The Road to Singapore

"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.

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!

William Powell and Doris Kenyon star in this colonial melodrama, supposedly set in a Ceylon built at Warner Studios, which has a distinctly African feel.

Also noteworthy are the young and beautiful Marian Marsh (then only 18 years old) and Louis Calhern, in supporting roles.

A reformed alcoholic playboy and the wife of a neighboring doctor fall in love in a colonial and moralistic micro society.

Nothing that would excite today's audience, but certainly a scandal in the puritanical North American society of the early thirties.

A simple curiosity for film buffs with a taste for the history of the seventh art.

Early talkie melodrama about a man (William Powell) whose reputation is tarnished for having an affair with a married woman. So he relocates to a tropical island. Turns out they have married women there, too. Who knew?

Powell's charismatic as usual but he can't breathe much life into this tired script. It's a clichéd story, even for the time. Not exciting or particularly interesting, at least for my tastes. Reading the other reviews here, I'm kind of blown away by the praise. I had to check my TV to make sure we're all talking about the same movie. I like William Powell as much as the next person but this is mediocre stuff.

Loved watching this really dated film...William Powell in 1931 had already perfected his suave, self-assured persona on screen, and in this filmed play, he presents the wonderful self-assured and beautifully dressed image he gave us later in Manhattan Melodrama and The Thin Man series he's so well remembered for. Louis Calhern is the weak, career obsessed doctor who marries Doris Kenyon, a former nurse It's interesting to watch the young Calhern play the emotional, naive, career obsessed, wife-neglecting doctor, because we always knew him as an older actor, dignified and mustached in the 40's and 50's. Powell steals the movie as the hard drinking seducer of other men's wives, which of course, includes the doctor's bored bride. What's fun is how the film depicts the hot and humid tropics, complete with incessant jungle drums, as a place where passion can overheat the idle rich and cause near-tragic troubles for all. Doris Kenyon, whom almost no one remembers today, but may be best known for her role with Rudolph Valentino in the silent, Monsieur Beaucaire, holds her own, was 34 in this film and is quite the blonde beauty though one of her gowns, a black and white number, comes off as almost comical today. See this one for Powell, for the way he dresses and comports himself, and for those incessant drums.