At 66, this movie lover finally sees this gem. There used to be "revival houses" in NYC that I would frequent. Theaters that would show old movies. How I miss them but, now the selection is practically endless. Thank you for your efforts. ❤
Even serious movies made back in the 1930's 1940's n 1950's had tongue in cheek snappy repartee, which made them a treasure n a pleasure to watch!!!! Read the book, n remember the big band song " I Cover the Waterfront as well!!
Everything about it was was 1st class. Very enjoyable. Sad in a way when one thinks about Eli the 1930s Coyote'. Client victims often suffer the same fate as today.
Very adult situations in an interesting plot. Classic pre-code in many ways. Excellent acting and very gritty staging. A classic everyone who loves film should see. Thanks for uploading a great print with great sound. BTW -- Hobart Cavanaugh plays a supporting role. He can be seen in over 180 films as a character actor up to 1950 when he passed away at age 63. A very funny guy in this one.
Claudette Colbert! I watched this film for the second time today. The plot was great if you ignore the casual racism. There were well drawn characters and wonderful episodes. Claudette Colbert’s character was amazing she had everything. The romance was fun, the scene in the brothel was colourful, from the mournful piano playing to the fight. The sordid and callous treatment of the illegal migrants was shocking even to the point of dumping a Chinese corpse on a desk at the newspaper office. The shark hunt was fun but then highlighted the lack of care for the people being smuggled. As I say entertaining but, questionable. Brilliant!
This is a good print of an important movie. Ernest Torrence, who plays Colbert's father, had been an opera singer before turning to straight acting. His somber playing of the piano lends a powerful touch to the brothel scene, which itself is staged in a natural manner that was about to become taboo in Hollywood productions. And the perilous smuggling of Chinese immigrants into California is entirely factual, being a consequence of the Chinese Exclusion Act which remained on the books for decades.
Totally true, I was just reading about the Chinese exclusion Act, yesterday. It's sad, but true. The Chinese use to work on the railroad here , and theres an old small chinese graveyard just outside our city. I saw it when I was in High School , no one cares for it, or maintains it. But it's there, not sure how many are buried there tho. As I remember it There were about 10 or more small stones, marking their graves. I thought back then , how sad, that they had been so mistreaded & forgotten in life. And now are just whispers in the wind. I know some of them wanted to go back to their homeland and would work to try to make enough money to go back. Most of them never made it tho, and probably lie in some unknown grave somewhere.
This is an amazing. Film!,,,,the footage of the shark bitten man...well jaws had nothing on this...give me these old films any day any time. Thanks for sharing this one..wow our Chinese citizens were really in a bad place in American history
Thank You,PizzaFlix 4 showing,Sharing this very entertaining movie! It began in rather" slow fashion" however,it picked up" Interest" toward the middle of the film.ALL of the actors were quite good in their roles and it was so enjoyable to see a movie so well done!! This is first time,I have seen Mr.Lyon.
This movie was adapted from the novel, “I Cover the Waterfront,” by author Max Miller (1899-1967), as was the 1961 remake “Secret of Deep Harbor” with Ron Foster, Merry Anders and Barry Kelley.
Interesting cultural history as well as the lives of the Chinese that were smuggled in at that time were so expendable that he could remove the body from the scene of the crime and not worry about prosecution. Hard lives revealed for that time and in those types of places. The writer and director did a good job of making it real.
Yes, the Chinese exclusion Act- passed in 1905 and repealed in 1943- was still in force at the time of this film. The events depicted have the ring of truth.
54:15 this is actually was genius , the idea that he put the poddy inside of a shark and the dialogue before about the bad smell, It's really brilliant at that time to have some plot and secrets, despite its simplicity, but every dialogue, every scene, every character has a philosophy and something behind it, and the connection that he is the father of the girl that she fall in love with the one who arrested him is amazing, this kind of narrative did not exist in abundance at that time .. I am not surprised why so many films were inspired by this film and quoted many things from it .. Despite this, it remains relatively compared to other classics .
What a story! One of my favorite movies. Not necessarily for the theme, just everything about it. I wonder how the writers, producers etc were so inspired and motivated to do such an incredibly heart wrentching subject etc? Obviously, the 'Barbary Coast' was still v e r y real! Horrible! That scene where he throwns the Chinaman overboard , , c r a p . Anyway, amazing!
Your coy response implies that human trafficing going on today, requires the sacrafice of at least one type of person in a situation same. So, You want me to guess as to what race/demo type of person that might be? Is that what you are asking of me? You are also implying that you know the 'answer'. So tell me who the person would be.
Thank you for posting. I wonder what the original titles music was like. Johnny Green stated that United Artists asked Johnny (music) & Edward Heyman (lyrics) to write a romantic song to match the title of the already completed film. Their song was quickly added to the film before release and became a standard in a short time. The opening music on your version (Henry Hall and the B.B.C. Orchestra) was recorded in London 3 months after the film's release.
Note the running time compared to the print on view at The Video Cellar. This one's a good 12 minutes longer because it restores the sporting house scene (at 20'55") and the scene immediately after, that would have been deemed unsuitable for 16mm 'film club' audiences (not to mention TV).. where that print was probably sourced. Odd thing is, the shorter version includes a brief shot of Colbert on the beach, supposedly nude, that's not in this one. Note the beginning of a diagonal wipe at the 7-minute mark and compare it with the version over at The Video Cellar.
This must be San Diego Harbor. The paper's dateline Reads 'San Diego March 15' at 54.51. Being up against the border, San Diego was a hotbed for human smuggling, and the Chinese Exclusion Act, which dragged out into the '50's, exacerbated the issue. A lot of the Chinese in Baja California weren't even coming from China, but had fled to Baja to avoid the mobs of Americans that assaulted China towns all through Alto California. There's a famous spot east of Jacumba just inside San Diego County called Smugglers Cave where Tirzo de la Toba, future and last general of Frederico Magon's Liberal Army of the Mexican Revolution, is said to have hidden Chinese while bringing them into the U.S. To this day, if you want the best and most original Chinese restaurants in the San Diego region, your go to Tijuana.
Pretty sure that’s Jody Gilbert (27:30) who also played WC Fields’ large waitress in “Never Give a Sucker an Even Break”... morethanyouneededtoknow.typepad.com/the_unsung_joe/2009/09/jody-gilbert.html
A shot of whiskey (not even Jack) out comes the bullet in the shape of cross. Must of got shaped that way when it came into contact with his skin. Yeah buddy Eli a real Man. Sometimes stupid, but in the end Blood's NOT Thicker than water.
