hope of enjoying it is to know that going in and lean into it.

"Pacific Liner" does earn its small spot in film history books by virtue of being a.....wait for it.... Oscar nominee, if you can believe it. It was nominated for Best Original Score in the first year of that category's existence (1938, though awards for music had been handed out since 1934). Russell Bennett, who would go on to win an Oscar for "Oklahoma!" provided the score to this film, the first year that nominations for music scoring went to the actual composer(s) and not the head of the studio's music department. There were 11 nominees, since rules back then allowed studios to just pick movies for guaranteed nominations, but it still counts. And get this, Bennett lost to Erich Wolfgang Korngold for "The Adventures of Robin Hood." That's like Zach Efron competing in the same category as Laurence Olivier.

Grade: C.

With that bucket load of stars, it's a shame this one wasn't better. It WAS made five years after the Hayes code came whooshing in, so I wonder if it wouldn't have been a little more interesting if it had been made a couple years earlier... LOVE the scene where Alan Hale and another engine room worker are dancing together to the music coming from the upper decks. Alan Hale Sr. was the real life father of the Skipper on Gilligan's Island. He was the jolly, laughing character actor in about half the films made in the 1930/1940s. Viewers will recognize "Britches"...Barry Fitzgerald is the shorter Irish gentleman from The Quiet Man & Going My Way. Chester Morris (was sleuth "Boston Blackie") is the ship's doctor, who must deal with cholera outbreak. A stow-away has brought the deadly disease on board, and the captain (Halliwell Hobbes) must come up with a plan as it threatens to spread through the ship. Victor McLaglen is the burly, tough Chief Engineer, and had been a boxer in real life, which came in handy, since he needs to keep firm control of the men here. McLaglen would also work with Fitzgerald in "Quiet Man". Bombshell star of the 1940's Wendy Barrie is the ship's nurse. The film is OK, but it just kind of ends, without any drama or big climactic scene. Directed by Lew Landers. Worth watching on Turner Classics, but I sure wouldn't buy this one...