The Road to Singapore

NOT the bob hope one! This is an earlier thang with the awesome william powell. An exotic adventure, off in the south seas. Hugh dawltry seems to be down on his luck, as they are auctioning off his property, when he meets philippa, the wife of doctor march, he tricks her into visiting his place for a bit. It's a pre-film-code movie, so the women are allowed to prance around in their underwear. Dawltry even kisses philippa, a married woman at her party! And talks about spanking philippa's sister. And other naughty stuff. It's a long flirtation. The suspense here is whether or not dawltry and any of the women will run off together. The drum beats from the locals get louder and louder. Really good story! I love alison skipworth... she always zings up a film. Although her talents are completely under-used in this one; they just make her out to be a silly, giggling, old lady. Directed by fred green, probably best known for the al jolson story. This started as a story by denise robins, then a play. It totally holds up!

No! First of all, this is NOT a Bing Crosby and Bob Hope film.

This film stars William Powell and Doris Kenyon. They are living in the hot jungles of Khota in Southeast Asia. Kenyon is a new bride to a boring doctor who treats the natives. Powell is a ladies' man and cad. He has a past of seducing married women and ruining their lives and marriages.

When Powell meets Kenyon and goes after her, he realizes that she is "the real thing" and falls for her. Marian Marsh plays Kenyon's young sister who also goes after Powell at the same time.

I don't normally care for Powell when he is playing the shallow role of a rouge and a blackguard. But in this film, he has a slow awakening and redeems his character into something with more depth and quality.

I was not as familiar with Doris Kenyon's work. I just saw her in "Alexander Hamilton" released in 09/12/1931 with Arliss. She was good in that, but she really shines in this film.

Then end is nice. It is logical and works well.

So whether you are a fan of Powell or not, check out this classic. You will be glad you did!! It will keep you classy!

"The Road to Singapore" is a rather old fashioned movie that must have seemed pretty scandalous back in the day when it was a play and later, this film. It's old fashioned in its portrayals of female roles as well as its tacit acceptance of British colonialism. Today, the film would definitely be seen as quite dated.

The story begins on a cruise ship headed to Singapore. Philippa (Doris Kenyon) is a nurse who is going to Singapore to marry a doctor she once worked with back in Britain. On the ship is also Hugh (William Powell), a major rogue who has a reputation as a bad boy--a despoiler of women. He does his best throughout the cruise to get to know Philippa better and she rebuffs him repeatedly. After all, she doesn't want a one night stand and has a husband waiting for her.

Once she arrives in Singapore, Hugh doesn't let up and he's obviously a man who thinks no might mean yes. In contrast, however, once Philippa marries Dr. March (Louis Calhern), she discovers he's pretty much the opposite...almost sexless and completely detached from her. He also is a man who seems to have lost his humanity and he's cruel to the locals, as he feels they are beneath him. Add to this mix Dr. March's very young and horny sister, Rene (Marian Marsh). She likes the idea of having a rendezvous with Hugh. To her, he's exciting, sexy and dangerous. You just know at some point a major confrontation, or worse, is going to occur between Dr. March and Hugh...and you aren't sure if it's over Philippa or Rene...or both!

So is this any good? Well, it's okay. But it did seem odd that the film showed you two options...a detached jerk of a husband and a womanizing jerk of a lover! You really wonder why Philippa didn't just hop aboard another ship and head back home and leave the two jerks to themselves. Back in the day it just seemed titillating...but now it seems dated. This was especially true in the big confrontation scene at the end....which was amazingly talky. Entertaining....but dated.

By the way, if you do watch this, note the really nice cinematography....far better than you'd expect to see in 1931.

The Road to Singapore is based upon a play and is therefore limited in its settings. That setting is the British colonial Far East (Khota - on the shipping line between Colombo and Singapore) and involve the Gymkhana Club and its members. Hugh Dawltry has been expelled from the club. He is a cad, a bounder, an unmitigated reprobate who steals other men's wives. But he falls for Phillipa on the steamer and they soon find themselves involved ashore. Phillippa is a former nurse who has come to the colony to join a doctor as his wife. The main plot involves whether she will cast off her cold husband and succumb to the heat wave of the tropics and the assault by Hugh. Complications exist in the form of the doctor's younger sister who is coming of age and of interest in men (pre-Code). The best shot in the entire movie is when the two star crossed lovers are each looking out windows across the divide between their homes -- it alone is worth the price of admission. Two characters waling through with inane arguments (Reggie and Simpson) don't come close to Caldicott and Charters. A somewhat satisfying ending - recommended.

... and if I had a more fine grained voting scale I'd probably make this one a 5.5 versus a 5/10.

Hugh Dawltry (William Powell) is returning to Khota, a British colony in southeast Asia, after having been ostracized there for breaking up a home and then abandoning the woman afterwards. Phillippa Crosby (Doris Kenyon) is going to Khota to marry her long time fiance Dr. George March (Louis Calhern). Dawltry pretty much earns his reputation as a bounder during the first fifteen minutes as he is attracted to Phillippa on the ship to Khota, is rebuffed, and then when the ship docks, takes advantage of the fact that she doesn't know what Marsh's house looks like to take her to his house instead, where he continues to try and seduce her. It doesn't help that the servant Dr. March sent to retrieve Phillippa from the ship decided to get drunk instead. Things get straightened out, Phillippa and George get married as planned, but it soon becomes obvious that her husband is consumed by work, just got married because it was time for "family values", and is completely lacking in romance. Suddenly Dawltry's spiel is looking good to Phillippa versus her cold as ice husband.

This is one of those films that is very hard to review because it is just so average and lacking in originality. It doesn't do anything so badly that it is "so bad it is good", but it is not memorable either. The best thing about it are the performances, and the minute you see that Calhern is the prospective bridegroom you know this is not going to be a marriage made in heaven. Calhern never played the heroic or admirable type after all. This was William Powell's first film at Warner Brothers after leaving his long time studio of Paramount, and you would have thought that WB would have made this first film a special effort, but they didn't. I will say that the pounding of the native drums at the end do a good job of building suspense. I'd recommend this one for hardcore William Powell fans who want to see everything in which the actor appeared.