Across the Pacific

Across the Pacific.
1942 Warner Bros. Pictures & Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Charles Halton, Victor Sen Yung
Directors: John Huston & Vincent Sherman
Currently available only as part of the Humphrey Bogart Signature Collection, Volume II box set from Amazon.

A reunion of the principal stars of The Maltese Falcon, including director John Huston, who had to turn the production of the film over to Vincent Sherman after he was summoned to report to the Department of Special Services after three weeks' of filming. The screenplay's locality was changed at the last minute from Pearl Harbor to the Panama Canal, but still retained the title of Across the Pacific.

Bogie plays Rick Leland, a disgraced ex-military man kicked out after he was caught stealing. The Canadian military doesn't want him either, so Leland boards a Japanese ship called the Genoa Maru in Halifax, intending to make his way to China to fight under Chiang Kai-shek. He meets a small town girl named Alberta Marlow (Astor), a small town chick claiming to be on her way to Los Angeles, the sociology professor Dr. Lorenz (Greenstreet) who openly admires the Japanese, and Joe Totsuiko (Sen Yung), the cheerful second generation Japanese American wanting to see Japan. While stopping in New York City, Leland talks to undercover intelligence officer Colonel Hart (Paul Stanton) to prove he is still a loyal American. It's revealed that Lorenz is an enemy spy, but Marlow? Still pretty uncertain about her.

The ship is prohibited from entering the Panama Canal, which means a long trip around Cape Horn. The main characters simply disembark to wait for another ship while several crates are unloaded, and they're addressed to a Dan Morton at a plantation. Lorenz asks Leland for up-to-date schedules for the American fighters patrolling the area in the skies, which he receives after talking A.V. Smith (Halton) into providing them. Leland is knocked out for his troubles after haggling with Lorenz over payment, and after he comes to, he notifies Smith to warn him about changing the patrol schedule before heading for the plantation. He's taken hostage by Lorenz and Totsuiko, and Marlow is present, but she is only there to watch over her father Dan Morton (Monte Blue), who owns the plantation. Lorenz reveals that he and Joe had Smith killed before the schedule could be changed, and they're planning to bomb the Panama Canal Locks. It's up to Leland to foil these plans and save America.

Recommended movie.