Warner. Director Edward A. Blatt; Producer Mark Hellinger; Screenplay Daniel Fuchs; Camera Carl Guthrie; Editor Rudi Fehr; Music Erich Wolfgang Korngold; Art Director Hugh Reticker
John Garfield
Paul Henreid
Sydney Greenstreet
Eleanor Parker
Edmund Gwenn
George Tobias
An artistic transcription of [Sutton Vane's] Outward Bound, the Broadway stage hit of 1925, this film was earlier brought to the screen by Warner Bros in 1930.
A 1944 opening has been provided here, the locale being an unidentified port in England from which a small assorted group of persons is preparing to sail for America. Unable to leave because his papers aren't in order is Paul Henreid, former pianist, who recently had fought with the Free French. As result he and his wife, played with much feeling by Eleanor Parker, take to the gaspipe, both wanting to die together. Meantime, in an air raid the bus carrying others to the evacuation ship are killed.
From here the action shifts to a mystery ship which, it finally becomes evident, is bound for the Great Beyond, with Henreid, Parker and the group which had been killed in the bomb raid. Brilliant dialog and excellent performances, as well as thoughtful, imaginative direction by Edward A. Blatt, neatly sustain the interest aboard ship on the long voyage. There is no place in the story for comedy relief.
On reaching High Olympus and judgement day, Sydney Greenstreet enters the scene as the examiner, taking his new arrivals one by one. His performance is outstanding, and the sequence, though quite lengthy, represents a productional, directional and acting triumph.
(B&W) Extract of a review from 1944. Running time: 112 MIN.
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