Summaries

In December 1941, ex-army captain Rick Leland boards a Japanese ship heading to Asia via the Panama Canal where his Japanese hosts show interest in the American defense plans for the canal zone.

Rick Leland makes no secret of the fact he has no loyalty to his home country after he is court-martialed, kicked out of the Army, and boards a Japanese ship for the Orient in late 1941. But has Leland really been booted out, or is there some other motive for his getting close to fellow passenger Doctor Lorenz? Any motive for getting close to attractive traveler Alberta Marlow would however seem pretty obvious.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

Bogart plays a U.S.artillery officer who is court-martialed in disgrace in 1941 and leaves the country. He gets a job offer in central America with a stop off in Panama. While there he discovers Japanese plot to attack the Panama Canal along with the Pearl Harbor attack.—John Vogel <[email protected]>

Details

Keywords
  • deception
  • held at gunpoint
  • damsel in distress
  • reference to the pacific ocean
  • panama canal
Genres
  • Action
  • Adventure
  • Drama
  • Romance
  • War
Release date Sep 4, 1942
Motion Picture Rating (MPA) Approved
Countries of origin United States
Language English Japanese
Filming locations Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA
Production companies Warner Bros.

Box office

Tech specs

Runtime 1h 37m
Color Black and White
Aspect ratio 1.37 : 1

Synopsis

After being dressed down in a court-martial and dishonorably discharged from the United States Army in December 1941 for misappropriation of funds, Lieutenant Rick Leland (Humphrey Bogart) tries to get into the Canadian Army but is blacklisted. Deciding to take a Japanese boat via the Panama Canal to China, Rick meets lovely Alberta Marlow (Mary Astor), a slightly mysterious woman travelling alone whom he immediately falls for. He also meets the rotund sociologist Dr. Lorenz (Sydney Greenstreet) whose Japanese connections are far more involved than normal. When on one particular night Rick saves Lorenz from an assassin's bullet, the good doctor begins suggesting that the ex-Army man may have valuable information to sell to the right people for the right price. Leland delivers the goods but is waylaid by Lorenz' henchman, and recovers just in time to get to a mysterious plantation where some harsh anti-American activities against the nation are in motion. Along the way he runs into happy-go-lucky Joe Totsuiko (Victor Sen Yung) who's a little too friendly for the wrong reasons and Rick discovers why Lorenz, Alberta, and a host of Japanese operatives are convening in a desolate location and finds he's in for the fight of his life.

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