Across the Pacific
Encyclopedia
Across the Pacific is a 1942 spy film
set on the eve of the entry of the United States
into World War II
. The film was directed first by John Huston
, then by Vincent Sherman
after Huston joined the United States Army Signal Corps
. It stars Humphrey Bogart
, Mary Astor
, and Sydney Greenstreet
.
The title had been used before by Warner Brothers for a 1926 silent adventure film starring Monte Blue
, who also has a small role in this film. However, the plots of the two films bear no resemblance to each other.
Initially, it was planned that the film would portray an attempt to avert a Japanese plan to bomb Pearl Harbor. When the real-life Pearl Harbor bombing occurred, the script was quickly rewritten to change the location of the planned attack to Panama. The title however remained the same, even though the Pacific is never seen, let alone crossed.
Director John Huston
was called up to military service during filming, leaving he claims at the point near the end of the film in which Bogart is trapped in a house at gun-point. Vincent Sherman
finished directing the film, minus the script which Huston took with him, explaining "Bogie will know how to get out". An implausible escape and plot wrap-up was shot, which Huston declared "lacked credibility".
In late 1941, Captain Rick Leland (Humphrey Bogart) is court-martial
led and discharged from the U.S. Coast Artillery
after he is caught stealing. He tries to join the Canadian army, but is coldly rebuffed. He subsequently boards a Japanese ship, the Genoa Maru, in Halifax
to make his way to China via the Panama Canal
to fight for Chiang Kai-shek
.
On board, he meets Canadian Alberta Marlow (Mary Astor) and Dr. Lorenz (Sydney Greenstreet), a professor of sociology who makes no secret of his admiration of the Japanese and is thus not popular in the Philippines, where he resides. Leland, in his turn, makes it clear to Lorenz that he has no loyalty toward his country and would fight for anyone willing to pay him.
During a stop in New York, Leland reports to Colonel Hart (Paul Stanton), an undercover intelligence officer. Lorenz is a known enemy spy, but Hart and Leland are uncertain about Marlow. Upon returning to the ship, Leland surprises a Filipino man (Rudy Robles
) who is about to shoot Lorenz, thus gaining Lorenz's confidence. Second-generation Japanese-American Joe Totsuiko (Victor Sen Yung
) embarks as a passenger.
As they arrive in Panama, the captain announces that the ship has been denied passage through the strategically vital canal
and will be forced to take a long detour around Cape Horn
. Leland, Marlow and Lorenz disembark to wait for another ship. Several crates are unloaded addressed to a Dan Morton at the Bountiful plantation.
Lorenz asks Leland, who was once stationed in the area, to procure up-to-date schedules for the American planes that patrol the canal. Leland meets with his local contact, A.V. Smith (Charles Halton
), and convinces him to provide the real schedules, as Lorenz could easily find out if he were given fake ones. The date is December 6, 1941 - the eve of the attack on Pearl Harbor
.
Having delivered the schedules after haggling with Lorenz over their price, Leland is knocked out. He wakes up several hours later and finds out that both Lorenz and Marlow have left the hotel. He immediately calls Smith and warns him to change the patrol schedule, then heads out to the Bountiful plantation, where he sees a torpedo bomber
being prepared. He is caught, however, and brought inside to Lorenz, Marlow, and Totsuiko.
Marlow turns out to be the daughter of the plantation's owner, Dan Morton (Monte Blue), a drunk whose weakness is being exploited by the spy ring to provide a base for its activities. To Leland's relief, Marlow's only stake in the affair is concern for her father.
Lorenz reveals that they killed Smith before he could have the schedule changed and that they are planning to torpedo the Panama Canal Locks
. At the last minute, Leland overpowers Totsuiko (Marlow's father is killed in the process). Leland takes over a machine gun
and shoots down the bomber aircraft, piloted by no less than an Imperial Japanese prince, as it tries to take off. Leland dispatches Lorenz's men in the ensuing firefight. At the end, a defeated Lorenz tries to commit seppuku
, but his nerve fails him and he begs Leland to shoot him. Leland refuses, as Lorenz has "an appointment with Army intelligence".
's January 25, 1943 broadcast with Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor and Sydney Greenstreet reprising their film roles.
Spy film
The spy film genre deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way or as a basis for fantasy . Many novels in the spy fiction genre have been adapted as films, including works by John Buchan, John Le Carré, Ian Fleming and Len Deighton...
set on the eve of the entry of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
into World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The film was directed first by John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
, then by Vincent Sherman
Vincent Sherman
Vincent Sherman was an American director, and actor, who worked in Hollywood. His movies include Mr. Skeffington , Nora Prentiss , and The Young Philadelphians ....
after Huston joined the United States Army Signal Corps
United States Army Signal Corps
The United States Army Signal Corps develops, tests, provides, and manages communications and information systems support for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was established in 1860, the brainchild of United States Army Major Albert J. Myer, and has had an important role from...
. It stars Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
, Mary Astor
Mary Astor
Mary Astor was an American actress. Most remembered for her role as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon with Humphrey Bogart, Astor began her long motion picture career as a teenager in the silent movies of the early 1920s.She eventually made a successful transition to talkies, but almost...
, and Sydney Greenstreet
Sydney Greenstreet
Sydney Hughes Greenstreet was an English actor. He is best known for his Warner Bros. films with Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre, which include The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca .-Biography:...
.
The title had been used before by Warner Brothers for a 1926 silent adventure film starring Monte Blue
Monte Blue
Monte Blue was a movie actor who began his career as a romantic leading man in the silent film era, and later progressed to character roles....
, who also has a small role in this film. However, the plots of the two films bear no resemblance to each other.
Initially, it was planned that the film would portray an attempt to avert a Japanese plan to bomb Pearl Harbor. When the real-life Pearl Harbor bombing occurred, the script was quickly rewritten to change the location of the planned attack to Panama. The title however remained the same, even though the Pacific is never seen, let alone crossed.
Director John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
was called up to military service during filming, leaving he claims at the point near the end of the film in which Bogart is trapped in a house at gun-point. Vincent Sherman
Vincent Sherman
Vincent Sherman was an American director, and actor, who worked in Hollywood. His movies include Mr. Skeffington , Nora Prentiss , and The Young Philadelphians ....
finished directing the film, minus the script which Huston took with him, explaining "Bogie will know how to get out". An implausible escape and plot wrap-up was shot, which Huston declared "lacked credibility".
Plot
Court-martial
A court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...
led and discharged from the U.S. Coast Artillery
Coastal artillery
Coastal artillery is the branch of armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications....
after he is caught stealing. He tries to join the Canadian army, but is coldly rebuffed. He subsequently boards a Japanese ship, the Genoa Maru, in Halifax
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
to make his way to China via the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
to fight for Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
.
On board, he meets Canadian Alberta Marlow (Mary Astor) and Dr. Lorenz (Sydney Greenstreet), a professor of sociology who makes no secret of his admiration of the Japanese and is thus not popular in the Philippines, where he resides. Leland, in his turn, makes it clear to Lorenz that he has no loyalty toward his country and would fight for anyone willing to pay him.
During a stop in New York, Leland reports to Colonel Hart (Paul Stanton), an undercover intelligence officer. Lorenz is a known enemy spy, but Hart and Leland are uncertain about Marlow. Upon returning to the ship, Leland surprises a Filipino man (Rudy Robles
Rudy Robles
Rudy Robles was a Filipino actor and one of the first Filipino actors to appear in Hollywood movies. His credits include pre- and post-World War II films, as Lt. Yabo in The Real Glory and he played a Filipino Assassin in the 1942 film Across the Pacific. One of his last appearances was playing a...
) who is about to shoot Lorenz, thus gaining Lorenz's confidence. Second-generation Japanese-American Joe Totsuiko (Victor Sen Yung
Victor Sen Yung
Victor Sen Yung was an American character actor. He was given billing under a variety of names, including Sen Yung, Sen Young, Victor Sen Young, and Victor Young.- Career :...
) embarks as a passenger.
As they arrive in Panama, the captain announces that the ship has been denied passage through the strategically vital canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
and will be forced to take a long detour around Cape Horn
Cape Horn
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...
. Leland, Marlow and Lorenz disembark to wait for another ship. Several crates are unloaded addressed to a Dan Morton at the Bountiful plantation.
Lorenz asks Leland, who was once stationed in the area, to procure up-to-date schedules for the American planes that patrol the canal. Leland meets with his local contact, A.V. Smith (Charles Halton
Charles Halton
Charles Halton was a stern-faced American character actor who appeared in over 180 films.One of his most memorable portrayals was as Carter, the bank examiner in It's a Wonderful Life...
), and convinces him to provide the real schedules, as Lorenz could easily find out if he were given fake ones. The date is December 6, 1941 - the eve of the attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
.
Having delivered the schedules after haggling with Lorenz over their price, Leland is knocked out. He wakes up several hours later and finds out that both Lorenz and Marlow have left the hotel. He immediately calls Smith and warns him to change the patrol schedule, then heads out to the Bountiful plantation, where he sees a torpedo bomber
Torpedo bomber
A torpedo bomber is a bomber aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes which could also carry out conventional bombings. Torpedo bombers existed almost exclusively prior to and during World War II when they were an important element in many famous battles, notably the...
being prepared. He is caught, however, and brought inside to Lorenz, Marlow, and Totsuiko.
Marlow turns out to be the daughter of the plantation's owner, Dan Morton (Monte Blue), a drunk whose weakness is being exploited by the spy ring to provide a base for its activities. To Leland's relief, Marlow's only stake in the affair is concern for her father.
Lorenz reveals that they killed Smith before he could have the schedule changed and that they are planning to torpedo the Panama Canal Locks
Panama Canal Locks
The Panama Canal Locks, which lift ships up 25.9 m to the main elevation of the Panama Canal, were one of the greatest engineering works ever to be undertaken at the time, eclipsed only by other parts of the canal project. No other concrete construction of comparable size was undertaken...
. At the last minute, Leland overpowers Totsuiko (Marlow's father is killed in the process). Leland takes over a machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
and shoots down the bomber aircraft, piloted by no less than an Imperial Japanese prince, as it tries to take off. Leland dispatches Lorenz's men in the ensuing firefight. At the end, a defeated Lorenz tries to commit seppuku
Seppuku
is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku was originally reserved only for samurai. Part of the samurai bushido honor code, seppuku was either used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies , or as a form of capital punishment...
, but his nerve fails him and he begs Leland to shoot him. Leland refuses, as Lorenz has "an appointment with Army intelligence".
Cast
- Humphrey BogartHumphrey BogartHumphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
as Rick Leland - Mary AstorMary AstorMary Astor was an American actress. Most remembered for her role as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon with Humphrey Bogart, Astor began her long motion picture career as a teenager in the silent movies of the early 1920s.She eventually made a successful transition to talkies, but almost...
as Alberta Marlow - Sydney GreenstreetSydney GreenstreetSydney Hughes Greenstreet was an English actor. He is best known for his Warner Bros. films with Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre, which include The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca .-Biography:...
as Dr. Lorenz - Charles HaltonCharles HaltonCharles Halton was a stern-faced American character actor who appeared in over 180 films.One of his most memorable portrayals was as Carter, the bank examiner in It's a Wonderful Life...
as A.V. Smith - Victor Sen YungVictor Sen YungVictor Sen Yung was an American character actor. He was given billing under a variety of names, including Sen Yung, Sen Young, Victor Sen Young, and Victor Young.- Career :...
as Joe Totsuiko - Roland Got as Sugi
- Lee Tung Foo as Sam Wing On, a friend of Rick's in the canal zone
- Frank Wilcox as Captain Morrison
- Paul Stanton as Colonel Hart
- Lester MatthewsLester MatthewsLester Matthews was an English actor born in Nottingham, England, UK. In his career, he made more than 180 appearances in film and on television. He was on occasion erroneously credited as Lester Mathews and especially in later years was sometimes known as Les Matthews. He died on the 6 June 1975...
as Canadian Major - John Hamilton as Court-Martial President
- Tom Stevenson as Unidentified Man
- Roland Drew as Captain Harkness
- Monte BlueMonte BlueMonte Blue was a movie actor who began his career as a romantic leading man in the silent film era, and later progressed to character roles....
as Dan Morton - Chester GanChester GanChester Gan or at times Chester Gann was an American actor of Chinese descent. If there was a quintessential Asian John Smith character, then Chester Gan was that person...
as Captain Higoto - Richard LooRichard LooRichard Loo was a Chinese American film actor who was one of the most familiar Asian character actors in American films of the 1930s and 1940s. A prolific actor, he appeared in over 120 films between 1931 and 1982....
as First Officer Miyuma - Keye LukeKeye LukeKeye Luke was a Chinese-born American actor. He was the first Chinese-American contract player signed with RKO, Universal and, later, MGM and is generally acknowledged as the leading Asian-American actor of this era of American cinema.-Background:...
as Steamship Officer Clerk - Kam TongKam TongKam Tong was a Chinese American actor best known for his role as Hey Boy on the television series Have Gun – Will Travel. He appeared in many movies, often as an uncredited Chinese, Japanese, or Filipino character...
as T. Oki, the Japanese prince traveling incognito as Lorenz's servant - Rudy RoblesRudy RoblesRudy Robles was a Filipino actor and one of the first Filipino actors to appear in Hollywood movies. His credits include pre- and post-World War II films, as Lt. Yabo in The Real Glory and he played a Filipino Assassin in the 1942 film Across the Pacific. One of his last appearances was playing a...
as the Filipino Assassin
Radio adaptation
Across the Pacific was adapted as a radio play on The Screen Guild TheaterThe Screen Guild Theater
The Screen Guild Theater was a popular radio anthology series during the Golden Age of Radio, broadcast from 1939 until 1952, with leading Hollywood actors performing in adaptations of popular motion pictures such as Going My Way and The Postman Always Rings Twice.The show had a long run, lasting...
's January 25, 1943 broadcast with Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor and Sydney Greenstreet reprising their film roles.