Flight to Hong Kong

source: Flight to Hong Kong

Moviecut—Flight to Hong Kong

Flight to Hong Kong

Francis McCowen, alias Rory Calhoun, gets on the wrong side of the syndicate in Macao, lands up in Kowloon, Hong Kong as a smuggler on the run from the syndicate and the woman he loves, whom he traded for another who did not love him. In between, he blows up some baddies, flees with a case of diamonds, and travels in everything from junks to ships to aircraft for streetcars in Frisco. Sounds confusing? Well, it's also fun, so give it a chance. Great photography, good looking girls, and a fast moving script.

Exotic for the viewers, as people didn't go very far in those days. Even if the actors never left the studio lot, they thought they were experiencing the travel that the actors may or may not have actually done. Rory Calhoun stars as Tony, the mob guy, running the usual scams. He runs off with the stolen goods, and now everyone is after him. Including his two women, Barbara Rush and Dolores Donlon. Keep an eye out for Werner Klemperer (Colonel Klink! ) he's the fence that sets up the connection. This one is fun, if only for the travel, the near-misses, and bad guys getting away with doing bad things. or are they really getting away with it ? One gets the sense that its all about to crash down on Tony, but so far so good! Some fun, exciting scenes with beautiful sets and backgrounds. Tony puts on a lot of miles in 88 minutes. Plot kind of meanders all over the map, but ah well. Directed by Joseph Newman, twice nominated for oscars. It's pretty good.

I watched the film because I have long thought Rory Calhoun an under-appreciated "B" leading man, and strong "A" supporting actor. He performs well in the former capacity as the hero of this thriller. It is a well-cast movie with a familiar double-double cross plot shot in exotic locales baked by tropical sun and sweltering in steamy moonlight. The pace is good and plot twists abound. At one point, Calhoun's character improvises a delayed explosion as good as any I've seen: hand grenades taped to overhead fan blades with string connecting the pins to the motor, so turning it on eventually triggers the blast. The B&W cinematography is effective despite the occasional studio rear-projection used to put characters in difficult to shoot scenes. A good piece of period cinema before * scenes and graphic violence.

Joseph M. Newman directs this 88 minute crime drama. Usually the hero type, Rory Calhoun stars as Tony Dumont, who you might say is not very trust worthy. Dealing in contraband goods has him on the go traveling about the world. His girlfriend Jean(Dolores Donlon)wishes he would go straight; but on the other hand there is another woman in his life. Pamela Vincent(Barbara Rush)wants him to stay just the way he is...a crook. This way he can provide her with material for the book she is writing. It so happens that Tony has stepped on the toes of the real bad guys...the Mob... too many times. Now is the time to change his ways; but how easy is it going to be? Rounding out the cast: Soo Yong, Mel Welles, Paul Picerni, Aram Katcher and Werner Klemperer makes his movie debut.