Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

GazerRise Fantastic!

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Iseerphia All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

vincentlynch-moonoi This is a very interesting film for me, because usually when there is an original and a remake, I (or almost anyone) will like one considerably more than the other. This film is a very close remake of "One Way Passage". This one starring George Brent and Merle Oberon, and "One Way Passage" starring William Powell and Kay Francis. Though 8 years apart, and the very early 1930s and 1940 were very different in terms of the quality of film-making, I like both films fairly equally. In each, the key stars are equally ingratiating. And, this film is a very good example of the power of story telling. After all, the Brent character is a convicted murderer (we never learn the details), while the pursuing policeman (Pat O'Brien) is the good guy. Yet, we want the convicted murderer to escape and carry on his romance with the equally doomed Merle Oberon.George Brent is, in my view, a much underrated actor. When you think of his many fine performances -- particularly opposite Bette Davis -- his star needs to be polished a bit. He is perfect here -- suave while being doomed to being hanged. What a wonderful romantic lead! Merle Oberon is an interesting actress. There are performances where she is memorable, and a few that I wasn't much impressed with. She is excellent here -- plays a very nice balance between a doomed heart patient and a woman wants to live life to its fullest. Incidentally, elsewhere on this movie's IMDb page it mentions that the film is inaccurate in that angina pectoris has been treated using nitroglycerin for many years before this and the previous version of the story were made. The symptoms are treated with nitroglycerin, but that drug does not cure it, and the condition is merely the symptoms of underlying heart disease...further, there is stable and unstable angina, the latter of which is far more serious.Pat O'Brien, a very "old school" actor, is quite good here. He plays his role as policeman with enough dedication and empathy for the criminal to make it credible.In supporting roles, Geraldine Fitzgerald is good as a newlywed fellow passenger and friend of Merle Oberon's character (she played a similar role in Bette Davis' "Dark Victory"). Binnie Barnes is interesting as a female con artist. Eric Blore brings some humor as a victim of almost everyone's con games. Henry O'Neill is a character actor I always enjoy, this time in the small role as the ship's doctor. George Reeves (Superman) is on hand in a small role.Frank McHugh...when I was a kid I enjoyed him when I would watch old movies. But as I've matured, I have tired of his constant roles as a drunk. Perhaps he was a one-trick pony. It is interesting that he played the same part in both film versions of this story.As to the plot, it's good, although nowadays we would question the realness of the policeman giving his prisoner the run of the ship. And of course, the big question at the end of the film is -- the broken glasses -- done by the two leads...or their ghosts.Though very sentimental, highly recommended, and this (and the older version) are on my DVD shelf.

theowinthrop This is a remake (of the William Powell - Kay Francis film ONE WAY PASSAGE) that actually lives up to the merits of the original. It is rare for remakes to be as good as the films they replace in public circulation (think of Marlon Brando's and Mel Gibson's two versions of MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY - and THE BOUNTY - and compare their more "balanced" views of Captain Bligh with the original 1935 classic with Clark Gable, Charles Laughton, and Franchot Tone). Powell and Francis made the doomed lovers in the original fine characterizations. They were hard to beat. Yet in this film (made under a decade later), George Brent and Merle Oberon did as well with the parts.Brent and Oberon are usually considered, somewhat unfairly, second-raters as performers. Not quite true at all. Oberon was more than memorable as Catherine Earnshaw in WUTHERING HEIGHTS, and she was an accomplished comedian in films like THAT UNCERTAIN FEELING. Brent was not a stiff actor in all of his roles - frequently his parts required him to be quiet too much of the time, or parts were edited out. Witness his role in THE GREAT LIE, where one wonders what Bette Davis and Mary Astor see in him to battle for. Witness too how the restored version of BABY FACE with Barbara Stanwyck made his suicide attempt at the end more reasonable to accept than in the version that had been cut up and circulated for years. His tycoon/playboy is legitimately feeling used, unloved, betrayed by his scheming wife, and Stanwyck's own behavior makes more than enough sense when she does return to him to stand by him in an investigation (not to give up all their wealth as in the idiotic ending of the cut version). If one wants to see Brent in a good role (with meaty scenes and dialog) try his hoofer in FORTY SECOND STREET or his brain surgeon in DARK VICTORY or his madman in THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE. He could act when given the chance.In 'TIL WE MEET AGAIN he and Oberon were given a chance. Like Powell in the original (and similar to Joan Bennett's character in TRADE WINDS), he is on a ship headed across the Pacific Ocean to avoid facing execution for a murder. Brent did kill the man (whom both detective Pat O'Brien and Brent's friend Frank McHugh realize was a bigger creep than most people), but it is murder and he was convicted - but managed to escape. O'Brien has tracked him down to the cruise ship, intending to return with him to the U.S. Brent (hopefully with assistance by McHugh and Binnie Barnes) plans to get off and get lost in one of the Asian lands with no extradition to the U.S. (the actual situation of Japanese threatened militarism in this film is gleefully overlooked - but it is meant to be a fantasy).Unfortunately for Brent he meets the charming, wealthy Oberon (travelling with her friend and companion Geraldine Fitzgerald - as pointed out Brent and Fitgerald were both in DARK VICTORY together). They hit it off. But she does not want him to know, as their romance blooms, that she has a fatal illness. He, similarly, is keeping from her that he is (unless he successfully evades O'Brien) going to be executed in the States. But every time he is about to escape somehow she inadvertently prevents it - until he accidentally learns her secret. At that point he stops trying to flee. Subsequently she learns his secret as well. She makes an attempt to help him escape - but he won't take it. Secretly they both realize that death will actually unite them forever, so why fight it?There are nice touches in the film, the best remembered being the "paradise cocktails" that the doomed lovers drink together - a leitmotif that goes through most of the movie until a final, somewhat mysterious (but hopefully true) concluding shot. There is also the development of O'Brien's character. Warren Hymer had played the detective in the earlier version but as a combination of his comic bumbler and his serious business worker (determined not to lose Powell). But O'Brien's character gets to know (and fall for) Barnes, who reciprocates but still tries to use her hold on him to help Brent. It leads to a climax between them when O'Brien tells her he knows what she tried to do, and forgives her because he loves her, but he also knows her life style (as a con woman) will probably destroy her unless she changes. It is an intense scene, and an odd one for Barnes, who usually is in control of her emotions - she falls apart realizing O'Brien is right (and he does show he'll help save her).Finally there is McHugh, who plays a pretend drunk, always able to time his escape from the local police so he jumps onto a convenient getaway vehicle as they arrive angrily screaming at him. He adds to their discomfort by jeering at them. The film ends with him all alone (Brent dead, Barnes married with O'Brien), and tearfully considering his isolation - something that was part of his criminal persona for so long. All in all 'TIL WE MEET AGAIN is a first rate movie, and should convince the viewer that Brent and Oberon (while not Bogart and Davis) were worthy performers when given good material.

edlyn I first saw this film back in 1941 when I was very young and was captivated by the beauty of Merle Oberon even at that very early age. I waited more than 35 years to see this movie once again and even surprised myself at my recall and searched without any luck for a copy of it. Binnie Barnes was outstanding in this film as was the entire cast but the casting of George Brent as Dan Hardesty and Merle Oberon as Joan Ames were perfectly suited for their roles. Was the haunting melody that was always played when George Brent and Merle Oberon were sharing those Paradise Cocktails called "Dark Passage" and where can the words be found to it that was sung by the Hawaiian group on board the ship? One of the true great love romances of it's period and since recording it on VHS when TNT last aired it, I have watched it 3 times.

wolffirefox I saw this movie only once more than 30 years ago, when I was very young-about 16 or so in NY. I have never forgotten the plot, and whenever I would ask someone about it, no one was able to tell me about it until today. The impact this move made on me was lasting.I loved the characters and always felt that it was one of the most under-rated love stories ever written. It's a great movie for watching on a cold winter night with your loved one by your side.