My thoughts on this movie.


Both Ramon Novarro and Joan Crawford are on display in full wonderful charm in this movie. Each is gorgeous, their performances appealing and engaging, and it's easy to see why each was such a justifiably huge star (particularly evident regarding Novarro here; Joan hadn't yet quite peaked, though it's readily apparent she had something special about her).

Although Miss Crawford is the movie's female lead, it's Mr. Novarro who is undeniably the movie's true star. His abundant talents - and let's not fail to also mention his captivating matinee idol looks - are very handsomely showcased. Mr. Novarro expertly commands every scene that he's in - which is MOST of the movie's scenes.

Ernest Torrence, in the major role of Mark, is also terrific in this film.

While this movie is no masterpiece, it's an hour and a half well spent. There's much to either like or love in it. "Across to Singapore" is both entertaining and compelling.

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When I watched this movie on television in the 90's I loved it, and when I was able to get a copy some time ago, I couldn't wait to watch the movie again. That time, however, I found it quite disappointing. Perhaps the movie got better and better in my memories, making the second view a bit of a deception. But I'll give it another try in a few years or so.

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[deleted]

A very nice review. I had to laugh with what you wrote about the music: It's just kind of "there."

The music is often a problem with Silents. I do have some low budget DVD's with such horrible music that I turned the sound off. With silent movies it's that you pay for what you get. The best picture quality and appropriate music can often only be found on DVD's that are sometimes twice as expensive as a talkie on DVD.

I'm now waiting to receive the 1927 "Chicago", a 2-DVD set. Because they went to the trouble of making this a 2-DVD set with lots of extra's and because of the rather high price, I exepect a lot from it - both the image as well as the music score. I'll soon find out.

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[deleted]

@genplant29: Nice write-up. The visual effects are also quite good. The sequence with the ship caught in the throes of the storm is spectacular.

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I fully agree with you about the quality of the visual effects, KM. A great example of what Hollywood was capable of convincingly handling by that time. Ditto the exciting fight scene high above deck.

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