Journey of no return
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Journey of no return |
| Original title | One way passage |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1932 |
| length | 69 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Tay Garnett |
| script |
Wilson Mizner , Joseph Jackson , Robert Lord |
| production | Robert Lord, Hal B. Wallis for Warner Brothers |
| music |
William Franke Harling , Bernhard Kaun |
| camera | Robert Kurrle |
| cut | Ralph Dawson |
| occupation | |
| |
Reise ohne Rückerkehr ( OT: One Way Passage ) is an American feature film from 1932 starring the popular screen couple William Powell and Kay Francis . Directed by Tay Garnett .
action
Joan Ames and Dan Hardesty meet in a bar in Hong Kong and fall in love at first sight. When they say goodbye, they drink a cocktail together and, as a sign of solidarity, they smash their glasses to place the stems crosswise on the table. They want to meet again on New Year's Eve in Agua Caliente . While leaving the bar, Dan is arrested by the American policeman Steven Burke. It turns out that Dan escaped from prison where he was arrested for murder. Steve is supposed to take Dan back to prison, where his execution has already been prepared. Shortly after, Joan and Dan meet again aboard a ship to San Francisco . Joan also has a secret: she is terminally ill and wants to live her last days carefree. After Dan saved Steven's life, the latter allowed him to move freely on board without handcuffs.
Dan and Joan spend every minute together. The two lovers receive support from Skippy and the "Baroness", two con artists who are friends with Dan. The baroness knows Dan and the real motives that brought him to the crime at the time: the victim was a notorious criminal who was deterred from further offenses by Dan. The Baroness wants to help Dan escape and so begins a romance with Steven to distract him from his duties. Later, the fake baroness and the policeman fall in love and, after confessing her criminal background to him, want to start a new life. Dan and Joan spend a romantic afternoon on shore leave in Honolulu . Dan is about to confess to Joan that he won't come back on board when Joan goes weak. Dan gives up every thought of escape out of love and brings Joan back. On the occasion he learns from the ship's doctor how things are really about Joan. Just as the ship is entering the port of San Francisco, Joan also learns the secret from Dan. The two see each other one last time. Joan then passes out and dies.
On New Year's Eve in a bar in Agua Caliente: At midnight, two bartenders suddenly hear the break of two cocktail glasses and when they turn around, they see the two stems of the glasses crossed on the table. But nobody can be seen.
background
Kay Francis and William Powell were in 1932 from Paramount Pictures , where they had established themselves as a popular screen couple after four films together, together with Ruth Chatterton to Warner Brothers . Before Journey of No Return , Francis and Powell had appeared together again in front of the camera in A Thief With Class . Journey of no return was the last collaboration of the two. The studio filmed the story again in 1940 under the title Til We Meet Again , directed by Edmund Goulding . Merle Oberon and George Brent took over the lead roles, while Frank McHugh re-played the role of the trickster.
Director Tay Garnett shot the film on a very small budget with little studio interference. He had the script rewritten several times and insisted on deliberately keeping the melodrama of the story low. Instead, he emphasized the romantic moments and the mystique of the story. Some of the filming took place on board the SS Calawell , a rusted old ship. The actors had to work without any comfort and the studio even saved on food and only gave the extras a meager 50 cents a day. Tay Garnett was drunk most of the time and eventually the producer put an end to the hustle and bustle and let the studio shoot the rest of the film.
Anton Grot was responsible for the production design, Orry-Kelly designed the costumes and William Franke Harling composed the film music, the leitmotif of which was 1939 under the title Where Was I? was published as a decoupling. The roles not mentioned in the credits include Al Ernest Garcia , Willie Fung , Herbert Mundin and Roscoe Karns .
Theatrical release
Production costs were $ 350,000 and the film grossed $ 791,000 in the US alone. Foreign income of $ 317,000 brought total box office earnings to $ 1,108,000, a more than respectable result given that 1932 was one of the film industry's toughest years.
criticism
In his review of October 14, 1932, Mordaunt Hall wrote kind words in the New York Times :
"" Journey of no return "[...] offers good entertainment. The film has an original idea and the characters are well drawn on their trip from Hong Kong to San Francisco. […] Tay Garnett's direction is good. He keeps the story going with its not always believable plot. "
Even after a few decades, Ken Hanke found nothing but praise and recognition for the Asheville Film Society:
“The classic film about two tragic lovers par excellence. Tay Garnett's "Journey Without Return" perfectly combines a tragic romance with cynical comedy - and yes, both parts go together. They complement each other harmoniously in a way that can only be found in very few films. "
prisma was also positive:
"Tay Garnett, for many years unjustifiably misunderstood master of American trivial films, staged this very simple love drama" Journey without Return "in 1932 with an incredible amount of serenity and looseness, so that despite all the human suffering, the whole thing ends as weightlessly as it began Has. Above all, however, the main actor William Powell is shocking in his inconspicuousness and quiet melancholy. "
Awards
At the Academy Awards in 1934 , the film won in the category:
synchronization
The synchronized version was created by Berliner Synchron for the German television premiere on February 27, 1974. Previously, Reise ohne Rückenkehr was shown in German cinemas in 1933. The dialogue book was written by Hans Bernd Ebinger, while Dietmar Behnke directed the dialogue .
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Joan Ames | Kay Francis | Marianne Gross |
| Dan Hardesty | William Powell | Erik Schumann |
| Betty Barrel House ("Baroness von Berilhaus") | Aline MacMahon | Hallgard Bruckhaus |
| Skippy | Frank McHugh | Kurt Schmidtchen |
Web links
- Journey of no return in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Background information and trailers at Turner Classic Movies
- Synopsis and analysis - English at Sover.net
- Background information and set photos - English at KayFrancisFilms
- Synopsis and numerous screenshots - in English at Things-and-other-Stuff.com
- Information about the shooting - in English on Google Books
- detailed description of the background from the point of view of William Powell - English on Google Books
swell
- John Callahan - Kay Francis: Secrets of an Actress - article in Bright Lights Film Journal , May 2006 issue
- Lynn Kear & John Rossman - Kay Francis: A Passionate Life and Career - McFarland & Company, 2006; ISBN 0-7864-2366-8 .
- Scott O'Brien - Kay Francis: I Can't Wait to Be Forgotten. Her Life on Stage and Film - BearManor Media, 2006; ISBN 1-59393-036-4 .
- Before the Code - Hollywood 1929-1934, V'96 retrospective; ISBN 3-901770-00-3
Footnotes
- ↑ see here: Archived copy ( memento of the original from April 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. and extensively Scott O'Brien, Kay Francis: I Can't Wait to Be Forgotten. Her Life on Stage and Film , p. 123 ff.
- ↑ One Way Passage (1932, IMDb Soundtrack). Retrieved November 7, 2017 .
- ↑ Croonr1: Where Was I? (1939) - Larry Stewart. December 31, 2014, accessed November 7, 2017 .
- ↑ see here: Archived copy ( memento of the original from April 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ "One Way Passage" [...] offers quite a satisfactory entertainment. It has an original idea and the characters stand out clearly in their voyage aboard a vessel bound from Hongkong for San Francisco. […] Tay Garnett's direction is clever. He keeps the story on the move with its levity and dashes of far-fetched romance.
- ↑ see the complete review here [1]
- ↑ The classic doomed lovers / shipboard romance movie, Tay Garnett's One Way Passage (1932) is a perfect blend of romantic tragedy and hard-boiled comedy - and, yes, the two do fit together. The two elements perfectly complement each other in a way you find in very few films.
- ^ William Powell at the television magazine Prisma
- ^ One Way Passage (1932; Release Dates). Retrieved November 7, 2017 .
- ↑ German synchronous index: German synchronous index | Movies | Journey of no return. Retrieved November 6, 2017 .
