Blood Alley [Blu-ray]

Overview

In this film, John Wayne plays a veteran seaman who comes to the aid of Lauren Bacall, the daughter of a missionary doctor killed by the Red Chinese. Bacall convinces the Duke to smuggle a group of villagers past the communist forces and into the safe harbor of Hong Kong.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/18/2017
UPC:	0888574489069
Original Release:	1955
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Archives
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:55:00
Sales rank:	20,202

Special Features

2 behind the cameras featurettes from the Warner Bros. Presents TV series; Newsreels

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

John Wayne	Capt. Tom Wilder
Lauren Bacall	Cathy Grainger
Paul Fix	Mr. Tao
Joy Kim	Susu, Cathy's maid
Berry Kroeger	Old Feng
Mike Mazurki	Big Han
Anita Ekberg	Wei Long
Henry Nakamura	Tack
W.T. Chang	Mr. Han
George Chan	Mr. Sing,Passenger
James Hong	Actor
Chester Gan	Ferry Boat Captain
Lowell Gilmore	British Officer
Edwin Luke	Feng's #2 Nephew
Walter Soo Hoo	Feng's #1 Nephew
Victor Sen Yung	Cpl. Wang
Esther Lee	Villager
Owen Song	Villager
Barry Kroger	Actor
Roy Webb	Composer

Technical Credits

Albert Sidney Fleischman

William A. Wellman	Director
John Wayne	Producer,Director
Albert Sidney Fleischman	Screenwriter
Carl Mahakian	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

A somewhat overblown melodrama, Blood Alley doesn't totally succeed as a film, but it does have its exciting moments and will be especially appreciated by fans of John Wayne and/or anti-Communist films and/or suspense melodramas with a foreign war background. Alley's biggest problem is its script, which is clichéd and trite and which features dialogue in each scene that is almost always exactly what one would expect to hear, a fact which makes the scenes become rather monotonous. It also doesn't help that there's little chemistry between Wayne and co-star/love interest Lauren Bacall. Wayne is Wayne, which is all diehard fans will ask for, and he certainly carries the movie, but he lacks complexity; perhaps originally cast Robert Mitchum would have added that missing ingredient. Fortunately, Alley has some definite assets as well, including William Wellman's muscular direction, which is especially well suited to the high octane sequences and which is valuable in keeping suspense and tension up. He's aided by William H. Clothier's fine cinematography, which (along with expert production design) makes California look convincingly Asian. Perhaps the most memorable thing about Alley, though, is that this is the film that Wayne was promoting when he made his legendary appearance on I Love Lucy.