Two brothers dream of their love for the same girl back home, while aboard ship sailing ACROSS TO SINGAPORE.
Based on the famous adventure story All The Brothers Were Valiant' by Ben Ames Williams, this is a rousing silent film which features strong action & good acting. The production values are first-rate, as is to be expected from MGM. Although the plot becomes somewhat ludicrous - the hero kidnaps the heroine off to the Orient where they confront a dastardly mutiny - the film is certainly never dull.
Ramon Novarro stars as the youngest son in a sea-faring family of hardy men. (The Studio kept their Mexican star constantly roaming from one ethnic identity to another; here he plays Anglo-Saxon.) Giving a typically robust performance, Novarro is not lacking in the heroics necessary to beguile his audience. It is unfortunate that Novarro's films, silent & sound, with the exception of BEN-HUR (1925), are all but forgotten today.
Big, blustering Ernest Torrence steals more than a scene or two as Novarro's sea captain brother; gruff & gentle by turns, he is indeed valiant. Joan Crawford, early in her film career, is the object of both brothers' affections. Just when she seems a mite too demure, Joan's fire begins to spark; she also proves to be a surprisingly good pistol shot during the mutiny.
Movie mavens will recognize an unbilled Anna May Wong as a Celestial temptress.
