I Cover the Waterfront

Moviecut—I Cover the Waterfront

source: I Cover the Waterfront

"I Cover the Waterfront" is a crime, drama and romance film that stars Ben Lyon, Claudette Colbert and Ernest Torrence. It's set in a harbor location that's probably near Los Angeles or San Diego. Lyon is Joe Miller, a reporter who hates the locale and the smells of his beat on the waterfront, and who longs for the country of Vermont. Colbert is Julie Kirk, daughter of a fisherman who smuggles Chinese into the country. That's Eli Kirk, played by Ernest Torrence. Julie calls her dad by his first name and dotes on him, but doesn't know his racket. While he takes money to smuggle Chinese into the country, he thinks nothing of killing them by weighing them down and throwing them overboard if a Coast Guard boat approaches. The story is fair and the acting is okay, although it shows a little stiffness and hesitation - probably part of the early sound film jitters not quite worked out yet by the smaller studios. Torrence in particular seems to have some holdover delay in his lines and actions from his silent film days. The film has scenes of the stereo-typical shouting matches and clashes between newspaper editors and their reporters. One can easily get tired of seeing so many of these in the movies. Both Lyon and Colbert were established actors by this time. This film has a light plot of reporter tenacity and romance, with a dark side of the disregard for life by men who become greedy. The film quality is quite crude yet, but it had some nice outdoor scenes on the ocean and around a harbor. While there isn't much of a mystery aspect to the crime segment, the scenes of catching large sharks adds a sense of reality and authenticity to the film. The final scene shows Joe Miller's newspaper report about catching smuggler, Eli Kirk, with a poetic phrase: "Eli Kirk made good his boast that the Law would never get him. He died saving the life of a man - not a friend - but the man he hated. Man proposes. God disposes." Here are some lines from the film. One Punch McCoy, "All editors are fatheads - except when you're looking for a job." Julie Kirk, "Oh, I get it - you're a ventriloquist." H. Joseph Miller, "No, I'm just a dummy." Julie Kirk, "I'll bet it was a woman." Joe Miller, "Of course No gentleman would say a word." One Punch McCoy, "When two guys agree, one of them is unnecessary." Joe Miller, "All city editors are unnecessary." Joe Miller, "Come on, let's play a love scene." Julie Kirk, "Let's fall in love first. " Randall, the Boat guide, "Take one of our little booklets." Joe Miller, "Oh, take one of those little booklets yourself and stick it in your back pocket. I know more about this boat than you do. " Joe Miller, "You wouldn't go for that kiss now, would you?" Julie Kirk, "Say, I thought you came down here to work." Miller, "Well, if you don't think it's work getting a kiss out of you, your nuts." Joe Kirk, in the bottom of an old Spanish prison ship, "Oh, yeah, this was, this, this was the manicure parlor. Now with these things they take and uh, pull your fingernails out." Julie Kirk, "I'm afraid of tomorrow, without you." Joe Miller, looking around at his tidied apartment, "You did this?" Julie Kirk, "Yes." Joe, "Why?" Julie, "Well, I had something to say to you, 'n this is my way of saying it. You like it?" Joe, "I think its swell." Joe Miller, "I've got the finish for my novel." Julie Kirk, "What is it?" Joe, "He marries the girl." Julie, "That's a swell finish."

I popped this in for my 88 year old Mom to watch to stop her from dawdling. It is hard to find anything that will grab her interest. Momma was rapt and I was quite surprised. The story is also well written for the times. The dialog is not so stock as is wont for films of the time. Claudette Colbert absolutely shines in this pre-code picture. Her * swimming and bondage scenes are spectacular for 1933. She also is a believable 1930's female. The rest of the cast is not bad. Ernest Torrance is a commendable lovable scoundrel. If you can appreciate an early cinema 1930's film you will enjoy this movie! I know I enjoyed it!

A tale of love and immigrant smuggling in San Diego harbor, enlivened by some clever dialog. Example: "When two men agree, one of them is unnecessary." I grant you it's not a flight of poetry. Lyon isn't bad as the newspaper reporter who gets mixed up with the chief smuggler and the smuggler's sexy young daughter, Colbert. It's true that someone like Gable or Spencer Tracy would have been an improvement, but Lyon's lackadaisical approach doesn't ruin the part. His chief job is to court Colbert in order to get evidence that will hang her father, who is particeps criminis, although Colbert believes him to be a simple fisherman. Ernest Torrence is Colbert's father. Chinese workers pay him $700 to hide on his fishing boat and be brought ashore along with the catch du jour. If a Coast Guard cutter approaches, good old Torrance and his two crewmen will reluctantly dump the illegal Oriental passenger overboard, loaded with chains. It is a bit impolite but let's not condemn the old fellow, because he loves his daughter and brings her a pretty gift, given to him by the Oriental gentleman whom he just deep sixed. The boat carries other illegal stash as well, such as whiskey. God, it just occurred to me -- 1933, the depths of the Great Depressions AND prohibition! How bad can a national nightmare get? The weighted body of that illegal immigrant is found by Lyons shortly after it's been dumped. In pursuit of a story, he rolls it up and deposits it on his office desk, while the editor argues with him. The body continues to be treated rudely. It's referred to several times as "the Chink." And when Lyons plops it on his desk, the editor shouts angrily, "What do you want ME to do with it -- have it stuffed?" Torrence looks the part of the old barnacle, his weathered Scots face bewhiskered and corrugated. His acting is as old-fashioned as his appearance but the mug can play the piano in the local bawdy house and the audience is treated to tuneful ditties like "I Cover the Waterfront" and "Mighty Like a Rose." He and his crew overreach when harpooning a monstrous shark and the brutal scene that follows is right out of "Moby Dick" or "Jaws." The few scenes at sea are pretty good. Tipped by Lyon, the Coast Guard catches Torrence smuggling illegals inside the bodies of huge (fake) sharks. The details regarding the Coast Guard's equipment and uniforms of the period haven't been well researched, but no matter. The few scenes at sea are pretty good. The ending is serious and well handled. Direction by James Cruze is exceptional in a strictly functional way and in fact it's an exciting and funny movie.

This museum piece will interest only rabid Claudette Colbert fans and dyed-in-celluloid film buffs. James Cruze's direction is totally and inexcusably routine, almost all his scenes shot in either long, static takes or monotonously intercut reverse angles. Worse, the action scenes are few and poorly staged. Cruze uses very little camera movement, though admittedly what little he does employ is very effective — the camera pulling back from the piano to Torrence; the lengthy tracking shot of Colbert and Lyon taking Torrence home. Also on the reverse side of the ledger, the script is overloaded with banal dialogue — though Hobart Cavanaugh's tippling reporter is allowed one really amusing riposte — most of it delivered at a rapid pace by an extremely wooden Ben Lyon. But, luckily for us, Miss Colbert is as entrancing as ever. Even a rotten vehicle like this cannot dim her charm. Her presence is undoubtedly the film's sole recommendation — a fact realized by the photographer who gives her many attractive close-ups. Ernest Torrence, on the other hand, over-acts.

Mild Spoilers Ahead - Please Take Note. I Cover the Waterfront is a 1933 movie featuring Claudette Colbert. Film buffs may wish to see it because she is in it. She is a vivacious actress and has screen charisma. The film also has other things to commend it such as the photography of the waterfront circa 1933 that is interesting. There are also some engrossing plot elements involving the smuggling of illegal Chinese immigrants and the use of huge sharks in the process. Ernest Torrence is also interesting in his role as the father of the Claudette Colbert character. Ben Lyon is okay as her character's love interest. I must say that all the performances in this movie did seem to be a bit forced and unnatural and I felt this throughout the film. My reaction is that the overall cinematic synergy of I Cover The Waterfront is not good. The film at times is gritty and hard hitting and at other moments tries to be sappy and cutesy. The combination does not work well in this film. For that reason, it is far from a classic or enjoyable film and is more important from the standpoint of being an antique. I would only recommend it for film buffs interested in Claudette Colbert or in films of the period. I rate it a 70 percent or a C - on my scale.

This movie surprised me again and again with its unexpected plot twists. Movies of this era are usually so predictable. It has a giant hideous shark and a scenes with this shark in the water that are genuinely terrifying. I did not expect effects from this era to stand up. There is a lot of distressing racist dialogue deprecating Chinese people. Claudette Colbert is like a fireplace. She radiates warmth, friendliness and enthusiasm. She has alarmingly thin eyebrows and overly thick face powder, but you get used to it. If she were in movies today, she could hold her own. She has that indefinable something. There is also a pretty racy scene when a women in a bar picks up the sea captain. I was shocked at how direct it was about what was going on. This must have blown the socks off the audience back in 1933.

Wow, where to start? Here's a real gem from the pre-Code days that touches on just about every controversial subject that the Hayes Commission took to task in print and film. It starts out with reporter Joe Miller (Ben Lyon) investigating a * moonlight swim, leading to a highly risqué exchange between himself and Julie Kirk (Claudette Colbert), discreetly positioned behind a large boulder. From there, the story moves to Miller's work on a Chinese smuggling operation, using his connection to Miss Kirk to try and get the goods on her father, a crusty seaman who plies the ocean for all sorts of contraband. I have to say, I wasn't quite prepared for some of the scenes depicted in the story. When the Coast Guard moves in to get a closer look at Captain Eli's (Ernest Torrence) fishing boat, the Captain has his crew drop a shackled Chinese immigrant overboard! All part of the risk involved as Eli would explain. "The poor Chink tried pretty hard to get into the United States" is Miller's reaction, and to make his point, brings the body back to the City Editor's desk! What!!?? There's also the scene aboard the Santa Madre prison ship, where Miller playfully traps Julie in manacles and a neck restraint in a classic bondage scene. The only thing missing was a tattered leopard print dress for Colbert, which might have crossed someone's mind if it wasn't such a completely different genre. The scene that really had me jumping out of my seat though was the shark chase by Eli and Ortegus (Maurice Black) in the small fishing boat. That was just outrageous, especially when they harpooned the fish and it ran away with the boat! That segment for me was just about as frightening as the opening scene of "Jaws"; I mean, who would ever even think of making a living in an occupation with that kind of hazard? Then think about this for a minute - how do you convince a Chinese immigrant that he's got to crawl inside a shark to make it to shore? Did stuff like this really happen? Well if nothing else, this is a unique film, with all the noirish atmosphere you could ask for in a flick from the Thirties. Perhaps a bit too dark in spots, making it hard to follow the action, but when accentuated with that lonesome old foghorn in the distance, you've got just the right touch. Made to order for a dark and rainy night, as Claudette Colbert might suggest, watching from the comfort of a roaring fireplace.

I Cover The Waterfront stars Ben Lyons and Claudette Colbert and it concerns reporter Lyons trying to uncover a smuggling racket by Colbert's father Ernest Torrance. When all else fails, Lyons goes on a romantic campaign to win Colbert and maybe get a line on what her father is doing. If it was liquor and this film was made at the tail end of Prohibition that might be one thing. But he's smuggling illegal Chinese immigrants and has no compunctions about throwing them overboard should the Coast Guard get too close. Torrance who is best known for playing Saint Peter in Cecil B. DeMille's King Of Kings makes his farewell performance in this in a role 180 degrees polar opposite of Peter. He's a man who's totally lost his moral compass and regards the Chinese as cargo to be jettisoned. His attitude is quite typical of the West Coast which was flooded with Chinese and Japanese immigrants starting with the California Gold Rush and the opening of Japan. The Oriental was regarded as cheap labor and nothing more. So Torrance takes his money and jettisons his human cargo when the heat is on. As it is he's got quite the gimmick for concealing the cargo you have to see the film for. Of course Claudette just thinks Torrance making a good living as a fisherman. And Lyons while putting on the moves to get information falls in love with her. The inevitable consequences follow. Hobart Cavanaugh plays one his best drunks, a milquetoast when sober and a guy who gets real aggressive as long as Lyons is around to fight his battles. Given the ever raging battle over illegal immigration, I Cover The Waterfront has a relevancy for today as well.