With that bucket load of stars, it's a shame this one wasn't better. It WAS made five years after the Hayes code came whooshing in, so I wonder if it wouldn't have been a little more interesting if it had been made a couple years earlier... LOVE the scene where Alan Hale and another engine room worker are dancing together to the music coming from the upper decks. Alan Hale Sr. was the real life father of the Skipper on Gilligan's Island. He was the jolly, laughing character actor in about half the films made in the 1930/1940s. Viewers will recognize "Britches"...Barry Fitzgerald is the shorter Irish gentleman from The Quiet Man & Going My Way. Chester Morris (was sleuth "Boston Blackie") is the ship's doctor, who must deal with cholera outbreak. A stow-away has brought the deadly disease on board, and the captain (Halliwell Hobbes) must come up with a plan as it threatens to spread through the ship. Victor McLaglen is the burly, tough Chief Engineer, and had been a boxer in real life, which came in handy, since he needs to keep firm control of the men here. McLaglen would also work with Fitzgerald in "Quiet Man". Bombshell star of the 1940's Wendy Barrie is the ship's nurse. The film is OK, but it just kind of ends, without any drama or big climactic scene. Directed by Lew Landers. Worth watching on Turner Classics, but I sure wouldn't buy this one...
Review of Pacific Liner
