The Road to Singapore is based upon a play and is therefore limited in its settings. That setting is the British colonial Far East (Khota - on the shipping line between Colombo and Singapore) and involve the Gymkhana Club and its members. Hugh Dawltry has been expelled from the club. He is a cad, a bounder, an unmitigated reprobate who steals other men's wives. But he falls for Phillipa on the steamer and they soon find themselves involved ashore. Phillippa is a former nurse who has come to the colony to join a doctor as his wife. The main plot involves whether she will cast off her cold husband and succumb to the heat wave of the tropics and the assault by Hugh. Complications exist in the form of the doctor's younger sister who is coming of age and of interest in men (pre-Code). The best shot in the entire movie is when the two star crossed lovers are each looking out windows across the divide between their homes -- it alone is worth the price of admission. Two characters waling through with inane arguments (Reggie and Simpson) don't come close to Caldicott and Charters. A somewhat satisfying ending - recommended.
16 Reviews
Early polished Powell
marcslope7 June 2017
Not-especially-interesting romantic melodrama, from a play, of a triangle in the tropics. But it's one of the earliest demonstrations of William Powell in full William Powelldom. As a rich, unscrupulous playboy living a hedonistic existence in Khota (why Khota is never made clear), he's all polished consonants, dapper clothes, and upper-class charm. You can see why Doris Kenyon, unhappily married to dull, work-obsessed doctor Louis Calhern, would respond to his flirtations. And you can see why her younger sister, Marian Marsh, would be similarly captivated. It's a bit clichéd and more than a bit casually racist (when displeased with a servant, kick him), but it's lifted up by a) some spiffy early-talkie camera-work--love the long take panning from Calhern's to Powell's bungalow!--and b) engagingly pre-Code morality, where the callow hedonist isn't entirely punished for his devil-may-care attitude. It's swift, and the ending may surprise you a little.
Excellent cast saves this tropical soap opera
SimonJack25 January 2018
Warning: Spoilers
This movie raises some nagging questions that it doesn't answer, so it leaves some viewers (this one, for sure) wondering about the film. "The Road to Singapore" is a short feature, running just 69 minutes. It's one of several films of various genres that William Powell did at Warner Brothers before going to MGM in 1934.
The plot for this story itself raises some questions. The story is set in a place called Khota. I couldn't find any place by that name in gazetteers or online. We can surmise that it's in the tropics of the Indian Ocean. A ship, enroute from Colombo, Sri Lanka, to Singapore, drops passengers off at Khota. There is a colony of Englishmen there, all of whom belong to an exclusive club, as was common in so many British colonial areas around the world.
The reason the people are there in the first place is to run plantations. We never learn what they grow, but it's most likely rubber. A snobbish, class-conscious doctor, George March, has sent for a former nurse associate in England to marry him. Philippa Crosby arrives on the same ship that Hugh Dawltry is returning on. Dawltry has a sullied reputation for having caused a divorce between another Khoto couple. He makes a play for Philippa aboard ship, but she rejects him.
But, after she marries March, Philippa finds that he is a changed man from the doctor she knew and loved back in England. That is, we are led to conclude that by the plot. March seeks fame in his profession and is driven by a lust for such notoriety that he can't even lust for his wife, let alone love her. In time, Philippa is drawn to Dawltry who, if nothing else, wishes her to escape the grasp of March who looks down on the natives and other people as inferior.
At times this plays like a melodrama similar to a soap opera. It has a couple of other wrinkles. Dr. March's teenage sister, Rene, lives with him in this remote place. We never learn why she wouldn't be at home in England attending school. Dawltry never goes to work on his plantation, nor do we ever see or hear any of the English conversing about the plantations. Dawltry is a heavy drinker, and Rene makes a play for him.
Still, with all these holes in the plot, and with a weak screenplay, this is an interesting film. It's made so mostly by a very good cast - especially all the leads. William Powell never had a role that he didn't play very well. Doris Kenyon is very good as Philippa Crosby March. Marian Marsh is superb as Rene March, and Louis Calhern is very good as Dr. George March. He tends just a bit to overplay his role at times. There are a couple of other characters who pop in and out of a few scenes, arguing over trivial matters. They are not funny and are a distraction from the plot.
The camera work on this 1931 film is superb. The sets and lighting are dark to reflect the mood much of the time. And one scene is remarkable for its camera effect. Hugh and Philippa each get up to listen to the native drums at night. Their bungalows are on the same street but some distance apart. The camera one night is on Philippa and then retreats backward through the jungle trees - always with Philippa's bungalow in sight, ever diminishing in size, until it stops at Hugh's bungalow and we see him looking toward the bungalow in the distance. A masterful piece of camera work and filmmaking.
One wonders what William Powell thought about doing this film and some others. He apparently was dissatisfied with the films he had been given at WB, as he had been at Paramount where he got his start. His move to MGM seems to have been just right. His pairing with Myrna Loy created one of the best matches for multiple movies in history. They made 13 films together from 1934 to 1944. All of them are memorable and some are among the best comedies ever made.
Occasional clever or funny lines offset the sometimes-dark overtone of this film. For more dialog, see the Quotes section under this IMDb Web page of the movie. Here are some samples.
Mrs. Wey-Smith, "Dr. March says I'm like a feather. I'm so light on my feet." Hugh Dawltry, "Who's feet?"
Rene March, "Do you always ride alone?" Hugh Dawltry, "Sometimes the horse goes with me."
Hugh Dawltry, "My dear, sometimes even reputations have false faces."
The plot for this story itself raises some questions. The story is set in a place called Khota. I couldn't find any place by that name in gazetteers or online. We can surmise that it's in the tropics of the Indian Ocean. A ship, enroute from Colombo, Sri Lanka, to Singapore, drops passengers off at Khota. There is a colony of Englishmen there, all of whom belong to an exclusive club, as was common in so many British colonial areas around the world.
The reason the people are there in the first place is to run plantations. We never learn what they grow, but it's most likely rubber. A snobbish, class-conscious doctor, George March, has sent for a former nurse associate in England to marry him. Philippa Crosby arrives on the same ship that Hugh Dawltry is returning on. Dawltry has a sullied reputation for having caused a divorce between another Khoto couple. He makes a play for Philippa aboard ship, but she rejects him.
But, after she marries March, Philippa finds that he is a changed man from the doctor she knew and loved back in England. That is, we are led to conclude that by the plot. March seeks fame in his profession and is driven by a lust for such notoriety that he can't even lust for his wife, let alone love her. In time, Philippa is drawn to Dawltry who, if nothing else, wishes her to escape the grasp of March who looks down on the natives and other people as inferior.
At times this plays like a melodrama similar to a soap opera. It has a couple of other wrinkles. Dr. March's teenage sister, Rene, lives with him in this remote place. We never learn why she wouldn't be at home in England attending school. Dawltry never goes to work on his plantation, nor do we ever see or hear any of the English conversing about the plantations. Dawltry is a heavy drinker, and Rene makes a play for him.
Still, with all these holes in the plot, and with a weak screenplay, this is an interesting film. It's made so mostly by a very good cast - especially all the leads. William Powell never had a role that he didn't play very well. Doris Kenyon is very good as Philippa Crosby March. Marian Marsh is superb as Rene March, and Louis Calhern is very good as Dr. George March. He tends just a bit to overplay his role at times. There are a couple of other characters who pop in and out of a few scenes, arguing over trivial matters. They are not funny and are a distraction from the plot.
The camera work on this 1931 film is superb. The sets and lighting are dark to reflect the mood much of the time. And one scene is remarkable for its camera effect. Hugh and Philippa each get up to listen to the native drums at night. Their bungalows are on the same street but some distance apart. The camera one night is on Philippa and then retreats backward through the jungle trees - always with Philippa's bungalow in sight, ever diminishing in size, until it stops at Hugh's bungalow and we see him looking toward the bungalow in the distance. A masterful piece of camera work and filmmaking.
One wonders what William Powell thought about doing this film and some others. He apparently was dissatisfied with the films he had been given at WB, as he had been at Paramount where he got his start. His move to MGM seems to have been just right. His pairing with Myrna Loy created one of the best matches for multiple movies in history. They made 13 films together from 1934 to 1944. All of them are memorable and some are among the best comedies ever made.
Occasional clever or funny lines offset the sometimes-dark overtone of this film. For more dialog, see the Quotes section under this IMDb Web page of the movie. Here are some samples.
Mrs. Wey-Smith, "Dr. March says I'm like a feather. I'm so light on my feet." Hugh Dawltry, "Who's feet?"
Rene March, "Do you always ride alone?" Hugh Dawltry, "Sometimes the horse goes with me."
Hugh Dawltry, "My dear, sometimes even reputations have false faces."
Jungle drums can really get to you!
Lopopolobooks7 November 2004
Loved watching this really dated film...William Powell in 1931 had already perfected his suave, self-assured persona on screen, and in this filmed play, he presents the wonderful self-assured and beautifully dressed image he gave us later in Manhattan Melodrama and The Thin Man series he's so well remembered for. Louis Calhern is the weak, career obsessed doctor who marries Doris Kenyon, a former nurse It's interesting to watch the young Calhern play the emotional, naive, career obsessed, wife-neglecting doctor, because we always knew him as an older actor, dignified and mustached in the 40's and 50's. Powell steals the movie as the hard drinking seducer of other men's wives, which of course, includes the doctor's bored bride. What's fun is how the film depicts the hot and humid tropics, complete with incessant jungle drums, as a place where passion can overheat the idle rich and cause near-tragic troubles for all. Doris Kenyon, whom almost no one remembers today, but may be best known for her role with Rudolph Valentino in the silent, Monsieur Beaucaire, holds her own, was 34 in this film and is quite the blonde beauty though one of her gowns, a black and white number, comes off as almost comical today. See this one for Powell, for the way he dresses and comports himself, and for those incessant drums.
Both the men who want this woman are major jerk-faces!
planktonrules20 December 2020
"The Road to Singapore" is a rather old fashioned movie that must have seemed pretty scandalous back in the day when it was a play and later, this film. It's old fashioned in its portrayals of female roles as well as its tacit acceptance of British colonialism. Today, the film would definitely be seen as quite dated.
The story begins on a cruise ship headed to Singapore. Philippa (Doris Kenyon) is a nurse who is going to Singapore to marry a doctor she once worked with back in Britain. On the ship is also Hugh (William Powell), a major rogue who has a reputation as a bad boy--a despoiler of women. He does his best throughout the cruise to get to know Philippa better and she rebuffs him repeatedly. After all, she doesn't want a one night stand and has a husband waiting for her.
Once she arrives in Singapore, Hugh doesn't let up and he's obviously a man who thinks no might mean yes. In contrast, however, once Philippa marries Dr. March (Louis Calhern), she discovers he's pretty much the opposite...almost sexless and completely detached from her. He also is a man who seems to have lost his humanity and he's cruel to the locals, as he feels they are beneath him. Add to this mix Dr. March's very young and horny sister, Rene (Marian Marsh). She likes the idea of having a rendezvous with Hugh. To her, he's exciting, sexy and dangerous. You just know at some point a major confrontation, or worse, is going to occur between Dr. March and Hugh...and you aren't sure if it's over Philippa or Rene...or both!
So is this any good? Well, it's okay. But it did seem odd that the film showed you two options...a detached jerk of a husband and a womanizing jerk of a lover! You really wonder why Philippa didn't just hop aboard another ship and head back home and leave the two jerks to themselves. Back in the day it just seemed titillating...but now it seems dated. This was especially true in the big confrontation scene at the end....which was amazingly talky. Entertaining....but dated.
By the way, if you do watch this, note the really nice cinematography....far better than you'd expect to see in 1931.
The story begins on a cruise ship headed to Singapore. Philippa (Doris Kenyon) is a nurse who is going to Singapore to marry a doctor she once worked with back in Britain. On the ship is also Hugh (William Powell), a major rogue who has a reputation as a bad boy--a despoiler of women. He does his best throughout the cruise to get to know Philippa better and she rebuffs him repeatedly. After all, she doesn't want a one night stand and has a husband waiting for her.
Once she arrives in Singapore, Hugh doesn't let up and he's obviously a man who thinks no might mean yes. In contrast, however, once Philippa marries Dr. March (Louis Calhern), she discovers he's pretty much the opposite...almost sexless and completely detached from her. He also is a man who seems to have lost his humanity and he's cruel to the locals, as he feels they are beneath him. Add to this mix Dr. March's very young and horny sister, Rene (Marian Marsh). She likes the idea of having a rendezvous with Hugh. To her, he's exciting, sexy and dangerous. You just know at some point a major confrontation, or worse, is going to occur between Dr. March and Hugh...and you aren't sure if it's over Philippa or Rene...or both!
So is this any good? Well, it's okay. But it did seem odd that the film showed you two options...a detached jerk of a husband and a womanizing jerk of a lover! You really wonder why Philippa didn't just hop aboard another ship and head back home and leave the two jerks to themselves. Back in the day it just seemed titillating...but now it seems dated. This was especially true in the big confrontation scene at the end....which was amazingly talky. Entertaining....but dated.
By the way, if you do watch this, note the really nice cinematography....far better than you'd expect to see in 1931.
A tropical heatwave causes a doctor's wife to want to play doctor.
mark.waltz13 November 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Two debonair men (William Powell and Louis Calhern) of the silver screen play rivals for the beautiful Doris Kenyon in this engaging pre-code drama. Kenyon, married to the stuffy doctor Calhern is flirted with by the very direct Powell when she arrives in Singapore, and is equally upset when his much younger sister Marian Marsh starts to flirt with him.
But Calhern is too busy with his medical profession to really pay much attention to his wife, and Kenyon is basically bored by her husband anyway. As the native drums beat, Kenyon becomes more entrances with Powell, and Calhern's jealousy begins to seethe. Explosion is iminent which gives Calhern an interesting switch from stuffed shirt to dangerous villain.
This is a pre-code exotic drama, well-done and melodramatic, with an endearing performance by Powell and a juicy portrayal for Kenyon as the torn wife. Marsh is deliciously flirty and veteran character actress Alison Skipworth is amusing as an aging matron who isn't beyond a little flirting herself. Calhern once again does a great job as the film's heavy and nearly walks off with the movie. The direction by Alfred Green makes it move along at a speedy pace, and as a result, this ends up being quite memorable.
But Calhern is too busy with his medical profession to really pay much attention to his wife, and Kenyon is basically bored by her husband anyway. As the native drums beat, Kenyon becomes more entrances with Powell, and Calhern's jealousy begins to seethe. Explosion is iminent which gives Calhern an interesting switch from stuffed shirt to dangerous villain.
This is a pre-code exotic drama, well-done and melodramatic, with an endearing performance by Powell and a juicy portrayal for Kenyon as the torn wife. Marsh is deliciously flirty and veteran character actress Alison Skipworth is amusing as an aging matron who isn't beyond a little flirting herself. Calhern once again does a great job as the film's heavy and nearly walks off with the movie. The direction by Alfred Green makes it move along at a speedy pace, and as a result, this ends up being quite memorable.
If Nick Charles Was NOT A Detective
David_Brown2 September 2014
Warning: Spoilers
The Road To Singapore is without question a Pre-Code Movie, the scenes involving Philippa Crosby March (Doris Kenyon), and her Sister In-Law, Rene (Marian Marsh) in Hugh Dawltry's (William Powell)home (as well as the ending, which I will not spoil), would not be allowed a few years later. The thing that is interesting is seeing Powell playing Dawltry who although is a cad, essentially is an early version of Nick Charles (complete with his dress, mannerisms, and of course drinking) without the crime aspect to it. When you take Dawltry, and combine him with Philo Vance, you get Nick Charles. The biggest problem with this movie, is something unnecessary.. the drums. I have no idea why Warner Brothers chose to constantly play them in the movie, but they did, and it very much ruins the movie for me. 7 of 10 Stars
jungle fever
SnoopyStyle6 June 2023
Philippa Crosby March (Doris Kenyon) arrives in Singapore set to marry Dr. George March. Dashing playboy Hugh Dawltry (William Powell) sets his sights on her. Her marriage is disappointing and her eyes start drifting. One night, the drums start pounding at the native village. It's a love festival.
This is a pre-Code romance melodrama. There is a bit of exoticism with the drumming love-fest. It's jungle fever. I'm not in love with this coupling or even this love triangle, but I am a little intrigued. The ending is a little unsatisfying although I can accept it. I want the drama to be elevated.
This is a pre-Code romance melodrama. There is a bit of exoticism with the drumming love-fest. It's jungle fever. I'm not in love with this coupling or even this love triangle, but I am a little intrigued. The ending is a little unsatisfying although I can accept it. I want the drama to be elevated.
A rather mediocre precode....
AlsExGal14 May 2023
... and if I had a more fine grained voting scale I'd probably make this one a 5.5 versus a 5/10.
Hugh Dawltry (William Powell) is returning to Khota, a British colony in southeast Asia, after having been ostracized there for breaking up a home and then abandoning the woman afterwards. Phillippa Crosby (Doris Kenyon) is going to Khota to marry her long time fiance Dr. George March (Louis Calhern). Dawltry pretty much earns his reputation as a bounder during the first fifteen minutes as he is attracted to Phillippa on the ship to Khota, is rebuffed, and then when the ship docks, takes advantage of the fact that she doesn't know what Marsh's house looks like to take her to his house instead, where he continues to try and seduce her. It doesn't help that the servant Dr. March sent to retrieve Phillippa from the ship decided to get drunk instead. Things get straightened out, Phillippa and George get married as planned, but it soon becomes obvious that her husband is consumed by work, just got married because it was time for "family values", and is completely lacking in romance. Suddenly Dawltry's spiel is looking good to Phillippa versus her cold as ice husband.
This is one of those films that is very hard to review because it is just so average and lacking in originality. It doesn't do anything so badly that it is "so bad it is good", but it is not memorable either. The best thing about it are the performances, and the minute you see that Calhern is the prospective bridegroom you know this is not going to be a marriage made in heaven. Calhern never played the heroic or admirable type after all. This was William Powell's first film at Warner Brothers after leaving his long time studio of Paramount, and you would have thought that WB would have made this first film a special effort, but they didn't. I will say that the pounding of the native drums at the end do a good job of building suspense. I'd recommend this one for hardcore William Powell fans who want to see everything in which the actor appeared.
Hugh Dawltry (William Powell) is returning to Khota, a British colony in southeast Asia, after having been ostracized there for breaking up a home and then abandoning the woman afterwards. Phillippa Crosby (Doris Kenyon) is going to Khota to marry her long time fiance Dr. George March (Louis Calhern). Dawltry pretty much earns his reputation as a bounder during the first fifteen minutes as he is attracted to Phillippa on the ship to Khota, is rebuffed, and then when the ship docks, takes advantage of the fact that she doesn't know what Marsh's house looks like to take her to his house instead, where he continues to try and seduce her. It doesn't help that the servant Dr. March sent to retrieve Phillippa from the ship decided to get drunk instead. Things get straightened out, Phillippa and George get married as planned, but it soon becomes obvious that her husband is consumed by work, just got married because it was time for "family values", and is completely lacking in romance. Suddenly Dawltry's spiel is looking good to Phillippa versus her cold as ice husband.
This is one of those films that is very hard to review because it is just so average and lacking in originality. It doesn't do anything so badly that it is "so bad it is good", but it is not memorable either. The best thing about it are the performances, and the minute you see that Calhern is the prospective bridegroom you know this is not going to be a marriage made in heaven. Calhern never played the heroic or admirable type after all. This was William Powell's first film at Warner Brothers after leaving his long time studio of Paramount, and you would have thought that WB would have made this first film a special effort, but they didn't. I will say that the pounding of the native drums at the end do a good job of building suspense. I'd recommend this one for hardcore William Powell fans who want to see everything in which the actor appeared.
Great acting, great special effects, great film!
JohnHowardReid1 February 2014
Warning: Spoilers
William Powell's first film under his Warner Brothers contract does not find him quite as assured as he appears in Jewel Robbery (his third). He is also hampered by an odd twist in the script which makes a great to-do in the opening scenes of the Powell character being kicked out of the British-to-the-bootstraps club and his home being seized for non-payment of back taxes. However, when Powell actually appears on the scene, he moves into his house as if he had every right to do so and repeatedly enters the club with absolutely no challenges at all – not even from the character played by Louis Calhern who hates Powell and would have taken a vicious delight in having him kicked out! We are forced to assume that Powell had managed to find the money for his back taxes, which is fair enough, but how on earth did he persuade the board of the super-stuffy club to re-admit him to membership – especially against the vicious opposition of the Calhern character, Dr. March? The fact that the club's board obviously defied Dr. March not only makes March's later threats rather pointless, but solidifies Powell-Dawltry's eagerness to pick a fight with a character whose threats are merely a waste of breath. Given this situation, all the sting is taken out of the plot which then proceeds to a logical climax in which March's challenge is aptly depicted as just so much hot air. Mind you, Alfred E. Green directs this foregone conclusion of a plot at such a rapid pace and in such an often innovative style that few members of the audiences will even ponder these questions. It's often said that some of the directors that we tend to regard as competent journeymen but nothing else, were able to adjust to sound far more rapidly than their now-far-more-famous colleagues. Certainly, The Road to Singapore can be cited as a proof of that contention. Doris Kenyon, whom nobody remembers today, gives a brilliant performance as Calhern's neglected wife. In fact, she easily steals the acting honors. In a trite, clichéd role, she delivers such a sincere and effective performance that she makes her character seem not only fresh but interesting and involving. Marian Marsh is also a delightful presence and we really enjoyed the scene in which Powell puts her flirtations to the test. Calhern makes a suitably glum if vengeful doctor. We love his woeful line: "The patient died!" While the film is obviously based on a stage play – it even closes on a Third Act curtain – I enjoyed the way it is opened out, particularly the shot which everyone cites, namely the remarkable track from Kenyon's house to Powell's. Available on an excellent Warner Archive DVD.
Husbands lock up your wives
bkoganbing2 April 2016
Don't get the idea that this was an early version of a series that Hope and Crosby made famous. Based on a play entitled Heat Wave by British author Roland Pertwee when it got to Broadway mid the Depression it only ran for 15 performances. From what I see it might not have had a better run in more prosperous times.
The parts that William Powell, Louis Calhern, Doris Kenyon, and Marian Marsh play were done on Broadway by Basil Rathbone, Henry Daniell, Selena Royle, and Betty Lawford. All of the Broadway players had substantial careers in film as well though none were really box office names. Might have been interesting to see how they did the parts though I doubt the material would have been improved.
Former colonial resident William Powell is returning to a dreary corner of British held Malaysia and the news is not met with enthusiasm. Here as in London Powell had the reputation of a rake so its husbands lock up your wives.
Sure enough Powell goes after Doris Kenyon who is married to the local doctor Louis Calhern. Calhern makes it very easy for him as he is one drip of a human being. He looks on his very patients like lab rats who are just interesting cases to him. He's disappointed that a trip to Ceylon, now Sri Lanka doesn't materialize because he was called in on a consultation for a rare tumor and the poor man died. Poor Calhern didn't get a chance to see it and be written in the medical journals. What a romantic.
So the cast gets to spout a lot of romantic drivel except for Calhern. Funniest moment is Powell dancing with Alison Skipworth at the club where she wrecks his feet. That could have been from one of the comedies he later did at MGM. Would there had been more moments like that in The Road To Singapore.
A lot of flop plays and unsold to theater work wound up made into films in those early days of sound. The studios bought everything with dialog in it in their quest for subject matter. I doubt The Road To Singapore will better remembered than that other famous Road To Singapore.
The parts that William Powell, Louis Calhern, Doris Kenyon, and Marian Marsh play were done on Broadway by Basil Rathbone, Henry Daniell, Selena Royle, and Betty Lawford. All of the Broadway players had substantial careers in film as well though none were really box office names. Might have been interesting to see how they did the parts though I doubt the material would have been improved.
Former colonial resident William Powell is returning to a dreary corner of British held Malaysia and the news is not met with enthusiasm. Here as in London Powell had the reputation of a rake so its husbands lock up your wives.
Sure enough Powell goes after Doris Kenyon who is married to the local doctor Louis Calhern. Calhern makes it very easy for him as he is one drip of a human being. He looks on his very patients like lab rats who are just interesting cases to him. He's disappointed that a trip to Ceylon, now Sri Lanka doesn't materialize because he was called in on a consultation for a rare tumor and the poor man died. Poor Calhern didn't get a chance to see it and be written in the medical journals. What a romantic.
So the cast gets to spout a lot of romantic drivel except for Calhern. Funniest moment is Powell dancing with Alison Skipworth at the club where she wrecks his feet. That could have been from one of the comedies he later did at MGM. Would there had been more moments like that in The Road To Singapore.
A lot of flop plays and unsold to theater work wound up made into films in those early days of sound. The studios bought everything with dialog in it in their quest for subject matter. I doubt The Road To Singapore will better remembered than that other famous Road To Singapore.
oh, the heat
mukava99123 May 2023
Based on a novel aptly entitled "Heat Wave," and a stage adaptation which was a 1929 London success starring Herbert Marshall and a 1931 Broadway flop with Basil Rathbone, "Road to Singapore" is the type of story one would usually associate with W. Somerset Maugham: British rubber planters in southeast Asia (in this case the fictional outpost of "Khota") and their social rivalries, served up with cocktails, cigarettes, and card games, along with bungalow and club room banter and the inevitable gun shot or stabbing. And of course the heat, not to mention native drums stirring passions in the night.
The above-the-title star is William Powell, with a "mid-lantic" accent, in the Marshall-Rathbone role as a local cad with a fondness for other men's wives (and, like his "Thin Man" character, for prodigious quantities of hard liquor that seems to have little or no degenerative effect on his looks or bearing). Supporting him are Louis Calhern, with his own "mid-lantic" accent, as an absurdly stuffy local doctor and Doris Kenyon as Calhern's new wife who immediately regrets her marriage to the workaholic martinet in the suffocating backwater. Marian Marsh is Calhern's younger sister who develops an adolescent crush on Powell.
Colin Campbell and Douglas Gerrard provide silly comic relief, strolling through the proceedings at intervals as veddy British stereotypes named "Reginald" and "Simpson," respectively, who constantly argue about the real meaning of what they've just said to each other. Tyrell Davis, so memorable as "Ernest" in the 1933 film version of Maugham's "Our Betters," despite billing in the opening credits, is wasted, appearing in only two or three group scenes and speaking one minor line. Ethel Griffies also gets practically nothing to do. Alison Skipworth as an overbearing matron has a couple of heavy-handed flirtations with both Powell and Calhern.
Most of the male characters spend a good deal of time mopping sweat from their faces, which is no surprise given the suits and ties most of them wear; Powell dresses as if he's on his way to the opera at the height of the fall season in London and Calhern sleeps in full length pajamas under blankets no less. The females are better off in this regard and occasionally wear loose dresses with short sleeves while daintily fanning themselves.
The producers went to some length to provide convincing atmospherics. When bride-to-be Kenyon arrives at Khota, she is greeted by a downpour that turns the dirt road into a river of mud through which she trudges until Powell, whose linen suit is drenched through, rescues her by giving her a lift on his native-driven rickshaw. (Needless to say, not a trace of dirt can be seen on her footwear, nor a wrinkle in his garments, afterward.) There is a celebrated tracking sequence through the jungle that separates Kenyon's house from Powell's, which starts at her face in closeup and ends on his in closeup and then alternates between the two, all to the rhythmic pounding of drums in honor of the local "love goddess."
As for the "natives," Calhern slaps one of them for drinking on the job and another, gleaming with sweat, is seen puffing a cigar while leering at the newly-arrived Kenyon, who is the real star here, always convincing, despite being a bit long in the tooth for the type of innocent-young-thing role she's playing, and magnetic from every angle. At different moments this barely remembered holdover from the silent era evokes Constance Bennett, Tallulah Bankhead, Thelma Todd and even Marlene Dietrich in her "Shanghai Express" period, even though she predates them all.
The above-the-title star is William Powell, with a "mid-lantic" accent, in the Marshall-Rathbone role as a local cad with a fondness for other men's wives (and, like his "Thin Man" character, for prodigious quantities of hard liquor that seems to have little or no degenerative effect on his looks or bearing). Supporting him are Louis Calhern, with his own "mid-lantic" accent, as an absurdly stuffy local doctor and Doris Kenyon as Calhern's new wife who immediately regrets her marriage to the workaholic martinet in the suffocating backwater. Marian Marsh is Calhern's younger sister who develops an adolescent crush on Powell.
Colin Campbell and Douglas Gerrard provide silly comic relief, strolling through the proceedings at intervals as veddy British stereotypes named "Reginald" and "Simpson," respectively, who constantly argue about the real meaning of what they've just said to each other. Tyrell Davis, so memorable as "Ernest" in the 1933 film version of Maugham's "Our Betters," despite billing in the opening credits, is wasted, appearing in only two or three group scenes and speaking one minor line. Ethel Griffies also gets practically nothing to do. Alison Skipworth as an overbearing matron has a couple of heavy-handed flirtations with both Powell and Calhern.
Most of the male characters spend a good deal of time mopping sweat from their faces, which is no surprise given the suits and ties most of them wear; Powell dresses as if he's on his way to the opera at the height of the fall season in London and Calhern sleeps in full length pajamas under blankets no less. The females are better off in this regard and occasionally wear loose dresses with short sleeves while daintily fanning themselves.
The producers went to some length to provide convincing atmospherics. When bride-to-be Kenyon arrives at Khota, she is greeted by a downpour that turns the dirt road into a river of mud through which she trudges until Powell, whose linen suit is drenched through, rescues her by giving her a lift on his native-driven rickshaw. (Needless to say, not a trace of dirt can be seen on her footwear, nor a wrinkle in his garments, afterward.) There is a celebrated tracking sequence through the jungle that separates Kenyon's house from Powell's, which starts at her face in closeup and ends on his in closeup and then alternates between the two, all to the rhythmic pounding of drums in honor of the local "love goddess."
As for the "natives," Calhern slaps one of them for drinking on the job and another, gleaming with sweat, is seen puffing a cigar while leering at the newly-arrived Kenyon, who is the real star here, always convincing, despite being a bit long in the tooth for the type of innocent-young-thing role she's playing, and magnetic from every angle. At different moments this barely remembered holdover from the silent era evokes Constance Bennett, Tallulah Bankhead, Thelma Todd and even Marlene Dietrich in her "Shanghai Express" period, even though she predates them all.
"The tropics is no place for a white man -- unless he has no place else to go."
utgard1410 August 2014
Early talkie melodrama about a man (William Powell) whose reputation is tarnished for having an affair with a married woman. So he relocates to a tropical island. Turns out they have married women there, too. Who knew?
Powell's charismatic as usual but he can't breathe much life into this tired script. It's a clichéd story, even for the time. Not exciting or particularly interesting, at least for my tastes. Reading the other reviews here, I'm kind of blown away by the praise. I had to check my TV to make sure we're all talking about the same movie. I like William Powell as much as the next person but this is mediocre stuff.
Powell's charismatic as usual but he can't breathe much life into this tired script. It's a clichéd story, even for the time. Not exciting or particularly interesting, at least for my tastes. Reading the other reviews here, I'm kind of blown away by the praise. I had to check my TV to make sure we're all talking about the same movie. I like William Powell as much as the next person but this is mediocre stuff.
Even if it is not Hope and Crosby, you will NOT be disappointed!
ronrobinson36 September 2023
No! First of all, this is NOT a Bing Crosby and Bob Hope film.
This film stars William Powell and Doris Kenyon. They are living in the hot jungles of Khota in Southeast Asia. Kenyon is a new bride to a boring doctor who treats the natives. Powell is a ladies' man and cad. He has a past of seducing married women and ruining their lives and marriages.
When Powell meets Kenyon and goes after her, he realizes that she is "the real thing" and falls for her. Marian Marsh plays Kenyon's young sister who also goes after Powell at the same time.
I don't normally care for Powell when he is playing the shallow role of a rouge and a blackguard. But in this film, he has a slow awakening and redeems his character into something with more depth and quality.
I was not as familiar with Doris Kenyon's work. I just saw her in "Alexander Hamilton" released in 09/12/1931 with Arliss. She was good in that, but she really shines in this film.
Then end is nice. It is logical and works well.
So whether you are a fan of Powell or not, check out this classic. You will be glad you did!! It will keep you classy!
This film stars William Powell and Doris Kenyon. They are living in the hot jungles of Khota in Southeast Asia. Kenyon is a new bride to a boring doctor who treats the natives. Powell is a ladies' man and cad. He has a past of seducing married women and ruining their lives and marriages.
When Powell meets Kenyon and goes after her, he realizes that she is "the real thing" and falls for her. Marian Marsh plays Kenyon's young sister who also goes after Powell at the same time.
I don't normally care for Powell when he is playing the shallow role of a rouge and a blackguard. But in this film, he has a slow awakening and redeems his character into something with more depth and quality.
I was not as familiar with Doris Kenyon's work. I just saw her in "Alexander Hamilton" released in 09/12/1931 with Arliss. She was good in that, but she really shines in this film.
Then end is nice. It is logical and works well.
So whether you are a fan of Powell or not, check out this classic. You will be glad you did!! It will keep you classy!
Inquiring Minds Want to Know
view_and_review4 September 2022
This was one stuffy, dry, woefully acted movie. When I say woefully acted I can't overstate how terrible the actors were. William Powell was the only actor worth a grain of sand in this dreck. As for his co-stars, Doris Kenyon, Marian Marsh, and Louis Calhern, they were God awful. The plastered on faces of various emotions and the forced dialogue as they attempted to enunciate every last syllable--it was painful to watch. Marian Marsh's performance bordered on criminal as she tried to act like an eighteen-year-old attempting to seduce a grown man. Louis Calhern's performance was an assault to the senses as he walked about with a permanent spine curvature and labored to get every word out of his mouth. He spoke as if each word were an exercise, even more than your normal high society person who sounds as if they're clutching something with their butt cheeks as they speak.
William Powell, who was in a familiar role, was playing the ladykiller again. How tired. Didn't he already do this in "Ladies' Man," and "Man of the World" which were both made in 1931?
Get some new material.
And it was less convincing in this movie seeing William's crow's feet and lined forehead. I seemed to have missed it in previous movies, but seeing him in "Road to Singapore" I couldn't help but wonder how he was still considered a slayer of women.
"Road to Singapore," besides being about racist Englishmen in India, was about a woman who'd come to join her husband, found neglect, and then found love in another man.
Philippa "Phil" Crosby (Doris Kenyon) went to Khota, India to join her husband Dr. George March (Louis Calhern). She found nothing but heat, inadequate quarters, and a husband who was only interested in his work. She'd already been set upon by Hugh Dawltry (William Powell), but she rejected him on account of her being married. After a few days of being ignored by the dry, stale Dr. March, she began to entertain the advances of Hugh.
Dr. March was such an oblivious idiot. He was so concerned with his young sister Rene (Marian Marsh) getting involved with Hugh that he didn't even realize he was losing his own wife to Hugh. He took his wife for granted, both her happiness and her fidelity. He knew Hugh had a reputation of wooing wives, but he never imagined his wife would be one of them.
I can't say that I was too broken up about it. Sure, it's a tired theme--one of infidelity--one that was beat into the ground in the 30's, but Dr. March was easy to dislike. Before he began treating his wife like an acquaintance, and not a spouse, he was behaving with Indians like a white supremacist. There was one scene in which he slapped an Indian man then pompously said, "Everybody's got to keep his place in this country," as though the entire Indian population was there to serve him and his kind. Then we got to see him and his white compatriots do nothing all day but socialize at a sports club and enjoy all the things the very Indian citizens were barred from enjoying.
And notice I said "Indian citizens" and not "natives." I don't know why the hell the word "natives" was used back then for people of darker skinned countries. It was such a demeaning and offensive term. If the people in countries of darker skinned folks are "natives" what are people in white countries?
I'll tell you: they're French, British, Irish, German, Spanish, and so on. These a-holes knew the name of the country they were in, and instead of saying Indians, Africans, or what have you, they use the word "natives" which has all the implications of uncivilized and uneducated.
"Road to Singapore" was a terrible movie and not merely for the reasons I've stated above. It was bound to be bad the moment it was about a woman cheating on her husband. That was a common theme in the 30's and it's old hat. William Powell himself starred in multiple movies about dating someone else's wife or fiance.
How many different ways can you show adultery/cheating and be interesting? Furthermore, why was that such a popular theme? Was it rampant at that time? Was it the latent desire of script writers? Inquiring minds want to know.
William Powell, who was in a familiar role, was playing the ladykiller again. How tired. Didn't he already do this in "Ladies' Man," and "Man of the World" which were both made in 1931?
Get some new material.
And it was less convincing in this movie seeing William's crow's feet and lined forehead. I seemed to have missed it in previous movies, but seeing him in "Road to Singapore" I couldn't help but wonder how he was still considered a slayer of women.
"Road to Singapore," besides being about racist Englishmen in India, was about a woman who'd come to join her husband, found neglect, and then found love in another man.
Philippa "Phil" Crosby (Doris Kenyon) went to Khota, India to join her husband Dr. George March (Louis Calhern). She found nothing but heat, inadequate quarters, and a husband who was only interested in his work. She'd already been set upon by Hugh Dawltry (William Powell), but she rejected him on account of her being married. After a few days of being ignored by the dry, stale Dr. March, she began to entertain the advances of Hugh.
Dr. March was such an oblivious idiot. He was so concerned with his young sister Rene (Marian Marsh) getting involved with Hugh that he didn't even realize he was losing his own wife to Hugh. He took his wife for granted, both her happiness and her fidelity. He knew Hugh had a reputation of wooing wives, but he never imagined his wife would be one of them.
I can't say that I was too broken up about it. Sure, it's a tired theme--one of infidelity--one that was beat into the ground in the 30's, but Dr. March was easy to dislike. Before he began treating his wife like an acquaintance, and not a spouse, he was behaving with Indians like a white supremacist. There was one scene in which he slapped an Indian man then pompously said, "Everybody's got to keep his place in this country," as though the entire Indian population was there to serve him and his kind. Then we got to see him and his white compatriots do nothing all day but socialize at a sports club and enjoy all the things the very Indian citizens were barred from enjoying.
And notice I said "Indian citizens" and not "natives." I don't know why the hell the word "natives" was used back then for people of darker skinned countries. It was such a demeaning and offensive term. If the people in countries of darker skinned folks are "natives" what are people in white countries?
I'll tell you: they're French, British, Irish, German, Spanish, and so on. These a-holes knew the name of the country they were in, and instead of saying Indians, Africans, or what have you, they use the word "natives" which has all the implications of uncivilized and uneducated.
"Road to Singapore" was a terrible movie and not merely for the reasons I've stated above. It was bound to be bad the moment it was about a woman cheating on her husband. That was a common theme in the 30's and it's old hat. William Powell himself starred in multiple movies about dating someone else's wife or fiance.
How many different ways can you show adultery/cheating and be interesting? Furthermore, why was that such a popular theme? Was it rampant at that time? Was it the latent desire of script writers? Inquiring minds want to know.
a pre film code love story
ksf-228 October 2022
NOT the bob hope one! This is an earlier thang with the awesome william powell. An exotic adventure, off in the south seas. Hugh dawltry seems to be down on his luck, as they are auctioning off his property, when he meets philippa, the wife of doctor kenyon, he tricks her into visiting his place for a bit. It's a pre-film-code movie, so the women are allowed to prance around in their underwear. Dawltry even kisses philippa, a married woman at her party! And talks about spanking philippa's sister. And other naughty stuff. It's a long flirtation. The suspense here is whether or not dawltry and philippa will run off together. The drum beats from the locals get louder and louder. Really good story! I love alison skipworth... she always zings up a film. Although her talents are completely under-used in this one; they just make her out to be a silly, giggling, old lady. Directed by fred green, probably best known for the al jolson story. This started as a story by denise robins, then a play. It totally holds up!
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