ONE WAY PASSAGE
US, 1932, 67 minutes, Black and white.
William Powell, Kay Francis, Ailine Mac Mahon, Frank Mc Hugh, Warren Hymer, Frederick Burton.
Directed by Tay Garnett.
One Way Passage is for romantic film viewers as well as those who love the 1930s as the golden years of Hollywood. This brief film won the Oscar for best screenplay for Robert Lord. The film was remade in 1941 as Till We Meet Again with Merle Oberon and George Brent in the Kay Francis and William Powell roles. Binnie Barnes appeared in the Ailine Mac Mahon role and Pat O’ Brien in the Warren Hymer role. Frank Mc Hugh appeared as the same character though with different names in each film.
The film was an opportunity to see these character actors in the early years of their careers, especially William Powell and Kay Francis who had already appeared in several films together. Ailine MacMahon? was to choose character roles – even matronly, as her sympathetic role in The Search, 1948.
The film was directed by Tay Garnett who was to make films like Mrs Parkington, The Valley of Decision, The Postman Always Rings Twice in the 1940s. By the mid-50s he had moved into television, continuing to be a prolific television director until the early 1970s.
1. The popularity of this kind of romantic story? Reality or not? How important or not?
2. 1932, Warner Bros production, the boat, the clubs in Hong Kong, San Francisco? The musical score? The cast and their careers?
3. The title, the reference to Joan and her terminal illness? Dan and his going to San Quentin? Betty and her becoming honest? Steve and his change of heart?
4. The opening in Hong Kong, the club, the singing? The voyage? The number of days indicated? To Honolulu, to San Francisco?
5. Dan and Joan, their encounter, on board the ship, the tender scenes with each other, their personalities, William Powell the gentleman, Kay Francis the dignified lead? The irony of their characters and their secrets, his being a murderer, her terminal illness? The concern of her doctor?
6. The subplot of Betty, posing as a countess, her accent, the conwoman on ships, her long career? Her friendship with Skippy, his doing the setups? His pickpocketing? His drinking – and deceiving the barman?
7. Steve, accompanying Dan back to San Quentin? His meeting with Betty, falling in love, her change of heart? Her telling the truth, his getting the cable, his throwing it away? Their future?
8. Joan and her delicacy of health, her collapse, the doctor warning about any shock? Dan, his dilemma? Not wanting to get on the boat after Honolulu? Her collapse, his taking her back? Facing the consequences?
9. The romantic sequences, the dialogue, the feeling, the romance, the passion, illness, secrets?
10. Popular ingredients for a film made during the Depression – romance for the Depression? Yet offering nostalgia for olden times in a golden oldie?
