Pacific Liner

Pacific Liner (1939)

TYPHOON AHEAD!...MUTINY BELOW! and a strange white terror stalking a hoodoo ship!

The S. S. Arcturus sails from Shanghai to San Francisco, and Dr. Jim Craig takes the post of ship's physician in order to be near Ann Grayson, the ship's nurse. Chief Engineer 'Crusher" McKay also has his eyes on Ann, and this brings an immediate conflict between the two men. When an epidemic breaks out below decks, Craig tells McKay the engine-and-fire rooms must be put under quarantine, but all of Craig's efforts to keep the disease from spreading are opposed by McKay.

Date of release
1939-01-06
TMDB
5.5 / 10 (13)
Runtime
1h 16m
Genres
Adventure, Action
Director
Lew Landers

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Awards: 0 · Nominations: 1

Pacific Liner is a 1939 American action/adventure film directed by Lew Landers. The film stars Victor McLaglen, Chester Morris and Wendy Barrie. Pacific Liner is primarily set in the engineering section of the vessel, where a stowaway has infected the crew with cholera. While the passengers remain oblivious, the ship's doctor (Morris) and nurse (Barrie) work to control the infection and heal their patients while the engineer (McLaglen)—who scoffs at "bugs"—keeps the stokers at their jobs filling the ship's boilers with coal to make the best time to San Francisco.

Production

Principal photography on Pacific Liner began mid-October 1938. In 1937, RKO corporate head Leo Spitz had moved away from the earlier "prestige pictures" that had often been critically acclaimed but financial disasters. He had not invested heavily in projects such as Pacific Liner, which had been originally intended to be released as an "exploitation quickie".

Along with a first-rate cast with both stock players and featured performers as well as a believable storyline, Pacific Liner also had the benefit of a "lavish shipboard set ... with art deco trimmings", courtesy of art director Van Nest Polglase and his assistant Albert D'Agostino, known especially for their elaborate sets in Astaire-Rogers musicals.

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