Moontide (1942)

Director:

Archie Mayo

Writers:

John O'Hara (writer)
Willard Robertson (novel)

Release Date:

29 May 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

After a drunken binge on the San Pablo waterfront, longshoreman Bobo fears he may have killed a man...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Jean Gabin	...	Bobo
Ida Lupino	...	Anna
Thomas Mitchell	...	Tiny
Claude Rains	...	Nutsy
Jerome Cowan	...	Dr. Frank Brothers
Helene Reynolds	...	Woman on boat
Ralph Byrd	...	Rev. Wilson
William Halligan	...	Bartender
Victor Sen Yung	...	Takeo (as Sen Yung)
Chester Gan	...	Henry Hirota
Robin Raymond	...	Mildred
Arthur Aylesworth	...	Pop Kelly
Arthur Hohl	...	Jennings
John Kelly	...	Mac
Ralph Dunn	...	Policeman

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Archie Mayo replaced Fritz Lang as director.

Movie Connections:

Remade as Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (2000) (TV)

Neap Tide

Slow going stuff, even with Fritz Lang and Jean Gabin. An hour into the movie and practically nothing has happened. We've learned that Gabin is a strong-handed but good-natured waterfront bum named Bobo who sometimes drinks too much, that Thomas Mitchell seems to be a friend who's always trying to control Bobo's life and seems to have something over him, and that Claude Raines as Bobo's barroom confidant is almost unrecognizable due to an excess of wardrobe and makeup. He hasn't been so little recognizable since he was invisible. Bobo saves a young woman, Ida Lupino, from drowning herself and they kind of go for each other. That's about it for the first hour.

The rest of the plot isn't much either but it moves more quickly, so the viewer can notice something other than the set-bound atmosphere established by the production designer -- the "Red Dot Cafe" with a sentimental juke box and a jostling crowd of lowlifes, a chop suey joint at which people drink sake (sic), a breakwater made of big stones, and a crummy floating wooden bait shop which Lupino turns into something out of Better Homes and Bait Shops after she and Bobo decide to get married. Jerome Cowan figures in the story as a philandering doctor who learns a lesson about love from Bobo and pays him generously for it. We also learn what a rotter Thomas Mitchell is, a blackmailing cowardly rapist murderer.

He may also have a hidden yen for Jean Gabin although it's hard to see why. Gabin has to be one of the least prepossessing internationally famous actors around. He's short. His shoulders slope into a body of no discernible shape. His face, with its generous nose, seems to be made of putty. Yet he's appealing in an avuncular way, and a good actor, somewhat along the lines of Spencer Tracy. By contrast Ida Lupino is a slender nervous creature here. Her wide pale brow, enlarged eyes, tousled mop of curly dark hair, pointed chin and tiny lips are almost in direct contrast to Gabin's easygoing fleshiness. She's not bad. In fact none of the actors is bad.

Unfortunately the plot, which could have been lifted out of any contemporary B movie programmer, drowns all their efforts, a rip tide that drags them all out to sea, heroes and villains alike, emoting to beat the band until they go down for the third time.