A la sombra de los muelles

Some good stuff from Ernest Torrance in his penultimate performance as a sea captain adrift in corruption and dissipation. I also liked Colbert in an early, sexy, right profile turn. And a lot of Wells Root's dialogue from Max Miller's novel is properly cynical and funny, as befits a 1930s newspaper movie. But there is way too much of Ben Lyon, kind of a half ass Lee Tracy, and the dull as desalinated water romance between him and Claudette. And while I know I should put my 2023, anti MAGA viewfinder aside when watching this 1933 offering I confess I was fairly appalled to see Root and director James Cruze lavish so much sympathy upon Torrance's exploiter and murderer of Asians trying to enter the United States while regarding his victims as little more than supercargo. Give it a C plus.

This film was excellently directed by James Cruze, best known for 'The Great Gabbo' (1929) with Erich von Stroheim, and the Will Rogers vehicle, 'Mr. Skitch' (1933). Cruze died rather young, and has never been properly appreciated. Here he has made a gritty and realistic drama of the California waterfront with lots of harrowing location footage shot at sea showing the dangers of shark fishing. Apparently, great white sharks were hunted by harpoon from small rowboats, and here we see just how wrong this can go. The story is all about Claudette Colbert, here as radiant as ever she was, despite the fact that all the characters in the film including herself are morally ambivalent at best. Her father is a ruthless people smuggler who does not hesitate to throw a Chinese illegal immigrant overboard to save himself from discovery by the Coast Guard, but despite being this sort of character, he is powerfully played by character actor Ernest Torrence as someone entitled to our sympathy, and Claudette goes on loving him despite his crimes, which surely must have left some touches of mildew on her supposedly stainless character? As for her love interest, the dogged newspaper reporter played by Ben Lyon, who is sick of the waterfront and wants to go back to the sanity of Vermont, his own character flaws are wide enough to drive a rather large fishing boat through. All of these iniquities are glossed over, as we are encouraged to root for the romance of this couple, and we very quickly drown in the deep pools of Claudette's soulful eyes (which, by the way, has anybody ever noticed, are too far apart). This is absolutely not a sugary Hollywood drama. Its moral ambiguity possibly makes it all the more interesting.

Although some aspects of the film don't quite work, "I Cover the Waterfront" is a pretty good atmospheric drama with some good moments. The setting works very well for a story of suspense and crime, and the good story mostly makes up for the less impressive elements of the movie.

Joe Miller (Ben Lyon) is reporter assigned to find interesting stories along the waterfront. His obsession is to prove that ship captain Eli Kirk is involved in a smuggling operation with an occasional murder thrown in. When Miller has a chance meeting with Kirk's charming daughter Julie (Claudette Colbert), he seizes the opportunity to get information about her father. He quickly becomes enamored of Julie, and find himself with conflicting loyalties. Some of the story that follows is predictable, but there are some moments of tension and some good scenes.

The waterfront setting is done nicely, and it makes a good background to the events in the plot. It also includes an exciting and realistic shark-fishing scene. On the other hand, there are some features that are less effective or even a bit dated: for example, the very callous attitudes of all of the characters towards Chinese immigrants, and Miller's irritating sidekick, who is supposed to provide comic relief by his habitual drunkenness, but who is really just an annoyance that contributes nothing whatsoever to the plot.

Overall, this is an interesting film despite a few flaws, and it is worth watching for anyone who likes films of the era.

Ben Lyons is a reporter assigned to cover the San Diego waterfront. Someone has been smuggling Chinese people in, and Lyons thinks it's Ernest Torrence in his last role. He also tries to seduce Torrence's daughter, Claudette Colbert.. but she's interested in love, not just sex.

The copy I looked at was the result of a recent restoration. While the sound was perfect, the visuals were a bit off.

Which pretty much covers how I feel about the movie. There's potentially interestingly written characters, like Hobart Cavanaugh's "One Punch McCoy", but they never seem to affect Ben Lyon's mood. He hates his job, he wants the story, he desires Colbert, and nothing anyone does -- including him -- seems to change that. Miss Colbert swimming naked in the sea, indicated S&M overtones in a torture chamber from Spanish days, even Miss Colbert cleaning the windows of his place so he can actually sea the waterfront doesn't affect him, even with a mandatory happy ending to the script, and that's why I think this movie isn't a pre-code classic.

I Cover The Waterfront stars Ben Lyons and Claudette Colbert and it concerns reporter Lyons trying to uncover a smuggling racket by Colbert's father Ernest Torrance. When all else fails, Lyons goes on a romantic campaign to win Colbert and maybe get a line on what her father is doing. If it was liquor and this film was made at the tail end of Prohibition that might be one thing. But he's smuggling illegal Chinese immigrants and has no compunctions about throwing them overboard should the Coast Guard get too close.

Torrance who is best known for playing Saint Peter in Cecil B. DeMille's King Of Kings makes his farewell performance in this in a role 180 degrees polar opposite of Peter. He's a man who's totally lost his moral compass and regards the Chinese as cargo to be jettisoned. His attitude is quite typical of the West Coast which was flooded with Chinese and Japanese immigrants starting with the California Gold Rush and the opening of Japan. The Oriental was regarded as cheap labor and nothing more. So Torrance takes his money and jettisons his human cargo when the heat is on. As it is he's got quite the gimmick for concealing the cargo you have to see the film for.

Of course Claudette just thinks Torrance making a good living as a fisherman. And Lyons while putting on the moves to get information falls in love with her. The inevitable consequences follow.

Hobart Cavanaugh plays one his best drunks, a milquetoast when sober and a guy who gets real aggressive as long as Lyons is around to fight his battles. Given the ever raging battle over illegal immigration, I Cover The Waterfront has a relevancy for today as well.