Onboard, Rick uses his fake dismissal to get in the good graces of Japanese agent Dr. Lorenz (Sydney Greenstreet), and romances a young woman, Alberta (Mary Astor).
As their journey gets underway, it becomes obvious that Lorenz and his fellow agents are up to something - and only Rick and Alberta are standing in their way.
This morning I was talking to my grandfather (a Bogart fan) about the academy’s Bogie Abroad festival.
He asked if they were all good.
Across the Pacific is probably the closest thing to a dud in the festival.
Sirocco does not work that well, but its ambitions are higher - and it is always interesting to watch.
Across the Pacific was made by the same team as The Maltese Falcon (director John Huston, Bogie, Mary Astor and Sydney Greenstreet).
Set in the immediate run-up to Pearl Harbour, Across the Pacific is powered by nationalism. The Japanese are the villains - including, most insidiously, an American-born character Joe (played by Chinese-American actor Victor Sen Yung).
Unlike the more stereotypical tenets of other Asian characters in the film - heavy accents, broken syntax, emotionally reserved - Joe is a fast-talking, horny young man with no filter. With his late character turn, the film hammers home the racist message that, even if they are fully integrated into American/white society, a Japanese American’s loyalties are to Japan.
At the time of this film’s release, the internment of Japanese Americans was taking place, and is reflected in the film’s casting: Most of the Japanese characters were played by actors of Chinese descent because any potential performers were imprisoned.
Even without this foundation, Across the Pacific is a bummer to sit through.
Across the Pacific is composed of reheated leftovers of earlier spy thrillers, and has the feel of a plot synopsis: poorly defined characters move through various incidents until a slambang finale in the jungle.
Bogart and Astor get some witty barbs, but the characters are dull cliches.
While the acting is not bad, there is a feeling of contractual obligation to the performances.
There is only rote craftsmanship, no sense of fun or momentum. Director Huston did not even finish the project - his duties were completed by Vincent Sherman.
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