Drugstore.com Coupons
But during the trip he encounters Sydney Greenstreet, a wealthy Japanese sympathizer. Greenstreet recruits Bogart as a spy, to obtain key information about American military flights over the Canal Zone, which the Japanese plan to bomb. By this time, we know that Bogart all along has been a spy for the U.S. Army, trying to get the goods on Greenstreet.
But where does Mary Astor fit it? The beautiful brunette is also on the ship, along with Greenstreet and annoying young Japanese businessman Victor Sen Yung. Astor and Bogart hit it off, in a sarcastic sort of way, while Bogart tries to figure out whether she's innocent or an agent friendly (or not) to the American government.
How others will see it. Knowledgeable Classic movie fans will immediately compare this film to its famous (and superior) predecessor, The Maltese Falcon. That film also had Huston in the director's chair, cast Bogart as a hero, Greenstreet as a villain, and Astor as the femme fatale Bogie has a crush on. But more is at stake in Across the Pacific. The plot is beating the treacherous Japanese, instead of securing a costly museum trinket. Which shows that, once again, cinema had its finger on the American pulse, now decidedly patriotic. A lot had changed in the year since The Maltese Falcon. The United States was at war, and so was Warner Brothers and Humphrey Bogart. Next, he would tangle with the Nazis in his most famous movie of all, Casablanca.
Those clueless about either The Maltese Falcon or Casablance will probably avoid the present movie simply because it is filmed in black and white. If they make the wise decision to watch it anyway, instead of choosing the wasteland of reality television, they will be surprised at how good it is. Could it be that, two-thirds of a century ago, Hollywood made better movies then than they do now? Believe it.
How I felt about it. It is refreshing that the Japanese are not stereotyped here. They are villains, and even sneaky, but then those that are shown are spies for an enemy power. That makes them what they are, sneaky villains. Bogart is sneaky too, pretending to be a disgruntled traitor with no character when in fact his actions are heroic. This is a common Bogart film role, the guy who "minds his own business" but his front conceals a red, white, and blue heart. I could point out several such films from the 1940s, but that would only belabor my point.
Mary Astor's character is more difficult to believe. She acts as if she is on a pleasure cruise, even negotiating an amusing ship romance with the ever-interesting Bogart. Her blunders (getting seasick and sunburned) suggest she is a novice at such voyages, and therefore innocent. This is at odds with how her character plays out, and surely she doesn't get sunburned just to put one over on Bogart. Not that he minds the head games.