One Way Passage (1932) User Reviews

It Should Be Ridiculous

[boblipton · 8/10 · 20 April 2021]

William Powell and Kay Francis meet in a Hong Kong bar and fall instantly in love over cocktails. They say auf wiedersehen, and meet again on the ship back to San Francisco. He doesn't know she is dying, and dying fast. She doesn't know he's been grabbed by cop Warren Hymer, and is going to be hanged at San Quentin as soon as he gets off the boat.

It's so intensely, romantically heartbreaking that my usual reaction would be to roll my eyes, but in the hands of director Tay Garnett, it simply overwhelms me. Cinematographer Robert Kurrie's lighting is made for Miss Francis, and William Powell's simple, declaratory line readings give the dialogue, which never gets flowery, a passion too intense to bear unmoved.

Among the supporting players, Aline MacMahon as a confidence woman who falls for Hymer, stands out; she never met a script or cast she could not steal. What's remarkable is the way their interaction humanizes Hymer, in one of his roles that looks like one of his standard, ridiculous mugs. The bartenders that feed them cocktails and witness their passion -- Glen Cavender, Mike Donlin, Roscoe Karns, and William Halligan -- offer visual comments, as do the trail of discarded cigarettes and broken cocktail glasses, each lying in broken, satiated pairs.

As I said, I want to roll my eyes. I can't. It doesn't make me weep either. It makes me sad that I've never felt anything that intense. My fault.

Watch this one and skip the remake.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 3 February 2010]

In the 1930s, Hollywood remade pictures at an astounding rate. Often, only three to five years after the original film was made, the same studio would remake the film--and rarely were the two versions that different--just the cast. Now if the original film were somehow seriously flawed and the remake corrected that, I could understand, but too often, like the saying goes, "when you've seen one, you've seen them all". In the case of "One Way Passage", eight years later the film was remade with George Brent and Merle Oberon ("'Til We Meet Again (1940)"). While Brent and Oberon were fine actors and they gave it their best, the bottom line is that the original is pretty much the same film...only better.

In this film, William Powell plays a man wanted for murder who has been hopping the world trying to avoid the law. The film begins with him finally being caught by a nice but somewhat dim-witted detective (Warren Hymer--who made a career out of playing slow-witted guys). So, he books passage for them both to return from the Orient to America so Powell can serve his sentence--the death penalty! On board the ship, Powell is attracted to lovely Kay Francis. She does not know he's a condemned man, nor does he know that she's dying from a "Hollywood Disease"--a fatal illness that has very few symptoms, keeps you looking great and usually is unnamed! Both fall in love and spend all their time together--even though their love is fated to end before its time. There's quite a bit more to it than this, but I don't want to spoil the film, so I'll say no more about the plot.

The bottom line is that the film is original and extremely artistic. The music and soft cinematography work wonderfully together to make a very sad but romantic film. The only negatives are the impossibility of the story--if you think about it, it really doesn't seem possible. But, if you suspend your sense of disbelief, you'll be rewarded with a lovely film.

A Doomed Romance

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 4 September 2008]

In between his time with Paramount and MGM, William Powell did a two year stint at Warner Brothers where I don't think Jack and his brothers ever quite knew what to do with him. His films there, vary in quality, but the best of them is this doomed romance with Kay Francis, One Way Passage. The title itself tells how poignant this film will be.

Powell is a fugitive who is tracked down and brought aboard ship in handcuffs by San Francisco Detective Warren Hymer. Powell escaped while being transported to San Quentin to be hung for murder. At the same time good time party girl Kay Francis is traveling home essentially to die. Unsaid at the time because the audience knew what the effects of bootleg liquor were on some people from the Roaring Twenties. Her organs are generally failing and she's coming home to die.

These two people are as poignant a pair of lovers as has ever been brought to the screen. Neither knows about the other and the aura of heartbreak just permeates One Way Passage. It's a cosmic joke played on them, both finding in each other a reason to live and both knowing it can't be.

Warren Hymer plays it a great deal straighter than he normally does. He's not the brightest cop in the world, but he's a far from the dim witted hooligans he usually is cast. Aline McMahon and Frank McHugh are a pair of confidence workers who both team up to help the doomed Powell and Francis. McHugh repeated his own role in the remake of One Way Passage from 1940, Till We Meet Again.

The most cynical heart will melt in seeing One Way Passage.

Luminous

[shoffner · 27 September 2003]

I recently saw this movie on television and loved it. It is a beautiful love story, simply told. Kay Francis and William Powell are the doomed lovers and the Warner Brothers stock company provides excellent support. The contributions here by Aline MacMahon, Frank McHugh and Warren Hymer are especially worth noting. The cinematography shimmers. It's a four hanky tearjerker like they don't make anymore. I agree with the previous post, it's dreamlike perfection and the last scene is one for the books.

An all-time classic romance

[mark.waltz · 10/10 · 30 April 2001]

He's set to be hanged for murder; she's dying of a mysterious illness. By chance, they meet before sailing on a ship set-sailing for San Francisco, and fall in love. He is William Powell, the most debonair leading man of the 30's. She is Kay Francis, the best dressed woman of the 30's. They are both very attractive, yet doomed.

Such is the basic storyline for this wonderful drama filled with tears, humor, and drama. The team of Powell and Francis had appeared together in four films at Paramount before being signed by Warner Brothers in 1932 when they made this film along with another classic, "Jewel Robbery". Where Powell and his later partner Myrna Loy exemplified sophisticated humor several years later at MGM, Powell and Francis were a romantic couple. Both Loy and Francis were well-dressed, dark-haired beauties. While Loy had a career that lasted almost 60 years, Francis would retire from the screen by the mid-late 40's. As a result, she was one of Hollywood's forgotten leading ladies until the success of Ted Turner's classic movie channel brought her back into the limelight.

"One Way Passage" is the team's most beloved film, and its Academy Award winning story is just one of the highlights. The stars are another, but the supporting cast was simply superb as well. Frank McHugh, as a drunken conman, is perfect comedy relief along with the fabulous Aline MacMahon as the phony "countess". If there had been Supporting Academy Awards for acting in 1932, she would have won for this film handsdown. She is simply wonderful. There is not a moment of hers on screen where she doesn't dominate it. Warner Brothers apparently offered her the chance to become a leading lady, but the realistic MacMahon realized that her best parts would come with the character roles that often stole the limelight away from the stars. Catch MacMahon in the very well known "Gold Diggers of 1933" and more obscure films such as "The Merry Frinks" and "While the Patient Slept" to see what I mean. Her later films, "Dragon Seed" and "The Search", are perfect examples of what a gem she was as a performer.

The music score, later heard in the background of many a Warners "B" film, is classic. The screenplay is superb, and the length-well, a mere 68 minutes, which goes to show that good things do come in small packages. Sadly, after this and "Jewel Robbery", Powell and Francis were never paired again; Powell went onto MGM where better things awaited him, while Francis remained at Warners for many similar films, none of which could surpass the charm of this film. It was remade of course by Warner Brothers in 1940 as "Till We Meet Again" with George Brent and Merle Oberon. That version was not bad, but certainly an also ran compared to this film. The ending will leave you joyfully heartbroken.

Dreamlike perfection

[sws-3 · 10/10 · 24 August 1999]

A dying woman and a condemned man fall in love on an ocean liner; how's that for high concept, circa 1932. No, I'm not giving anything away about this tightly plotted, exquisitely produced melodrama. Upper class sophistication, personified by ever-glamorous Kay Francis and gentleman crook William Powell, characterizes the tragic aspect of the story, while ethic warmth and humor, in the classic Warner Bros. style, are perfectly supplied by Aline MacMahon, Warren Hymer, and Frank McHugh. Lots of marvelous small touches, not the least being the way McHugh plays the final scene. If it's on, don't miss it.

good and fun

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 31 December 2017]

It's love at first sight for Dan Hardesty (William Powell) and Joan Ames (Kay Francis) as they bump into each other at a Hong Kong bar. Police detective Steve Burke catches up to Dan and takes him into custody. They are taking the boat to San Francisco. Dan pulls them both overboard but rescues the drowning detective. They joined by Joan, drunken petty thief Skippy, and con artist Betty who is pretending to be a countess. Joan doesn't know that Dan faces a death sentence and he doesn't know that she's terminally ill.

The only thing holding this back from unreserved love is why Steve is after Dan. It needs an opening of what happened in the original incident to exonerate him in the audience's eyes. The fact that he saved the detective from drowning already points to his goodness. It would be better to have something more definitive. Skippy's little scams are loads of fun. He's great comic relief. Powell is charming as heck. This is a fine rom-com with a dark edge.

One Way Passage Still Great After Almost 75 Years

[gerrythree · 10/10 · 4 December 2006]

In the grim year of 1932, with Warner Bros. losing money like all the major studios except MGM (RKO and Paramount both went into receivership thanks to the Depression), along comes the movie One Way Passage, dealing with what seems are the petty cares of grifters on a Pacific cruise. Only this movie is not a screwball comedy or a story about rich people in tuxedos chitchatting when they are not dancing. Writer Robert Lord's frequent writing partner in 1932 and 1933, Wilson Mizner, specialized in stories about people on the margins of society, peaking with the great Heroes For Sale. In one way or another, most of the characters in One Way Passage are nearing the end of their line. When Frank McHugh's character Skippy drinks alone at a bar in Agua Caliente on New Year's Eve, there is no longer the usual smile on his face as he stares at his drink. The opening credits of the movie put Kay Francis' name above the title, but she is just one of several Warners stock company actors at their peak in this movie, including Warren Hymer as the tough detective who always gets his man.

The year 1939 is described as Hollywood's peak year, when movies like Gone With The Wind and Gunga Din were in release. But judging movies by how they stand the test of time, movies released in 1932 and 1933 stand up better. One Way Passage is proof of that. Warner Bros. may have treated its employees like slaves, working stars and crew until 2:00 AM (with no overtime) to meet the 12 day production time limit the studio imposed on most movies, with a 6 day work week, but look at the results. One Way Passage. Baby Face. Mystery of the Wax Museum. Lady Killer. Joan Blondell described Warners Bros. studio then as a place where things were "really cooking." And now, almost 75 years later, One Way Passage can still hold a viewer's attention with its story of some passengers on a last voyage before everything changes.

Classic tearjerker

[HotToastyRag · 7/10 · 8 July 2021]

Is anyone in the mood for one of the saddest premises in old movie romances? That's saying quite a lot, but it's really true of One Way Passage and its remake 'Til We Meet Again. On a cruise ship, a condemned man on his way to death row and a woman with a terminal illness fall in love.

Are you reaching for your Kleenexes yet? You'll need an entire box for this movie, trust me. It's so incredibly sad, and it has one of the rare plots that isn't dated. It could easily have been remade every twenty years and audiences would still flock to it. A modern audience would obviously require more sex scenes, but there's enough allusion in the black-and-white versions to get the point across. William Powell, normally classy and debonair, gets a new persona as the rugged convict. He's not getting the death penalty for tax evasion, after all. Kay Francis, one of the most famous heroines of the 1930s, gets another tearjerker role as a woman whose strength might fade before she's had a chance to really live. You've been warned; bring your Kleenexes. I don't think it matters which movie you watch first, but you can pick based on the cast. The remake stars Merle Oberon and George Brent.

Francis and Powell Are Perfection

[Dr. Ed-2 · 10/10 · 12 June 2002]

This is likely the most underrated great romance picture of all time! The stars--William Powell and Kay Francis--are superb. The supporting players--Aline MacMahon, Franck McHugh, and Pat O'Brien--have never been better. The music score is a classic; the story a perfect gem. From the opening shot at a Far East bar, complete with a marvelous singing trio, to the final, heartbreaking moment, this film is the perfect 1930s concoction of great stars and a ridiculously silly plot made totally believable and palatable. Kay Francis was one of the top stars of the decade, and this is one of her best films; William Powell, also underrated, has never been more suave. Both deserved Oscar nominations for this great fiolm, as did MacMahon and McHugh for support (not a category for another few years). Kay Francis did everything during her reign as a top Warners star. It's amazing how she was able to go from fragile heroine to hard-edged woman and then throw in a comedy. A truly versatile and wonderful star rescued by TCM from obscurity. Sadly, neither Powell nor Francis would ever win an Oscar----Julia Roberts indeed!

Overly schmaltzy, but works, just

[grantss · 6/10 · 22 July 2015]

Overly schmaltzy, but works, just.

A ship bound to San Francisco from Hong Kong has some interesting passengers. One of them is a convicted criminal, being escorted back to California by a policeman. Another is a sickly heiress. The criminal and the heiress meet and fall in love. Cue romance, and a tough choice...

It's the intrigue that makes this story watchable. The romance is of your usual conventional soppy variety, so really nothing to write about there, except that it does influence the criminal's actions (adversely, I might add).

Decent performances by William Powell and Kay Francis in the lead roles. The policeman, played by Warren Hymer, is quite one- dimensional, however. Even worse is Frank McHugh as the drunk: very hammy and irritating. He does provide the best scene of the movie, however. The mirror scene was Chaplinesque in its hilarity.

One way fare

[jotix100 · 10/10 · 25 August 2006]

Dan Hardesty has evaded being caught for quite some time. His luck runs out in Hong Kong, where he is apprehended. He is being sent back to the States to pay his debt to society. Sgt. Steve Burke is the man escorting the con man in the ocean liner traveling across the Pacific. Dan sees and immediately is captivated by the intriguing Joan Ames, a wealthy woman. Also on board we find two con artists working their way back home. "Barrel House" Betty is passing herself as the phony Countess Barilhaus, and a man from Dan's past, Skippy, is also finding ways to scam passengers.

In this setting, Joan falls in love with Dan. She has no idea about his past, or why he is on this particular ship. Dan, on the other hand, has no inkling about the fatal disease Joan is suffering. Their time together is precious and both fall hopelessly in love. Skippy and the Countess plot together to help Dan escape. Their scheme involves the phony countess falling in love with Dr. Hymer, who is attending Joan on this trip. Dan has decided to try to escape, and as they arrive in San Francisco, where Joan learns the truth about Dan and collapses. Dan never goes ahead with his plan and is sent away.

This bittersweet story of an impossible romance, was given a wonderful treatment by Tay Garmett, a director who knew how to stage these impossible romances. Robert Lord created a fine screen play that even seen today makes a lot sense.

William Powell and Kay Francis play the doomed lovers. Mr. Powell, one of the handsomest figures of the time is the right man for the exquisite Kay Francis, who was one of the most popular leading ladies at Warner. Before the arrival on the scene of Bette Davis, Ms. Francis reigned supreme because of her intriguing beauty and her way of making every character she played a winner. The joy of this film though are Aline MacMahon and Frank McHugh. These two character actors give their best to make this a winning comedy.

"One Way Passage" is a movie that will not disappoint the lovers of classical cinema.

Irresistible hoke

[Fred_Rap · 7/10 · 27 January 2010]

This delicate shipboard romance was a popular favorite in its time and it's not hard to see why. Robert Lord grabbed a well-earned Oscar for his original story, a fanciful but ingenious doomed lovers yarn that must have offered solace to Depression-era audiences whose miseries could only pale next to those of hard-luck leads William Powell and Kay Francis.

The elegant pair fall in love on a Frisco-bound ocean liner, each harboring a terrible secret that curtails their future happiness -- he's a convicted murderer returning to the gallows, she has a heart ailment and is living on borrowed time. Never mind why a dying woman is aboard a cruise ship instead of being ensconced in a terminal ward. Or why the authorities would send thick-witted Warren Hymer of all cops to bring in Powell.

This is irresistible hoke, and the director Tay Garnet invests it with wonderfully eccentric touches (like the burly lesbian among the trio of portly harmonizers in a Hong Kong bar) and innovative dream-like imagery (i.e., the startling camera zoom when Powell spots Francis at the ship's railing). He also manages the near-impossible feat of keeping Francis, the lisping clotheshorse, to a minimum of cloying eye-rolls, with no small help from Powell's wry and charmingly self-effacing performance.

The heavy sentiment is deftly balanced by the sparkling deadpan humor of Aline MacMahon as the Russian Countess Barrelhaus (in actuality the Brooklyn con-artist, Barrel House Betty), who conspires with perpetual drunk Frank McHugh (his grating presence is the film's sole detriment) to assist the lovers.

The coda, set in a Mexican bar on New Year's Eve, is unforgettable.

Hard to swallow

[samhill5215 · 5/10 · 11 September 2008]

The only reason I'm reviewing this film is because I find its score hard to swallow. There is nothing here that merits such a high one and I'm a fan of both Kay Francis and William Powell. They have given much better performances elsewhere. "Jewel Robbery" for instance, where they both appear, is much more fun and considerably more realistic. Here everything seems forced. They are good but they lack chemistry. And the supporting cast also doesn't click. Aline McMahon is hard to take as an adventuress on the hunt for a sugar daddy who falls for the dumb cop played by Wayne Hymer whose character is totally lacking in any social graces. You're left wondering why on earth she would be attracted to this bozo. And then there's Frank McHugh who plays a drunk throughout the movie and managed to just annoy me. So there you have it. On a positive note the film begins auspiciously with the bar scene where our protagonists first meet. There is a marvelous little vignette of the a capella trio as they struggle to catch the gratuities tossed to them by customers. It's fun as is the actual meeting scene of Francis and Powell but after that auspicious beginning the film deteriorates rapidly.

Best Romantic Film of the 30s

[drednm · 27 November 2005]

This is an update of an earlier comment. One Way Passage is likely the most underrated romance picture of all time! The stars--William Powell and Kay Francis--are superb. The supporting players--Aline MacMahon, Frank McHugh, and Warren Hymer--have never been better. The music score is a classic; the story a perfect gem. Francis is dying from a rare malady; Powell is going home to face execution. They meet and fall in love.

From the opening shot at a Far East bar, complete with a marvelous singing trio (Jane Jones is one of the singers), to the final, heartbreaking moment, this film is the perfect 1930s concoction of great stars and a ridiculously silly plot made totally believable and palatable. Kay Francis was one of the top stars of the decade, and this is one of her best films; William Powell, always underrated, has never been more suave. Both deserved Oscar nominations for this great film, as did MacMahon and McHugh for support (not a category for another few years).

Kay Francis did everything during her reign as a top star. It's amazing how she was able to go from fragile heroine to hard-edged woman and then throw in a comedy. A truly versatile and wonderful star rescued by TCM from obscurity. William Powell would hit his stride a few years after this film in The Thin Man. He started out in silent films as a villain (When Knighthood Was in Flower in 1922) but talkies turned him into the epitome of the debonair gent.

Two great stars, but neither Powell nor Francis would ever win an Oscar.

A romance for the ages

[Arcturus1980 · 10/10 · 16 November 2018]

I had the great pleasure of rewatching One Way Passage recently. It is a film about love, life, and death with a remarkable ethereal charm. Dan (William Powell) is of the criminal element and under threat of the hangman's noose, but easily forgiven for "croaking the dirtiest heel that ever lived." Joan (Kay Francis) is a darling of a socialite with an apparent heart condition that has her days numbered. Together on a month-long crossing from Hong Kong to San Francisco via Honolulu, "the world and time seem somewhere else," she remarks. It blossoms into a sacrificial love of mutual devotion. To help her he forgoes a chance to save his neck, and she taunts death all the while by disobeying her doctor's orders to remain at rest.

I love the Golden Age of Hollywood, but not so much for the comedy. One Way Passage is exceptionally funny thanks to Aline MacMahon as Betty, a con artist who masquerades as a countess and Frank McHugh as the thief, Skippy. They are also two of the best friends any film character ever had. I have not seen a better example of honor among thieves. The subplot between Betty and Warren Hymer's sympathetic and honest cop, Steve, is very much welcomed.

New Year's Eve in Agua Caliente is a most happy occasion as the film ends. Their hope of an afterlife came true. A beautiful idea, however much I struggle to fathom it.

Unsung Gem with unhappy ending?

[tcampbell-4 · 10/10 · 26 November 2004]

When I worked a graveyard shift, my supervisor, brightening (and waking) us up, asked "Quick! What are your top 5 favorite movies?" I instantly put "One Way Passage" on my list. I wasn't surprised when it wasn't on anyone else's list, this is an obscure gem.

The balance of melodrama and comedy is perfect; as it is in many thirties Warner Bros. dramas. It seems strange at first, but think it through. (For example, my ux Tom posits that Warners's unusual lug-n-mug filled western, "The Oklahoma Kid" is probably accurate, as most of the folks in the historical wild, woolly west moved from the wild East and could have talked like Cagney.)

The McHugh and MacMahon sub-plots are are not just comic relief from the romance, they are deftly integrated into it, and they become romantic co-conspirators. This adds to the appeal; the descriptions "chick flick," "weeper," "women's picture" can not apply.

The leads are sexy, gorgeous, and lovable. The crossed cigarettes tossed on the beach shows how the restraints on old movies resulted in delicious images. The crossed, broken cocktail glass image, at first seen quite early on in the movie, makes me question why IMDb Comments posters are saying this is movie has an unhappy ending (that's not a spoiler, is it?)

Ill-fated shipboard romance is ideal for Kay Francis...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 22 September 2008]

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.

One of my favorite romances

[AlsExGal · 10/10 · 19 August 2012]

Having brought Kay Francis and William Powell over from Paramount in 1932, Warner Brothers reteamed them in a romance that turned out to be as good as anything they did at their former studio.

Kay Francis plays Joan, a doomed girl with an unnamed disease on her way to a sanitarium in San Francisco. Her case is fatal, it is just a matter of whether it is months or weeks or days. William Powell plays Dan, an escaped murderer who has been sentenced to hang that is recaptured in Hong Kong by a detective (Warren Hymer) who has the flattest of feet. Hymer usually played dense types, but here he has a head on his shoulders, most of the time. Dan and Joan meet in a bar in Hong Kong, and it is love at first sight.

They wind up on the same boat headed back to San Francisco. Dan has convinced the cop to let him wander about the boat freely because he saved the cop from drowning, though he did so reluctantly. Joan sees Dan on the boat and decides she is going to live life to the fullest, even if it shortens her days. Ultimately, both of them wind up losing their lives for the sake of their love for the other. Dan loses a couple of opportunities to escape to help Joan, and Joan shortens her life by not staying in bed during the whole voyage and ultimately dies upon the shock of hearing about Dan's fate and seeing Dan led away in handcuffs as they dock in San Francisco.

Now this might seem like a depressing movie, but Warners did lighten it up a bit by sticking in a romance between a con-woman (Aline MacMahon) posing as a Russian countess and the cop who at first sees Dan as a great prize to take back to the states, but by film's end feels very sorry for the guy to the point you can tell he wishes he could just let him go. Frank McHugh rounds things out as a pickpocket.

The final scene gets me every time. Dan and Joan, through their entire 24 day voyage, have been lying to each other about their fate and vow to meet in Agua Caliente for New Year's Eve if they can't find each other before. Thus the final scene is a sad McHugh, drinking alone in Agua Caliente as New Year's partying goes on around him. There is a sound of breaking glass. There, with nobody around, are the stems of two broken glasses laying side by side - which was what Joan and Dan did with their glasses when they had their first drink together. The glasses disappear and become as invisible as the lovers, presumably reunited at last in the hereafter.

If this doesn't choke you up, check to see if you have a pulse. You could be dead yourself.

All love is doomed love

[theognis-80821 · 6/10 · 12 January 2022]

A condemned man (William Powell) is being conducted to his execution in a month long (!) trans-Pacific voyage with a dying woman (Kay Francis), each keeping their secret from the other: a tragic situation, too frequently interrupted by faux comic relief (Frank McHugh). Especially during the Great Depression, audiences must have longed for a happy ending. This might be a perfect half of a double feature with "Outward Bound," about a ghost ship, whose passengers all knew exactly where they were going.

Two doomed people fall in love

[blanche-2 · 8/10 · 5 August 2006]

Kay Francis and William Powell are doomed lovers in "One Way Passage," a 1932 film also starring Frank McHugh, Aline McMahan and Warren Hymer. Right after meeting the lovely Joan Ames in a bar, escaped murderer Dan Hardesty is caught by Sgt. Steve Burke and brought back to San Francisco via ship to be hanged. Ames is also on board ship; she's dying of an incurable illness (probably some form of heart disease they couldn't do anything about in 1932). Knowing the sergeant can't swim, Hardesty, handcuffed to him, jumps overboard and, while trying to drown Burke, steals the handcuff key and frees himself. When Burke yells for help, it draws attention from passengers, and Hardesty has no choice but to save him. To thank him for saving his life, Burke lets Hardesty walk around the ship with no handcuffs. Thus, when he and Joan meet again, she has no idea he's headed for a death sentence, and he doesn't know about her.

I saw Carol Burnett do a send-up of either this or the remake - just think if Burnett were on TV today, no one would have any idea what she was doing. How times have changed.

This is a beautiful film with wonderful performances, not only from Powell and Francis, but from Frank McHugh, Aline McMahon, and Warren Hymer. McHugh is a petty crook who runs into McMahon, another crook who is posing as a countess. She catches the eye of Sgt. Burke. It's a great subplot with some fun moments.

Powell is gallant, melancholy, and charming, and Francis is glamorous and lovely; both give very touching and sweet performances, each knowing he/she isn't going to live. Each time they drink together, they break their glasses and cross the stems, and this crossing is something the camera focuses on as they sit in a cove in Hawaii and toss away their cigarettes. The ending is one of the best ever and will make the viewer smile and cry at the same time.

It's 1932, so some of the sound seems to have been done in an echo chamber, but that shouldn't bother anyone. "One Way Passage" is a treasure of a film.

a bit of a split personality

[deng43 · 6/10 · 17 August 2006]

this is not the great cinema, ethereal experience or most romantic movie of all time - despite several reviewers insistence. it is early Powell, and while he is always watchable and just grabs you with his first look, he hasn't quite got the assurance he showed in the thin man a couple of years later. i can't quite specify, but he seems just a little off. Kay Francis plays her part very nicely, and she and Powell go well together. McMahon, as the countess is good; not a demanding roll, but deftly handled. from here on out the cast gets a bit sketchy.

McHugh overplays his part terribly and does it in dumb staggering-drunk fashion. the second time, third if you are a very forgiving person, he lets out with his breathless idiot's laugh you want to strangle him. this part could have been something; it's the chance to steal scenes from the stars. it is one of those little parts that can offer a lot to a fine actor. McHugh, in this role anyway, is not that actor. the routine would have gone over well in a 3 stooges film.

Hymer, as Steve Burke, was a disappointment, too. the figure is cut from cardboard: dumb cop, easily duped, but maybe has redeeming characteristics. he's too dumb here. there is no reason he couldn't have been smart. his portrayal really offers Powell nothing to play against. as for his redeeming characteristics, well, they didn't show me enough to explain why a smart dame like countess Betty would want to hitch her wagon to his star forever. it doesn't play.

oh. lest i forget, catch the bartender in the Brit pub in h.k.in the opening scenes. he has to be Sam Shepard's grandpa. his few seconds of fame is well spent.

i imagine all the actors were really quite competent. the writers let them down, i think. could have been much better.

"The luck's come back this time in full glasses"

[ackstasis · 8/10 · 21 September 2009]

I haven't seen 'Love Affair (1939),' but I have seen 'An Affair to Remember (1957),' and that film undoubtedly owed something to Tay Garnett's 'One Way Passage (1932).' In McCarey's film, a trans-Atlantic liner becomes a metaphor for love: two people fall hopelessly for one another, becoming adrift on a vessel of passion that precludes all former relationships or future life plans. When the ship reaches its destination – New York – reality intrudes on emotion, and love is thrown into turmoil. In 'One Way Passage,' the reality is death itself. Joan (Kay Francis) has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and will be lucky to survive the journey to America. Dan (William Powell) has been convicted for murder, and in San Quentin awaits his gallows. Neither knows that the other is walking death row, either figuratively or literally, but love intercedes on their behalf: just as a star is brightest before its extinction, so too is love at its most passionate when the lovers' time is limited.

Despite its very brief running time (67 minutes), 'One Way Passage' is one of the great unsung romances. An aura of hope pervades the film. Though the viewer is always aware of the inevitable, I loathe to describe the story as a "doomed romance." Such a label would properly refer to, say, Lean's 'Brief Encounter (1945)' or Ophüls' 'Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948),' in which the prevailing mood is that of tragedy and misspent emotion. In 'One Way Passage,' not an ounce of passion goes to waste, each lover fully aware that their time together is brief. I was also struck by the notion that love doesn't necessarily entail complete openness between lovers. Lying, if done to protect rather than deceive, can be the most heartbreakingly romantic thing of all (I'm reminded of the devoted father in 'A Night to Remember (1958)' who, with admirable composure, assures his family that the Titanic will not sink, despite knowing that his own death is unavoidable). Garnett's casual use of long takes in masterful, giving the story a poetic fluidity without drawing attention to itself.

William Powell was one of the busiest stars of the 1930s, enjoying the security of, not one, but two recurring characters (Philo Vance and Nick Charles, both detectives). 'One Way Passage' was produced by Warner Brothers before he moved to M-G-M in 1934. Even before 'The Thin Man (1934),' however, Powell was one of the classiest stars in Hollywood, here delivering his dialogue with unsurpassed aplomb. Kay Francis was a new face for me, but her eyes simply sparkle with life and emotion, her character torn between the joys of love and the heartbreak of impending death. Of the supporting players, only Frank McHugh – as a drunken pickpocket with a weaselly cackle – destroyed the mood of the film, his alcoholism far less amusing than Nick Charles' subsequent hankering for martinis. While Aline MacMahon and Warren Hymer are strong, 'One Way Passage' truly belongs to Powell and Francis, and to a love than persists long after its participants have moved on to other worlds.

NOT BAD FOR THE TIME...!

[masonfisk · 7/10 · 30 May 2021]

From 1932, we have an early tragic romance starring William Powell & Kay Francis. Starting out in Hong Kong, Powell is a man on the run who's has been caught by a detective who decides to bring him home to San Francisco via boat. Once on the ride home, he meets Francis, a socialite who he falls in love with. What each don't know is that he's wanted for murder & she's in the final throes of a fatal disease. What follows in this 70 minute yarn is the give & take of whether each character will divulge the truth to each other & the supporting players (a pair of con artists) who help them meet up for their romantic trysts. Hamfisted by the early crutches of cinema of the time (the clunky set up & just shoot'em presentation), the actors & story are still well served leaving the audience w/a bit of suspense as to how the story will end.

No Chemistry Between Powell and Francis

[view_and_review · 4/10 · 13 July 2023]

Kay Francis and William Powell are together again on screen for what seems like the 10th time. I've seen them in "For the Defense," "Ladies' Man," and now "One Way Passage," but I know they've been in other movies together as well. I'm not a fan of Kay. She seems to always be a homewrecker or cheat. I like William Powell in a lot of his works, but when he's the ladies' man (as one of the titles of his movies suggests) it gets tiresome. I didn't particularly like them in this movie either. They have no chemistry.

William Powell played Dan Hardesty, a wanted criminal. He was apprehended somewhere abroad by a goofy-looking yet serious cop named Steve Burke (Warren Hymer). Steve was bringing Dan back to San Francisco via ocean liner in order to put him in prison. While on the ship Dan was allowed to roam free where he fell in love with the terminally ill Joan Ames (Kay Francis). The two wined, dined, and danced like there was no tomorrow while they each kept their secret from the other.

This wasn't much of a plot or much of a movie. It totally hinged upon the magic between Powell and Francis and there was none.

Free on YouTube.