Themes: Love Triangles, Sibling Relationships, Otherwise Engaged
Main Cast: Ramon Novarro, Joan Crawford, Ernest Torrence, Frank Currier, Dan Wolheim
Release Year: 1928
Country: US
Run Time: 7rl minutes
Plot
Across to Singapore was the second screen version of Ben Ames Williams' All the Brothers Were Valiant, first filmed in 1923, and later remade in 1953. The plot is motivated by the deadly rivalry between two seafaring brothers, virtuous deckhand Joel Shore (Ramon Novarro) and wicked Captain Mark Shore (Ernest Torrence). Forced into a marriage with Mark, Priscilla Crowninshield (Joan Crawford) tries to be loyal to her husband but falls in love with Joel instead. Things reach a fever pitch when mutinous first mate Finch (James Mason) strands Shore in Singapore and takes Joel and Priscilla prisoner. Mark catches up with his ship and kills the mutineers, but when he realizes that his wife is now deeply in love with his brother, he considerately sacrifices his own life in the climactic melee. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Despite contemporary views of Ramon Novarro as so lightweight as "to be swept overboard by a single wave," the handsome star does well enough as Ben Ames Williams' young hero. And if it is not quite believable that Ernest Torrence could possibly expect Joan Crawford to reciprocate his ardent passion for her, the veteran character actor is fine as Novarro's brother and rival. As for Ms. Crawford herself, Across to Singapore may have been a well-deserved departure from flapper roles but she is still too wet behind the ears to be much more than an adornment. In fact, Anna May Wong, in a crucial (but unbilled) supporting role, steals the few acting laurels left behind by Novarro and Torrence. Across to Singapore, while no masterpiece and surviving in a rather battered condition, remains an entertaining bit of silent screen hokum. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
This was the second film based on this novel; the first was All the Brothers Were Valiant (1923, now lost), and it was remade again in 1953 under the title All the Brothers Were Valiant.
