Cross Country Cruise (1934) User Reviews

A bit like Grand Hotel...but on a bus!!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 27 January 2016]

"Cross Country Cruise" is a very strange but enjoyable film that is a bit like "Grand Hotel" in that it's made up of lots of little stories all brought together by, of all things, a bus instead of a hotel! I think you could call it a lower-class version!

When the film begins, a woman on a double-decker bus accidentally drops something out of her suitcase on the rich guy (Lew Ayres) in his car below. Instantly smitten(??) this idiot then follows the lady as she then transfers to a cross country bus. This is creepy and far- fetched to say the least. On the bus are a variety of characters and rogues...confidence people, bigamists and more. And, during the course of this long journey, one of them becomes a murderer!!

This film entertains but isn't always logical. Apart from the rich guy who jumps onto the bus on a whim, you also have police that are about to arrest the wrong lady for murder (with no real evidence to support this) as well as allowing the rich guy to conduct the cross- examinations because...well...I have no idea why!! But it is fun and I do recommend you watch it...just be sure not to think too much as you see the stories unfold!

Agreeable Early Road Movie

[richardchatten · 7/10 · 26 February 2017]

Movies set almost entirely on trains - like 'The Tall Target' and 'The Narrow Margin' - practically constitute a genre in their own right. The train's humbler cousin, the bus, frequently features in movies too; but the more cramped setting, which forces various varied individuals into close proximity for the duration, combined with the need to occasionally get out and stretch your legs, lends the bus movie a more vivid sense of time and place, be it depression-era America in 'Cross Country Cruise', rural Japan in Hiroshi Shimizu's 'Mr. Thank You' (1936), south of the border in Luis Bunuel's 'Subida al cielo' (1952) or flyover country in countless road movies of the seventies & eighties, which 'Cross Country Cruise' vaguely anticipates.

The cast list in the opening credits of 'Cross Country Cruise' is full of the usual dependable acting talent, and like many classic old movies there are also notable uncredited contributions by the likes of Jane Darwell, Walter Brennan, Ara Haswell, Lee Phelps and Charles C. Wilson, to name just a few. Leading man Lew Ayres grates at first, playing yet another of those millionaire playboys who drop everything to pursue a young woman they've never met before; while she in turn is as usual improbably won over by such a creepy charm offensive. Once these romcom preliminaries are dispensed with, Ayres's character becomes much better company; turning amateur detective to nail who committed the unexpected murder which enlivens the film's final third. (Both the method of the murder itself and of the concealment of the body are worthy of a seventies Italian giallo.)

A very good early travel romance, comedy, mystery with a few side plots

[SimonJack · 7/10 · 18 April 2023]

For a lesser studio production, and with no big name stars of the day, this film is quite good. "Cross Country Cruise" is a drama romance, with some mystery and crime and doses of comedy. As the title implies, it's set on one of the types of public transportation, in a trip that takes a few days. That's because it's a bus trip from New York City to San Francisco, with some stops along the way for sight-seeing and overnight sleep.

A number of movies have been made with long distances of travel as the milieu of the plot. Comedies, drama, romance and mystery stories have had such settings. But just a handful of films have been made like this one. Two things make "Cross Country Cruise" unique. First -- most of the story takes place in a type of public transportation. Second -- the overall story is made up of several people, with some of their sub-plots or mini stories.

Probably the most common, and logical place setting for this type of film, is a ship, rather than a bus. Indeed, shipboard stories that include several different characters make up the bulk of this type of films. Shipboard romance, comedy, drama and mystery stories with side stories were quite popular in the 1940s and 1950s. After air travel in the mid-20th century all but ended most other forms of travel for long distances, those types of films disappeared as well. But then, in 1976, a TV movie revived interest in shipboard stories, especially romances. That led to a long-running and very popular TV series of the same name, "The Love Boat," in 1977 - 1987. And cruising once again became very popular, especially vacation cruises, with some trans-Atlantic and Pacific ship travel for leisure.

But the first movies of this type, with multiple stories intertwined into one bigger plot involving several people together, took place on buses and trains. And this film may have been the first. Another reviewer said it is sort of a like "Grand Hotel" on wheels.

With a couple of exceptions, most of the cast on the bus aren't prominent actors. But there is a sizable cast overall with a couple more known actors in cameo roles. The latter includes Walter Brennan, a three-time Oscar winner, who is the Maid of the Mist boat operator at Niagara Falls. Another is Jane Darwell, also an Oscar winner, as Mrs. O'Hara, whom a Bible sales scam character tries to con. That's a nice and amusing scene with what she tells Steve Borden (played by Alan Dinehart) after he tells her that the deceased gentleman had written his company personally to request their Bible.

Lew Ayres is the best known of the leads in this film, with Eugene Pallette also in a major role. June Knight, in the female lead as Sue Fleming, made just a dozen films from 1930 to 1940. She started as a stage actress during this time, but after some early stage success, her star didn't rise and she never seemed to catch on in the movies. So, she quit acting before age 30, and after a couple of divorces, married a wealthy man and a second one after his death, where she had a prominent social life. It's interesting that she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for motion pictures with so few films and a short career. Many other actors with small numbers of films, including some leading roles, and others with up to a couple dozen films, were never awarded a star for their short careers.

There isn't any stand out acting in this film, but it is good overall. Just the travel itself and a very good screenplay make this an interesting and entertaining movie. I don't know how it faired in its day. Universal wasn't one of the big studios that had its own chain of theaters, so this would have been peddled to those and independent theaters. It doesn't show up in the top 200 or so films of box office receipts for its year, 1934.

Those who enjoy the older films should like this one. And, people curious about this type of plot, and a little mystery should like it as well. But those who need fast action for adrenalin rushes would probably not be able to sit still for it.

What MGM did in a hotel and Paramount did on a liner, Universal did on a bus!

[1930s_Time_Machine · 4/10 · 29 July 2023]

It's one of those films that you're glad only lasts just over an hour. It's one of those films you wonder why you're bothering to watch it. ..... It's one of those films you secretly enjoy.

The story is beyond ridiculous, the characters in SpongeBob SquarePants are more believable than this lot and even for a 1930s Hollywood police investigation, this has to rank as the most bizarre. It essentially consists of: "She did it, Officer." "OK, we'll arrest her." Then later on..... "Officer, I'm a rich bloke, can I take over your investigation?" "OK, go for it!" So when the real murderer inevitably hijacks the bus, nobody questions why this local policeman has conveniently got a plane parked in the bus station which he subsequently used to fly after the bus.

So it's utter nonsense but it does have a fairly decent director and Ed Buzzell somehow manages to make this trash weirdly entertaining and fun. Nobody seems to take this seriously, the likes of Alice White and Eugene Pallette just play caricatures of themselves so we can watch this in the same vain it was made.

If you want a lighthearted picture which captures the feel of the early thirties then this is a pretty good little time capsule. If however you not someone used to watching pictures from this era or just have to watch any old rubbish Alice White was in, you might want to avoid this.

Alan Dinehart Doing What He Does Best!!!

[kidboots · 8/10 · 8 March 2011]

"It Happened One Night" suddenly made bus trips popular at the cinema. "Cross Country Cruise" was made in the middle of Alice White's comeback. She had been one of Warner's brightest musical stars of the early talkies but by 1931 after a very small part in "Murder at Midnight" she was off the screen until 1933. Of course a sensational sex scandal didn't help and when she returned she slipped into the "dizzy dame" type of role and really excelled. She is definitely one of the high lights of this movie as the flirty blonde who is determined to get to California and doesn't care who she has to romance to get there.

After getting off to a snappy start - Sue's (June Knight) "unmentionables" fall out of her bag and into Norman Winthrop's (Lew Ayres) car. Being a wealthy playboy (who is on his way to a logging camp where his father is determined to make a man of him) - he thinks nothing of following Sue on a cross country bus trip. For a while the movie bogs down, Lew Ayres is his usual breezy self but somehow June Knight fails to convince as a girl to be followed across America. Knight had been a bubbly blonde who attracted attention on Broadway in "Hot Cha" but her personality didn't transfer to the movies and today she is not remembered.

There is the usual assortment of passengers - but once Alan Dinehart and Minna Gombell appear as a pair of married con artists things pick up. They have a "bible racket" going - looking up death notices in the paper, then trying to convince grief stricken relatives that the deceased had ordered a bible - Peter Bogdanavitch used the same plot line in "Paper Moon". Before this Steve (Dinehart) had been romancing Sue (neglecting to mention his wife, Nita), however when Sue finds out (from Nita - who else, in a quite brazen conversation on the bus) she does not want anything to do with him anymore.

To break the monotony and further the narrative, there are stops along the way - one at Niagara Falls, another at a county fair. On one of these stopovers, at a department store, Steve has it out with his wife and the results are not pleasant!!! Once back on the bus (his wife's absence is explained away as visiting relatives) Steve proceeds to make Sue's name mud to Norman as he tells him all about their "past". Next stop is a desert court house and Alan Dinehart has done what he does best - been a complete swine, committed an awful crime and then gleefully left clues so another, blameless person will be accused!!! But because Norman is from a wealthy logging family he is allowed to take over the court and solve the crime in his own nifty way!!!

The three stars who make it worth watching are Allan Dinehart, Minna Gombel, who fortunately has a couple of emotional scenes where she can really let fly, and, of course, Alice White. Lew Ayres, at this time, was entrenched in his "nice boy" programmer phase. He later said that he felt he coasted on his pleasant personality and should have fought for stronger roles.

Highly Recommended.

"Cross Country Cruise" is a Special Trip!

[glennstenb · 8/10 · 30 December 2023]

"Cross Country Cruise" is a somewhat lighthearted title, for this totally entertaining little film has a strongly and unapologetically lurid undertone, all the while with a view to how people try to manipulate others, conspire to take advantage of others, and actually try to damage and even deal death to others in their efforts to seek life's desires and goals.

The story of how strangers on a cross-country bus schedule back in 1934 interact is the premise, and the delivery of the several primary relationships to the viewer is marvelous and wholly admirable. The characters are diverse and fascinating and the performances by the cast are, in general, done fully effectively. Lew Ayers is somewhat milky (as he often is) in this one, but Alan Dinehart, June Knight, and Alice White are all fully magnificent. Cameos and other support staff are all richly presented, too. I expect the cast knew that the story was quite far-fetched and incredulously appointed, but the crew probably really enjoyed making this flick. It really is a fantasy.

One aspect that really took hold for me was the glimpse of America in general-- and bus travel therein, in particular-- in 1934. Intercity bus travel was burgeoning in the early 1930s, as folks took to travel in ever-growing numbers, despite the Depression holding sway over the country. Bus transportation allowed people to move around more than ever as the country's road system began to take shape. By 1934 intercity bus travel, especially that provided by the rapidly-expanding network offered by Greyhound Lines, became reliable, relatively safe, and economical.

The other 1934 film in which bus travel was integral was "It Happened One Night," but "Cruise" took the bus component to an even more central level, being that the bus endured as the movie set for the entire program.

It was interesting that the film employed an actual Greyhound bus for the trip, as did "It Happened One Night," instead of using an unmarked coach, as so many other films where bus travel is featured have done (with all the shady doings going on in the movie, it is interesting to conjecture if Greyhound would today allow its name to be used in this one).

It was neat to see that a lavatory was on-board the coach, as was a drinking water dispenser with cups, along with sleeping pills, of all things. And did the schedules actually stop at front-line city-center hotels for 3- and 4-hour rest stops and shopping forays, and at county fairs for home-cooked meals and dancing, as depicted? Maybe they did then, as 1934 was just before the time when the golden era of bus station construction was beginning (and which examples were still bountiful and used as bus stations into the early 21st century).

All in all, watching "Cross Country Cruise" with this assemblage of diverse characters is a fun experience despite (or maybe even partially because of?) the fantastic story elements. An unusual movie worth watching for fans of 30s movies!