The World in His Arms (1952)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Raoul Walsh

Writers:

Rex Beach (novel)
Borden Chase (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

4 July 1952 (France)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | History

Plot:

Roistering sea captain Jonathan Clark, who poaches seal pelts from Russian Alaska, meets and woos Russian countess Marina in 1850 San Francisco...

Plot Keywords:

Sea | Prince | Countess | Captain | Race

Cast

Gregory Peck	...	Capt. Jonathan Clark
Ann Blyth	...	Countess Marina Selanova
Anthony Quinn	...	Portugee
John McIntire	...	Deacon Greathouse
Carl Esmond	...	Prince Semyon
Andrea King	...	Mamie
Eugenie Leontovich	...	Anna Selanova
Hans Conried	...	Eustace, Hotel Clerk
Rhys Williams	...	Eben Cleggett
Sig Ruman	...	General Ivan Vorashilov
Gregory Gaye	...	Colonel Paul Shushaldin (as Gregory Gay)
Bill Radovich	...	Ogeechuk
Bryan Forbes	...	William Cleggett
Henry Kulky	...	Peter, Russian Servant
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Carl Andre	...	Seaman (uncredited)
Suzan Ball	...	(uncredited)
Gregg Barton	...	Seaman (uncredited)
Frank Chase	...	Seaman (uncredited)
William 'Wee Willie' Davis	...	'Shanghai' Kelley (uncredited)
Carl Harbaugh	...	Seaman (uncredited)
Syl Lamont	...	José (uncredited)
Gregg Martell	...	Seaman (uncredited)
Leo Mostovoy	...	Nicholas (uncredited)
Paul Newlan	...	Tough Sailor (uncredited)
Tudor Owen	...	Old Sailor (uncredited)
Milicent Patrick	...	Lena (uncredited)
Dick Rich	...	Tough Sailor (uncredited)
George Scanlan	...	Seaman (uncredited)
Eve Whitney	...	Lilly (uncredited)

Directed by
Raoul Walsh

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Rex Beach		novel
Borden Chase		writer
Horace McCoy		additional dialogue

Produced by
Aaron Rosenberg	....	producer

Original Music by
Frank Skinner

Cinematography by
Russell Metty

Film Editing by
Frank Gross

Art Direction by
Alexander Golitzen
Bernard Herzbrun

Set Decoration by
Russell A. Gausman
Julia Heron

Costume Design by
Bill Thomas

Makeup Department
Joan St. Oegger	....	hair stylist
Bud Westmore	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
James Curtis Havens	....	second unit director

Sound Department
Leslie I. Carey	....	sound
Corson Jowett	....	sound

Special Effects by
David S. Horsley	....	special effects

Stunts
Fred Carson	....	stunt double: Anthony Quinn (uncredited)
Fred Graham	....	fight double: Gregory Peck (uncredited)
Chuck Hayward	....	stunts (uncredited)

Other crew
Harold Belfer	....	choreographer
William Fritzsche	....	technicolor color consultant

Production Companies

• Universal International Pictures (UI)

Distributors

• Universal Pictures (1952) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Universal Pictures (1952) (USA) (theatrical)
• Millennium Storm (2007) (Italy) (video)

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (nf) | Norway:16 | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15

Company:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Quotes:

Eustace, Hotel Clerk: [indicating the Portugee] Er, this gentleman is with your party?
Jonathan Clark: This gentleman is no gentleman. He's a sea-going thief who makes his living stealing seals from the Russians. He neither bathes, shaves, nor knows the feel of good clean linen. When the moon is bright, he stays out all night and howls like a dog, then curls up and sleeps on the floor till midday. That right, Portugee?
Portugee: He knows me pretty good.

From Sanfancisco to Russia with sails!

This insufficient movie was made in the fifties when a flamboyant pretty boy famous for tough, staunch, dramatic parts and deep performances decides to go the matinée idol/swashbuckler route. This movie followed Peck's earlier and similar Captain Horatio Hornblower and the Fox big budget muck, David and Bathsheba. Captain Horatio was a big hit in the United States but the fate of this movie domestically was not as good. But as many big budget productions that struggle at home, they make a killing or reduce the losses overseas as this movie was number six at the UK box office and top 10 in 1952 in many other countries. Peck is actually good in the role of the gregarious pirate - way better than in Captain Horatio where I felt he was miscast - he seems to sink his teeth into the role of a lovable scalawag with a gritty mien. He walks the part, lashes the part, and punches the part. One could only wonder why he did not bring this kind of intensity to his role of the "bad seed" in Duel in the sun. The movie sorely needed it. While this kind of movies are supposed to light and flimsy, I must say that I think this movie is way too light. Fights happen for no apparent reason than to fight. Portugee brilliantly played by the great actor Anthony Quinn is loud and lascivious and is a great counterpart to Peck's ravenous appetite for calamity. The plot so to speak involves a Russian girl who does not want to leave the haven of San Francisco to return to the obviously evil and vile fiancée. So she needs to get on a boat to get her out. Enter Peck, romance and love. But alas, Mr. Vile and Evil shows up, twirling mustache in hand and kidnaps her. The rest of this movie is as follows................... You get the point. Raoul Walsh who was one of Hollywood's most successful directors at the box office with very few flops throughout his career directs the action scenes with unusual zest even for him. The score is rousing and gives the sailing sequences a palpating calumny. Blyth is terrible in this role and I don't even think she is very pretty. She does not even try to do a Russian accent but speaks with a clear mid-western undertone. And last of all, the final line in this movie is surely a contender for one of the corniest lines ever delivered on screen. You have hear it and see the shot that follows and try not to laugh out loud.