A shipboard tale of doomed lovers, ONE WAY PASSAGE manages to be interesting despite the shaky premise that lovers can meet, fall in love instantly and all the while harboring deep secrets that neither one is willing to reveal. It makes for great cinema if done properly and this version of the weepy tale almost succeeds.
The biggest drawback is the need to have comedy relief in the form of FRANK McHUGH, who overplays his role as a drunken thief in cohorts with a confidence woman, ALINE MacMAHON. While MacMahone manages to make her fake Countess a believable enough character, McHugh overplays his sing-song laugh and drunken bits of humor so outrageously that the story falls apart whenever he gets extensive footage.
If the tale had been confined to Miss Francis and Powell, director Tay Garnett would have gotten better results. He manages the direction very well, especially for that neat little ending which gives the story the sort of lift you'd never expect.
Kay Francis is assured and lovely as the doomed woman enroute to a sanitarium and William Powell is debonair as the man who takes one glance at her and falls deeply in love, but is on his way to San Quentin on a murder charge. WARREN HYMER, as a dumb cop, is another example of the film's penchant for weak comedy relief.
All it lacks is a heavy use of violins on the soundtrack to glorify the romance--but it manages to be "an affair to remember," 1930s style, despite some weaknesses.
The biggest drawback is the need to have comedy relief in the form of FRANK McHUGH, who overplays his role as a drunken thief in cohorts with a confidence woman, ALINE MacMAHON. While MacMahone manages to make her fake Countess a believable enough character, McHugh overplays his sing-song laugh and drunken bits of humor so outrageously that the story falls apart whenever he gets extensive footage.
If the tale had been confined to Miss Francis and Powell, director Tay Garnett would have gotten better results. He manages the direction very well, especially for that neat little ending which gives the story the sort of lift you'd never expect.
Kay Francis is assured and lovely as the doomed woman enroute to a sanitarium and William Powell is debonair as the man who takes one glance at her and falls deeply in love, but is on his way to San Quentin on a murder charge. WARREN HYMER, as a dumb cop, is another example of the film's penchant for weak comedy relief.
All it lacks is a heavy use of violins on the soundtrack to glorify the romance--but it manages to be "an affair to remember," 1930s style, despite some weaknesses.