The Ship from Shanghai

That's the sound that this ancient maritime drama makes as it meanders through it's less than exciting hour long running time. Set on a transoceanic trip from Shanghai to San Francisco, the film stars Kay Johnson, Conrad Nagel, and Zeffie Tilbury as a group of incredibly annoying passengers who end up under the thumb of evil steward Louis Wolheim, who seems to be channeling the spirit of a very dumb and quite drunk Wallace Beery. There's some scratchy stock footage of Chinese villagers to help set the scene and a bizarre (and pointless) rendition of Singin' In the Rain performed by a band of Asian men in coolie hats. This badly recorded, crude early talkie will put most viewers to sleep.

The Ship from Shanghai (1930)

** (out of 4)

Squeaky, early talkie from MGM has a bunch of rich, spoiled people (including Conrad Nagel and Kay Johnson) out on a yacht when the crew, led by Louis Wolheim, decide to overtake it and have some fun on their own. THE SHIP FROM SHAGHAI has three familiar faces but sadly the end result is pretty lame and it's "C" level production makes you feel as if you're watching a poverty row studio instead of someone like MGM. What's interesting about this film is that it seems to have a message to get across but sadly the characters are just so deadly dull that it never really happens. I'm sure there's a message saying that the rich shouldn't be snobs and I'm sure the writers enjoyed having these poor crew members seek revenge but to me there was just a bunch of stereotypes and very little else. There's a romance involving Nagel and Johnson that never goes anywhere and the amount of screen time devoted to it is just weak. There are a lot of scenes with Wolheim sounding off about a variety of issues but it adds up to nothing. In fact, I'm really not sure what's up with Wolheim's performance but it's certainly a strange one. At times he appears to be acting drunk while at other times he comes across mentally slow. I'm not sure what they were trying to do with his character but it never really worked. Fans of the stars might want to check this out just to see them in early roles but sadly the film really doesn't do much but thankfully it only lasts 67-minutes.

A group of wealthy socialites take a cruise on their yacht but a storm cripples the ship, making it possible for the disgruntled crew to mutiny.

Flat-nosed Louis Wolheim does his best in the role of an insane crewman with dreams of power but his exaggerated performance makes this dull film laughable and only mildly entertaining. The acting is stagy, the story melodramatic, and the early sound technology makes for long stretches of awkward silence. Unless you're interested in someone from the cast, or want to see how bad some early talkies could be, skip this one.

In far eastern Shanghai, wealthy westerners enjoy singing and dancing to the hit song "Singin' in the Rain" (a contemporary hit then, memorably revived for MGM's 1952 musical). Among the party-goers, American playboy Conrad Nagel (as Howard Vazey) romances British socialite Kay Johnson (as Dorothy Daley). With three other upper-class passengers, they get on board a yacht bound for San Francisco. Brutish and angry steward Louis Wolheim (as Ted) is on "The Ship from Shanghai" and, as you quickly know, he hates snooty rich people – with a passion. "Willowy English girls, fair and pink" arouse Mr. Wolheim, who plans to take over the ship and abduct Ms. Johnson...

Making his "all-talking" feature debut, director Charles Brabin is clearly getting his feet wet under the new microphones. He is unable to lead an interesting cast to good, consistent performances. New to motion pictures, Johnson comes across best; she had just co-starred with Mr. Nagel in Cecil B. DeMille's "Dynamite" (1929). Watching Nagel's career falter is sad; he was an engaging and popular actor. "Silent" film stars Carmel Myers and Holmes Herbert (as Viola and Paul Thorpe) attend to the secondary roles, with veteran stage actress Zeffie Tilbury on board as an old society lady. Some of the acting works better with the sound turned down, but some is just overwrought, period.

**** The Ship from Shanghai (1/31/30) Charles Brabin ~ Louis Wolheim, Kay Johnson, Conrad Nagel, Carmel Myers

Early talkie could have been good but the hideous performance of Louis Wolheim and bad direction kill this effort despite some good work by Kay Johnson, Zeffie Tilbury, and Carmel Myers. Even Conrad Nagel is not all that bad, but the endless monologues of Wolheim kill any tempo this film might have had plus he's just plain bad. This is one of several talkie flops that ruined Nagel's starring career; this is also Myers' first major talkie. Too bad. She was interesting. Johnson has a couple of dynamite scene, and Tilbury (famous as the grandmother in The Grapes of Wrath a decade later) is awfully good as Lady Daley. Holmes Herbert, Jack MacDonald, and Ivan Linow co-star.