John Jacob Astor is sending an expedition to Oregon to trade for furs and set up a post. His clerk, Franchot Tone, will join Scottish traders Nigel Bruce and Leo G. Carroll in the effort, to get some adventure for the quiet, bookish young man. When voyageur John Carroll smuggles singer Carol Bruce on board, disciplinarian captain Walter Brennan won't turn back to let her off. Instead he makes her cabin boy, and his wrath falls on Tone, when Carroll allows him to take the responsibility for the breach of decorum and naval rules.
It's one of the big "Manifest Destiny" movies of the late pre-War era, extolling what is called "American exceptionalism" and "diversity" these days. Cecil B. Demille turned out UNION PACIFIC; King Vidor NORTHERN PASSAGE; and Fritz Lang WESTERN UNION, all big epics with large casts of well-known performers. This Frank Lloyd production for Universal may seem a bit clunky, confined a bit by its black-and-white photography and its now stereotyped storyline, but it fits nicely into the category, and is full of of tension and excitement. Tone may be a bit old to play a role a lot like his in MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (which Lloyd also directed) and Carroll is hammy, but Brennan gives a beautiful performance as a Bligh-like captain, nuanced and evolving, capable of portraying a man recognizing his own failures. It's not a great movie, but it is a typically solid effort by Lloyd.
