Pescicani - Contrabbando Giallo

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.

In his 1976 book CLAUDETTE COLBERT, film historian William Everson writes extensively about I COVER THE WATERFRONT, praising it as one of Colbert's best films and as containing one of her best performances. Everson's book was one in the series edited by Ted Sennett, THE PYRAMID ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE MOVIES.

In discussing the movie, Everson references scenes which are not found in the 60 minute print in existence today. (Another reviewer states the original movie is 72 minutes long.) Here is an excerpt from Everson's text which refers to the missing scenes: ". . . there seem to be years of world-weariness compressed into the tone of Colbert's voice in her one line 'Who cares about tomorrow?' as she rolls over into the embrace of Ben Lyon, before an off-screen seduction. In the scene where she visits the bordello to collect her father, there's a wonderful combination of humor, resignation and the implication that this is a frequent procedure, when she good-naturedly says she'll wait for him, as he's still 'busy' upstairs. When she finds he's been 'rolled,' her mood changes to one of fury. Transformed into a fighting demon, she lashes out at his companion, retrieves the money, and then, as the floozie dissolves into tears, has a change of heart and peels off a bill for her. 'Here, I guess you've earned it!', is her exit line as she propels her father homeward."

In the existing 60 minute version, I COVER THE WATERFRONT is a valuable piece of film history. How much more valuable it would be to have the missing scenes restored.

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.

This movie surprised me again and again with its unexpected plot twists. Movies of this era are usually so predictable. It has a giant hideous shark and a scenes with this shark in the water that are genuinely terrifying. I did not expect effects from this era to stand up.

There is a lot of distressing racist dialogue deprecating Chinese people.

Claudette Colbert is like a fireplace. She radiates warmth, friendliness and enthusiasm. She has alarmingly thin eyebrows and overly thick face powder, but you get used to it. If she were in movies today, she could hold her own. She has that indefinable something.

There is also a pretty racy scene when a women in a bar picks up the sea captain. I was shocked at how direct it was about what was going on. This must have blown the socks off the audience back in 1933.

On the San Diego coast, hard-nosed reporter Ben Lyon (H. Joseph "Joe" Miller) suspects nasty seafaring Captain Ernest Torrence (as Eli Kirk) is part of a smuggling racket. Indeed, Mr. Torrence is cleverly shipping illegal Chinese immigrants to California. But, neither Mr. Lyon nor the local Coast Guard can catch him in the act. And, Lyon's editor wants him to cover stories like the report of a nude woman swimming in the ocean. Wearing only a bathing cap, but conveniently posed behind a large rock, the naked woman turns out to be beautiful Claudette Colbert (as Julie). When Lyon learns Ms. Colbert is Torrence's daughter, he decides a quick romance with the attractive Colbert might net him the proof he needs to bag the crook.

This story, while flawed in a couple of important ways, is full of clever touches. The opening credits are noticeably well-done, in a "newspaper" style, they explain "I Cover the Waterfront" will be about, "The unique and personal experiences of a newspaper reporter covering a Pacific waterfront." Lyons and Torrence contribute fine, dependable characterizations. Colbert isn't entirely believable as Torrence's salty daughter; but, this could have been fixed with some slight script revisions. For example, Colbert could have been reconnecting with her father, after a long absence. Still, Colbert looks great from any angle.

Director James Cruze handles his players marvelously, with the most delightful scene occurring when Lyon takes Colbert on a date to the torture chamber of the "Prison Ship Santa Madre" and engages in her some bondage. "I can take it!" says a satisfied Colbert. Not so successful is the moment when Lyon slits a shark open to reveal an immigrant inside, which defies credulity. Sly innuendo is provided by "One Punch" Hobart Cavanaugh (as McCoy), Lyon's drunken companion. When Lyon pokes him in bed, Mr. Cavanaugh sheepishly catchphrases, "Not tonight, Josephine!" (remember, Lyon's character is named "Joseph"). "Women are all alike," he says later, "When you need them most, they are conspicuous by their absence." Credit writers Max Miller, Wells Root, and Jack Jevne.

******* I Cover the Waterfront (5/19/33) James Cruze ~ Ben Lyon, Claudette Colbert, Ernest Torrence, Hobart Cavanaugh