Across the Pacific

The main cast of The Maltese Falcon is reunited in director John Huston’s noir Across the Pacific. Bogart plays Richard Leland, a man wrongly discharged from the Army who decides to offer his services to the Chinese. Leland boards a Japanese steamer in Halifax, bound for the Panama Canal. En route, Leland meets a cast of shadowy and eccentric characters, including Alberta Marlow (Mary Astor) and Dr. Lorenz (Sydney Greenstreet). The film is noteworthy for the fact that, despite its name, none of the action takes place on the Pacific Ocean. Director Huston left during production to fulfill his service obligations; Vincent Sherman was left to pick up the pieces.