Across the Pacific (1942)

Director:

John Huston

Writers:

Richard Macaulay (screenplay)
Robert Carson (serial)

Release Date:

5 September 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Romance | War

Plot:

Rick Leland makes no secret of the fact he has no loyalty to his home country after he is court-marshaled...

Plot Keywords:

Japanese | Panama | Panama Canal | Passenger | Plan Gone Wrong

Cast

Humphrey Bogart	...	Rick Leland
Mary Astor	...	Alberta Marlow
Sydney Greenstreet	...	Dr. Lorenz
Charles Halton	...	A.V. Smith
Victor Sen Yung	...	Joe Totsuiko (as Sen Young)
Roland Got	...	Sugi
Lee Tung Foo	...	Sam Wing On
Frank Wilcox	...	Captain Morrison
Paul Stanton	...	Colonel Hart
Lester Matthews	...	Canadian Major
John Hamilton	...	Court-Martial President
Tom Stevenson	...	Unidentified Man
Roland Drew	...	Captain Harkness
Monte Blue	...	Dan Morton
Chester Gan	...	Captain Higoto

Also Known As:

Aloha Means Goodbye (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Canada:G (video rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #8248)

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Director John Huston went off to join the war effort before the film was finished, and Vincent Sherman directed the final scenes.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The background for the opening titles is a map of the Panama Canal. The orientation of the map and the compass is correct, but the labeling of the map is incorrect. In fact, the Atlantic end of the canal and the city of Colon are at the upper left (Northwest), and the Pacific end of the canal and Panama City are at the lower right (Southeast). The map is correctly labeled behind the closing credits.

Quotes:

Alberta Marlow: We were discussing Philippine economics when we were so rudely interrupted.
Dr. Lorenz: My own field! Miss Marlowe was kind enough to listen to me.
Rick Leland: They're going to be free in 1946, aren't they?
Dr. Lorenz: They are - provided America does not insist on fighting a war with Japan. It's my opinion that that contingency is going to keep the Philippines from being free.
Alberta Marlow: Won't Japan gobble them up?
Rick Leland: No offense, but Japan or Canada or anybody else can have the Philippines as far as I'm concerned. It's hot in Manila!
Dr. Lorenz: Might even be hotter before long.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Hold Your Breath and Cross Your Fingers: The Story of 'Dark Passage' (2003) (V)

Adventure+Astor+Bogart+John Huston=Entertainment

John Huston's second film reunited three of his key actors from The Maltese Falcon(1941). This war time thriller takes place before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Across the Pacific(1942) is about a disgraced solider who tries to redeem himself by acting as a spy for the US government. Humphrey Bogart plays the American spy, Rick Leland in his most cool and suave performance. Leland's mission is to prevent the Japanese from bombing the Panama Canal.

Sydney Greenstreet as Dr. Lorenz gives a performance that's absolutely sinister. He would have made a perfect James Bond Villain had he lived during the 1950's. Across the Pacific(1942) is an entertaining motion picture that realisticly parallels the war that was occuring in the Pacific. Mary Astor is ravishing as the mysterious Alberta. Only the majority of the movie was completed for John Huston went off to join the war effort(another filmmaker involved with the film named Vincent Sherman ended up filming the final scenes).