Not only did "Across the Pacific" add some brightness to Bogart's rising stature as an actor, it more than justified the promise shown by director John Huston after his success with "The Maltese Falcon."
The story begins on November 17, 1941. Lt. Rick Leland (Humphrey Bogart) is being cashiered from the Army at Governor's Island, New York The reasons are vague, but before five minutes have passed, Bogie is decked out in his familiar trenchcoat Leland tries to enlist in the Canadian army, but his disgrace is so widespread that they won't have him Wondering aloud if perhaps the Japanese will take him on, Leland buys a ticket on the 'Genoa Maru' bound for Yokohama via the Panama Canal On board the freighter, Leland meets Alberta Marlow (Mary Astor), who lies about her past, and Dr. Lorenz (Sydney Greenstreet), a sociologist with an undisguised affinity for all things Japanese
It's really not spoiling anything to reveal that Leland is engaged in counterespionage because neither Huston nor the screenwriters take the material very seriously For most of the film, they're more interested in the cutesy shipboard romance between Leland and Albertagetting seasick, drunk, sunburned
As a thriller, the film doesn't really get wound up until the third act, when it has a few fine moments, most memorably a long chase scene in a Spanish-language movie theater, and a conventional conclusion
Sydney Greenstreet was excellent as a jovial yet cunning Japanese sympathizer and Mary Astor played a doubtful role with the same mental adroitness she had displayed in "The Maltese Falcon."
Bogart, of course, carried the story line here and it was a delight to watch his enigmatic character change from one of calculated indifference to that of relentless determination...
The story begins on November 17, 1941. Lt. Rick Leland (Humphrey Bogart) is being cashiered from the Army at Governor's Island, New York The reasons are vague, but before five minutes have passed, Bogie is decked out in his familiar trenchcoat Leland tries to enlist in the Canadian army, but his disgrace is so widespread that they won't have him Wondering aloud if perhaps the Japanese will take him on, Leland buys a ticket on the 'Genoa Maru' bound for Yokohama via the Panama Canal On board the freighter, Leland meets Alberta Marlow (Mary Astor), who lies about her past, and Dr. Lorenz (Sydney Greenstreet), a sociologist with an undisguised affinity for all things Japanese
It's really not spoiling anything to reveal that Leland is engaged in counterespionage because neither Huston nor the screenwriters take the material very seriously For most of the film, they're more interested in the cutesy shipboard romance between Leland and Albertagetting seasick, drunk, sunburned
As a thriller, the film doesn't really get wound up until the third act, when it has a few fine moments, most memorably a long chase scene in a Spanish-language movie theater, and a conventional conclusion
Sydney Greenstreet was excellent as a jovial yet cunning Japanese sympathizer and Mary Astor played a doubtful role with the same mental adroitness she had displayed in "The Maltese Falcon."
Bogart, of course, carried the story line here and it was a delight to watch his enigmatic character change from one of calculated indifference to that of relentless determination...