To the Ends of the Earth (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| To the Ends of the Earth | |
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| Directed by | Robert Stevenson |
| Produced by | Sidney Buchman |
| Written by | Sidney Buchman Jay Richard Kennedy |
| Starring | Dick Powell Signe Hasso |
| Music by | George Duning |
| Cinematography | Burnett Guffey |
| Editing by | William A. Lyon |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | February 27, 1948 |
| Running time | 109 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
To the Ends of the Earth (1948) is a American crime film noir directed by Robert Stevenson and written by Sidney Buchman and Jay Richard Kennedy. The drama features Dick Powell, Signe Hasso, and others.[1]
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[edit] Plot
Based on the files of the United States Department of Treasury, agent Michael Barrows (Powell) follows a narcotics trail "to the ends of the Earth." The road takes him from Shanghai to Cairo, from Beirut and Havana, in order to stop a drug smuggling operation.
[edit] Cast
- Dick Powell as Commissioner Michael Barrows
- Signe Hasso as Ann Grant
- Maylia as Shu Pan Wu
- Ludwig Donath as Nicholas Sokim
- Vladimir Sokoloff as Commissioner Lum Chi Chow
- Edgar Barrier as Grieg
- John Hoyt as Bennett
- Marcel Journet as Commissioner Lariesier
- Luis Van Rooten as Alberto Berado
- Fritz Leiber as Binda Sha
[edit] Critical reception
When first released The New York Times gave the film a mixed review, and wrote, "To the Ends of the Earth, for all the journalistic austerity of its introductory sequences inside the narcotics division of the Treasury Department and at the United Nations council table in Lake Success, is predominantly a cops-and-robbers tale that relies too heavily on physical violence to make its impress. Unfortunately, this heightens the synthetic flavor of the picture and accounts in large measure for the attitudinized nature of the story's development that lessens its over-all dramatic impact...The author of all this, Mr. Kennedy, has concocted a highly involved and complicated screen play that sparkles and sputters as far as dramatic effectiveness goes, and thereby imposes an average look upon a picture which, with a little more resourcefulness, might easily have been distinctive."[2]
The staff at TV Guide liked the film and wrote, "An engrossing, globetrotting semi-documentary on the evils of narcotics pushers, specifically those who try smuggling opium onto U.S. shores...The chief factor in the film's success as an adventure picture is the realistic documentary approach."[3]
[edit] References
- ^ To the Ends of the Earth at the Internet Movie Database.
- ^ The New York Times. Film review, February 13, 1948. Last accessed: February: February 18, 2008.
- ^ TV Guide. Film review, 2008.
[edit] External links
- To the Ends of the Earth at the Internet Movie Database.
- To the Ends of the Earth at Allmovie.
- To the Ends of the Earth at the TCM Movie Database.
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