Such a frustrating disappointment

Simply A Masterpiece

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Think Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, and Sydney Greenstreet along with John Huston and what do you come up with? "The Maltese Falcon" of course. But think again, because no sooner had Warner Bros created one of the best films of all time, they re-teamed the actors and the director and cinematographer and came up with this piece of flotsam that is hardly worth viewing. Called "Across the Pacific", this 1942 film came out just after the Pearl Harbor attack, so the original script had to be changed from Pearl Harbor to the Panama Canal, although the name somehow stuck.It's nice to see some of my favorite Asian actors at work here, including Richard Loo (Master Sun from "Kung Fu), Keye Luke (Master Po), and Kam Tong (Hey Boy from "Have Gun Will Travel"). But other than that, the film has little value.

Most of the cast of The Maltese Falcon is reunited with John Huston and, sadly, a very awkward, dull script attempting to be topical about the Japanese plotting against the US. Mary Astor is terrific and much freer to play an attractive character and flirt with Bogey who is as amusing as the script lets him be (which is not very). Sydney Greenstreet is gloriously oily and sinister as always. The trouble is the script which just isn't up to much either in originality or in good dialogue. Don't get me wrong, I own the movie, but I watch it only about every 5 years or so whereas The Maltese Falcon is a once a year treat, sometimes more often.

This film contains many aspects of the noir, including the clipped bantering dialogue with the clever intent. Coming soon after The Maltese Falcon, Across the Pacific is something of a mystery movie too.Rick Leland (Humphrey Bogart) is a disgraced military man with dubious loyalties. He gets on a Japanese ship that is sailing to New York City, the Canal Zone and the Orient. While onboard, he becomes familiar with the other passengers: a western businessman named Dr. Leland (Sydney Greenstreet) who has a penchant for all things oriental and a smalltown woman named Alberta (Mastor Astor) who is taking a pleasure cruise.But we sense all is not as it seems. Will Rick sail off into the Japanese sunset, bitter at the country that snubbed him? Will the doctor reveal an insidious intent? Will Alberta prove to be more than a romantic foil for Rick?The action takes place not long before the U.S. would be forced to enter the war. Tensions are high. Eventually there is gunplay and all motives are revealed. Along the way, ATP proves to be an interesting film. The ending reminded me of another film that would follow in 1959--North by Northwest. ATP is a high stakes game of cat and mouse that coexists with a lighthearted romance.My one complaint is that Mary Astor is not an actress I think would inspire lust in Bogart's Rick. Someone like Rita Hayworth would better fit the bill.

Director John Huston, right from the big success of THE MALTESE FALCON, recruits Humphrey Bogart to play ex-Army officer Rick Leland in this World War II propaganda flick. Espionage, treason, a bit of romance in this drama aboard a Japanese steamer. The viewer gradually discovers a few of the passengers are not who they claim to be...including Leland. Bogart woos a small-town girl Alberta Marlow(Mary Astor)...not so innocent. Sydney Greenstreet plays spy Dr. Lorenz, willing to pay for military information. A Japanese-American(Victor Sen Young) making a trip to see the old country may just be the most mysterious passenger aboard. Bogart and Astor trade flirty banter and lighten up some of the drama. Also in the cast: Monte Blue, Charles Halton, Keye Luke and Frank Wilcox.