Monday, September 3, 2007

Across the Pacific - John Huston (1942)

Overall a disappointment compared to The Maltese Falcon (made the previous year with much of the same cast and crew), perhaps due to Mary Astor's cleaning up her act instead of playing the femme fatale. Gotta love Sydney Greenstreet' baroque verbalizations and movements.

Weird balance of racist Asian characters (thick glasses and goofy accents) with respectful portrayals of some aspects of Asian culture (e.g., martial arts, Shinto).

Fluid camera work moves through the shipboard sequences and hotels.

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