Across the Pacific
                
Director: John Huston
Year: 1942
Rating: 7.0
The 1942 film Across the Pacific found itself in an intriguing historical position. The original script was about a plot by the Japanese to bomb Pearl Harbor, but after that happened, they switched it to the Panama Canal. Unfortunately, Bogart was not able to stop Pearl Harbor from being bombed but he does so for the Canal. Much of this was directed by John Huston in his second film after the Maltese Falcon, but he had to leave the project to join the army before the film was finished. Real life was intruding into fiction. It is a solid tense film that no doubt felt much fresher and more impactful in 1942 with the USA under attack than it might now. The title is a bit misleading as the characters never actually get to the Pacific. This isn't a war film but is instead a spy film. And a propaganda film of course in which the Japanese (played mainly by some of our favorite Chinese - American actors) are all swine.



Huston brings back three of his actors from The Maltese Falcon-   Bogart, Mary Astor and Sydney Greenstreet. Apparently, there is a blink and you will miss it cameo by Peter Lorre. I blinked. But considering Lorre played the Japanese detective Mr. Moto in a series of films, I am surprised he doesn't have a bigger role. The war needless to say put an end to that series.



The film begins with Bogart being court martialed and kicked out of the navy for stealing money. His fellow servicemen treat him like rabies. He goes to Canada to try and enlist but is refused and so he decides to go to Asia to see if his services are needed. On a Japanese boat that will go through the Canal. The war hasn't started yet. On the boat he meets Astor and their banter is very good and fun. He makes fun of her getting seasick, she returns the favor when he gets drunk. "What can I do to make you feel even worse", she asks him. "Stick around" he says. On the boat is also the corpulent form of Greenstreet who has a Japanese servant, "I find the Japanese make wonderful servants".



When Bogart kisses Astor on deck before she turns green, I thought the last time you did that, she stabbed you in the back (Maltese). Bogart's days of being the bad guy were pretty much done with a few exceptions and this isn't one of them. In the cast are also Victor Sen Yung, Richard Loo, Keye Luke and Philip Ahn. Victor has a large role as a jovial Japanese American who is a traitor and can't wait for the war to start behind his thick glasses - lending weight to the tragic internment of American Japanese. Once at the Canal, a close-up of a newspaper tells us the date. December 6th, 1941. Get to it Bogie.