Blood Alley

John Wayne has to transport Lauren Bacall and a lot of Chinese villagers down river to Hong Kong with the Commies in 'red' hot pursuit. OK but not one of Duke's best. The biggest problem is that Duke plays a quirky sort of character who talks to an imaginary friend called Baby. It's a rather annoying expository device. Maybe a different actor could have made it work but Duke just doesn't fit the kind of guy who talks to himself. Anyway, it's still an enjoyable movie. Bacall is pretty and fine in her role, though the part isn't the greatest. Paul Fix is good although his playing a Chinese character is sure to cause easily offended types to blow steam out of their ears. So if you're one of those, you might want to skip this one for the sake of your blood pressure. John Wayne fans will like it most, even if it's not one of his stronger roles.

I've seen nearly all of John Wayne's A list films, but never caught "Blood Alley" til a recent showing on TCM. Looking at the credits I was pleasantly surprised that this 1955 offering was filmed in color, Panavision and directed by the great Wild Bill Wellman. It is gorgeously filmed and the action scenes are plenty and well done, as The Duke is a South Seas Captain sprung from a Communist Chinese prison to pilot a paddleboat that will take oppressed villagers from mainland China to freedom in Hong Kong. BTW, Wayne looked remarkably fit and healthy after 2 years in solitary confinement. He also acquired, to keep his sanity, a habit of talking to an imaginary character he calls "Baby." This may have been a good device in author Albert Fleischmann's novel, but in a movie script it's annoying. Lauren Bacall is the daughter of a missionary and even in the hot and stultifying humidity her hair, makeup, and clothing always look perfect. Naturally her and The Duke fall in love, but there is no chemistry. As mentioned, some great action scenes as storms, treason, and the Red Chinese Navy tries to stop them.

"i think they just want to evilize the Chinese communist government (they may be or not be, now their people are manufacturing for the world)"

This, posted above, reflects the attitude of several commenters whose left-wing sphincters reflexively contracted the second they read the name "John Wayne".

"Blood Alley" isn't great, and it isn't one of Wayne's best movies, but it's well-made and entertaining enough to be worthy of at least one viewing.

As for "evilizing" the Chinese government, Mao Zedong and his regime did a fine job of doing that themselves when their actions resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of their own people, not to mention brutal imprisonment of non-criminals, slavery, stupid agricultural policies that resulted in mass starvation, etc., etc. It's no wonder the people in the film's village wanted to escape. But damn John Wayne and his conservative cronies for making it the background of an escapist adventure movie. Because after all, the death and oppression of countless innocent people that is the legacy of the communists in China is okay, because "now their people are manufacturing for the world", and who is the Duke to say otherwise?

Blood Alley stars John Wayne as a resolute boat captain (replacing Robert Mitchum) who becomes involved in evacuating a Chinese village - and Lauren Bacall - across the perilous Formosa Strait (also known as Blood Alley) on a rickety paddle steamer, heading for safety in Hong Kong. Wayne and Bacall share strong chemistry, despite Hedda Hopper's critical comments in her column, where she dismissed Bacall's casting as detrimental to the film (which it isn't).

Several white actors portray Chinese characters (including Paul Fix and Berry Kroeger), and Mike Mazurki shines in one of his best roles as Big Han, though it's unclear whether his character is meant to be Chinese, Mongolian, or something else.

Henry Nakamura delivers a solid performance as the sharp-tongued engineer. An interesting bit of trivia: Swedish actress Anita Ekberg plays a Chinese peasant and won the Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer, despite appearing in just two or three scenes, with no lines of dialogue.

At least one of my all time favourite for this kind of genre: anti red fashion. Not because of the message, the plot, but the cast, scenery, directing, and William Wellman is a director whose film have always more or less - here, more - enchanted me. Here, the Duke co stars Lauren Bacall, who was in real life on the total opposite political side of Wayne; and that's pretty interesting to know regarding this very movie, the plot, the scheme. There is nothing exceptional, jawdropping here, but I love this atmosphere, surroundings in China. I felt more or less the same in SAND PEBBLES, made eleven years later. And it is the first time that Duke and former Humphrey Bogart's wife starred together; twenty one years before THE SHOOTIST.