What begins as a cheap, stage-bound love triangle featuring two brutish leading men, Victor McLaglen and Chester Morris, and coarse humor, "Pacific Liner" becomes something of a commentary on class and contagion when an infectious disease breaks out aboard a cruise ship. Sound familiar? In the case of this film, it's cholera infecting the crew in the engineering section of the liner. As men slaving away shoveling coal into furnaces are dropping dead or ill below, ignorant passengers above continue dancing, while the captain requests more steam power--and McLaglen's foreman ridiculously obliges! Meanwhile, the vessel's doctor runs around admonishing the crew to stop touching stuff, as he ignores his own advice by touching everything and everyone and in between brushing his own sweaty hair back with his bare hands. His idea of hand washing, too, seems to be dipping his hands in two buckets of water or some solution.
Also of interest is that cholera is, first, referred to as "Asiatic cholera" and is brought on board by a Chinese stowaway. The picture's representation of an African-American stoker, referred to as "professor" because he's smarter than the others, however, is comparatively benign, if not enlightened, for being released in the same year as "Gone with the Wind" (1939). To top it off, an Oscar-nominated musical score helps maintain the claustrophobic tension.
Also of interest is that cholera is, first, referred to as "Asiatic cholera" and is brought on board by a Chinese stowaway. The picture's representation of an African-American stoker, referred to as "professor" because he's smarter than the others, however, is comparatively benign, if not enlightened, for being released in the same year as "Gone with the Wind" (1939). To top it off, an Oscar-nominated musical score helps maintain the claustrophobic tension.