This 1928 release shows just how long Hollywood as an Industry and Howard Hawks as an individual have been offering the public old plots in new screenplays. In 1924 Maxwell Anderson and Laurence Stallings had a Broadway hit with What Price Glory in which two doughboys, Sergeant Quirt and Captain Flagg, boozed, brawled and boffed their way through World War I in what was essentially a love-hate relationship. In 1926 Hollywood brought the play to the screen with Edmund Lowe as Quirt and Victor McGlaglen as Flagg. Although they are now called Spike Madden and Salami Victor McGlaglen and Robert Armstrong are essentially Flagg and Quirt in mufti, albeit that of Merchant seamen. The plot, such as it is has McGlaglen picking up girls in several ports only to find that each wears the 'brand' - in the shape of an anchor tattoo within a heart - of Armstrong's Salami and vowing to catch up with him. The phallic names of the two protagonists serve as indicators of the main thrust of the film and the recurring motif of Spike 'pulling' Salami's finger gives credence to co-star Louise Brooks' assertion that the film was really about two homos (her words). Hawks thought enough of the film to go as far as writing a script entitled When It's Hot Play It Cool in the mid 1970s (his last film was Rio Lobo in 1970) about a couple of oilmen touring the world but nothing came of it. Hawks was, of course, no stranger to recycling having in effect remade Mutiny On The Bounty as Red River, substituting a cattle drive for a sea voyage, both led by a martinet - Charles Laughton and John Wayne respectively - and both victims of mutinies led by Clark Gable and Monty Clift respectively. Hawks also remade The Front Page as His Girl Friday though this time he retained the newspaper format and the names of the main characters and for good measure he remade his own Ball Of Fire as A Song Is Born and Rio Bravo as El Dorado so he was hardly in a position to squawk when Peter Bogdanovich remade Hawks' Bringing Up Baby as What's Up, Doc. All this to one side A Girl In Every Port is an enjoyable romp and is notable as the first film in which Hawks employs one of his main themes, male bonding in a world in which women are little more than necessary evils.
12 Reviews
Men at sea with women.
allenrogerj14 December 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Begins with a massive factual error, explaining that Spike (McLaglen)is mate on a tramp steamer and then shows him on a sailing ship where he stays for the rest of the film. Going by the cast list, quite a few episodes have been lost; there are no scenes in Bombay or Liverpool and the characters mentioned at those places don't appear. As well as Brooks, whose whole acting method- if acting is what it is: she stands around looking very fetching in a tight wet swimsuit gazing quizzically at what happens around her while everyone else emotes and fights- is at odds with the other characters, it's worth watching as early example of the Howard Hawks emphasis on masculine buddies and friendship and rivalry expressed through their relationships with women. As you might expect, the film ends with our bruised and battered heroes drinking together and forgetting about women.
One girl stands out!
JohnHowardReid13 December 2014
Warning: Spoilers
And what girls they are! Louise Brooks in France, Sally Rand in Bombay, Myrna Loy in China, according to the credits. However, on a first viewing, I didn't catch Sally or Myrna at all. Fortunately, the late- entering but super-charismatic Louise Brooks still has a major role, even though director Howard Hawks seams more intent on allowing Victor McLaglen to hog the camera from start to finish – with an assist here, there and almost everywhere from Robert Armstrong. In all, a well- produced but minor comedy that depends largely on the audience appeal of McLaglen and – to a lesser extent – Armstrong. For me, a little of Victor M. goes a long way and if it wasn't for the presence of Louise, I would have given the Grapevine DVD (quite a good copy incidentally) into the hands of the first friend to ask for it.
Is This Really About Girls?
dreverativy30 December 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Louise Brooks certainly didn't think so - she thought it was about a pair of 'homos' (as she called them). Well maybe it is, and maybe it isn't. What is is, though, is a pretty average and lightly entertaining buddy story involving that great slab of gammon, Victor McLaglen (as Spike Madden) in the lead role, and a rather nervy Robert Armstrong (as Bill) as his antagonist and, eventually, firm friend.
McLaglen may be consistently outlandish, indeed almost a cartoon character, but he is never less than engaging and enjoyable. He meets his match in a brazen hussy (Louis Brooks, as Mlle. Godiva, or Tessie from Coney Island).
Howard Hawks keeps this film going at a breezy pace, and there are a few wild, Hawksian shots of a real life (four (?) masted) barque struggling through a heavy sea.
Hawks always had a fine eye for an alluring girl and we not only have Brooks but also Maria Casajuana, who electrifies the screen for a few moments (in a scene set in a bar in Rio de Janeiro). Unfortunately, I have never seen her in anything else. It also seems that he put Myrna Loy appeared in a scene set in Singapore, but this was not in the print that I saw in the National Film Theatre in London, as part of the short Louise Brooks season.
For some reason this film was very popular in Europe, and Brooks caught the eye of G. W. Pabst...and the rest is history. It also (much later, in the late 1950s) caught the eye of the great Henri Langlois of the Cinematheque Francaise (Hawks was very popular with French critics at the time), which led to the first postwar rediscovery of Brooks.
McLaglen may be consistently outlandish, indeed almost a cartoon character, but he is never less than engaging and enjoyable. He meets his match in a brazen hussy (Louis Brooks, as Mlle. Godiva, or Tessie from Coney Island).
Howard Hawks keeps this film going at a breezy pace, and there are a few wild, Hawksian shots of a real life (four (?) masted) barque struggling through a heavy sea.
Hawks always had a fine eye for an alluring girl and we not only have Brooks but also Maria Casajuana, who electrifies the screen for a few moments (in a scene set in a bar in Rio de Janeiro). Unfortunately, I have never seen her in anything else. It also seems that he put Myrna Loy appeared in a scene set in Singapore, but this was not in the print that I saw in the National Film Theatre in London, as part of the short Louise Brooks season.
For some reason this film was very popular in Europe, and Brooks caught the eye of G. W. Pabst...and the rest is history. It also (much later, in the late 1950s) caught the eye of the great Henri Langlois of the Cinematheque Francaise (Hawks was very popular with French critics at the time), which led to the first postwar rediscovery of Brooks.
Fisting and Vamping
Cineanalyst4 April 2021
An early directorial effort by Howard Hawks and one of the Hollywood pictures Louise Brooks starred in before becoming a movie legend by acting in two German, G. W. Pabst films, "A Girl in Every Port" also stars in the main roles a young Robert Armstrong (later a regular character actor, perhaps best known for playing the Jack Black role in the original "King Kong" (1933)) and a young Victor McLaglen, who somehow was the only one of the bunch to go onto to win a competitive Oscar ("The Informer" (1935)). Nuanced, McLaglen is not. Don't get me wrong, I love his later supporting roles in John Ford and John Wayne movies, especially "The Quiet Man" (1952), and, for the most part, "A Girl in Every Port" is just his kind of role. It's a "buddy" movie, or "bromance," with lots and lots of guys punching each other, and the way he approaches women like a Looney Tunes cartoon is kind of amusing in an eye-rolling sort of way. But, when the film's final act calls upon him for a couple scenes of dramatic acting, he tried, but it just wasn't in his repertoire.
Unfortunately, McLaglen's character is the protagonist, and much of the film follows him from port to port chasing women, only to discover that another sailor had already had them. Apparently, it's OK for women to share him, but not for other men to share the women he visits only whenever he's in town. Instead of sleeping with any of these women, he, instead, bumps into and gets into physical confrontations with other men. Eventually, McLaglen runs into this other sailor (Armstrong) and, of course, fists are thrown... and thrown some more. Through this male-bonding ritual, they become best pals. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this film is how homoerotic it is, while simultaneously being misogynistic, as well as jingoistic. In one scene, Armstrong's character repeatedly calls McLaglen away from a girl he's putting the moves on so that McLaglen will help him knock around other guys and to yank on Armstrong's fingers, which become disjoined, you know, from all the pounding. (Odd how Armstrong's character has supposedly had so many women, yet the film never shows him trying to seduce one.) The two also walk around on more than one occasion with their arms locked together.
After sailing together for some time, McLaglen decides he's made enough money to settle down. While his buddy is laid up with a toothache, McLaglen goes on land to discover Louise Brooks in a bathing suit. Naturally, he proposes on their first date that they settle down together. Little does he know, however-although we do from the moment Brooks' manager points the cash-heavy sap out to her-that she's a vamp. Brooks does well to steal a couple scenes, and, reportedly, she had enough presence here to gain the attention of filmmakers overseas. But, it's a rather cliched and thankless role, as she's eventually, literally tossed aside in favor of the film's central bromance.
Unfortunately, McLaglen's character is the protagonist, and much of the film follows him from port to port chasing women, only to discover that another sailor had already had them. Apparently, it's OK for women to share him, but not for other men to share the women he visits only whenever he's in town. Instead of sleeping with any of these women, he, instead, bumps into and gets into physical confrontations with other men. Eventually, McLaglen runs into this other sailor (Armstrong) and, of course, fists are thrown... and thrown some more. Through this male-bonding ritual, they become best pals. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this film is how homoerotic it is, while simultaneously being misogynistic, as well as jingoistic. In one scene, Armstrong's character repeatedly calls McLaglen away from a girl he's putting the moves on so that McLaglen will help him knock around other guys and to yank on Armstrong's fingers, which become disjoined, you know, from all the pounding. (Odd how Armstrong's character has supposedly had so many women, yet the film never shows him trying to seduce one.) The two also walk around on more than one occasion with their arms locked together.
After sailing together for some time, McLaglen decides he's made enough money to settle down. While his buddy is laid up with a toothache, McLaglen goes on land to discover Louise Brooks in a bathing suit. Naturally, he proposes on their first date that they settle down together. Little does he know, however-although we do from the moment Brooks' manager points the cash-heavy sap out to her-that she's a vamp. Brooks does well to steal a couple scenes, and, reportedly, she had enough presence here to gain the attention of filmmakers overseas. But, it's a rather cliched and thankless role, as she's eventually, literally tossed aside in favor of the film's central bromance.
A Girl in Every Port review
JoeytheBrit4 May 2020
Victor McLaglen and Robert Armstrong become best buddies after trying to beat the brains out of one another in this solid but unremarkable comedy from Howard Hawks. The delectable Louise Brooks is the scheming woman who threatens to come between them. Pabst hired Brooks for Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl after seeing her in this movie, and got so much more from her than Hawks does here.
The first real Hawks movie
davidmvining25 May 2021
This is quite the bromance from Howard Hawks. The tale of two men who connect through friendship more completely than they can with any romantic relationship with a woman. This is Hawks' first real movie that feels like a Hawks movie. This is his The Lodger, a solidly good silent film that presages what his future career would become.
Spike is a sailor going from port to port, packing up a ship at one and unloading it at the next. At every stop, he gets off to look for a woman in his little black book. The first stop is in Amsterdam, where he finds that the girl he had known now has several children and a husband, so he waves goodbye and crosses her name out of the book forever. The girl he looks for in Rio, he discovers has not been faithful to him either, and she carries a charm with her of a heart containing an anchor, the mark of another sailor. He grows livid, and when he gets to Panama, he runs into another sailor in a bar. Before they can get into a fight between themselves in the seedy bar, the guards show up and they decide to get into a fight with them instead. In prison the next day, Spike discovers that this other sailor, Bill, is the man who had given the charm away when he sees that the same symbol is in Bill's ring. With every intention of knocking out this man interfering with his lovemaking, Spike pays Bill's bail to get him out, wanders the streets of Panama City away from the police to try and start a fight without getting arrested again. In their search for a place to fight, the two end up bonding by throwing a guard into the water.
Spike and Bill are suddenly friends, and the path the two made to friendship is what really helps sell the film overall. I wrote in my review of Fig Leaves that one of the problems with silent films is the challenge of building specificity in characters. None of that issue is present in A Girl in Every Port. Spike and Bill are wonderfully drawn, complimenting each other as two manly men working the seven seas and backing each other and blocking each other in equal measure when it comes to women at port. They are a wonderful pair, and the movie's decision to spend the time actually building their relationship over the film's initial thirty minutes really helps sell the rest of the film.
After an amusing bit of Bill getting drunk and into fights that Spike must continually save him from while also trying to pick up a lady, Spike meets an exotic young circus performer while Bill remains on the ship with a toothache. Spike instantly falls in love with the beauty, even going so far as to offer her all of his saved money he wants to use to establish himself with a small house, for safe keeping only, of course, but when Bill finally meets the girl, Marie, he knows that she's nothing but trouble. They knew each other years back at Coney Island when she was his girl, and she even has his symbol tattooed on her arm (hidden by a band that Spike never sees). He knows she's going to take Spike for all he's worth, but how does Bill let Spike know? It would be one challenge if the girl was just some girl, but it's something else completely since Bill's mark is on her. How can Bill convince Spike of Marie's underhanded nature without turning Spike against himself?
That conflict, told lightly, balancing on a tone between drama and comedy rather deftly, is more than just a sitcom level issue with the ability to clear everything up with a single sentence. Bill can't just clear it up because to do so would possibly hurt his friend even more. This is where the actual character work and effort made to establish the two men's friendship pays off. It's easy to believe Bill's struggles, Spike's potential (and eventual) reaction to the reality around Marie. That it's done silently is actually fairly impressive as well.
The resolution involves two men finding their friendship to be more important than the affection of a dishonest woman. Two men who grew to love each other through their love of fighting and their job on board a sailing ship find that they can always count on each other. It's quite well done, perhaps leaning a bit more dramatically than it should at times but never far from an easy effort at a smile from the audience. A Girl in Every Port is an entertaining little gem of a find from early in Hawks' career.
Spike is a sailor going from port to port, packing up a ship at one and unloading it at the next. At every stop, he gets off to look for a woman in his little black book. The first stop is in Amsterdam, where he finds that the girl he had known now has several children and a husband, so he waves goodbye and crosses her name out of the book forever. The girl he looks for in Rio, he discovers has not been faithful to him either, and she carries a charm with her of a heart containing an anchor, the mark of another sailor. He grows livid, and when he gets to Panama, he runs into another sailor in a bar. Before they can get into a fight between themselves in the seedy bar, the guards show up and they decide to get into a fight with them instead. In prison the next day, Spike discovers that this other sailor, Bill, is the man who had given the charm away when he sees that the same symbol is in Bill's ring. With every intention of knocking out this man interfering with his lovemaking, Spike pays Bill's bail to get him out, wanders the streets of Panama City away from the police to try and start a fight without getting arrested again. In their search for a place to fight, the two end up bonding by throwing a guard into the water.
Spike and Bill are suddenly friends, and the path the two made to friendship is what really helps sell the film overall. I wrote in my review of Fig Leaves that one of the problems with silent films is the challenge of building specificity in characters. None of that issue is present in A Girl in Every Port. Spike and Bill are wonderfully drawn, complimenting each other as two manly men working the seven seas and backing each other and blocking each other in equal measure when it comes to women at port. They are a wonderful pair, and the movie's decision to spend the time actually building their relationship over the film's initial thirty minutes really helps sell the rest of the film.
After an amusing bit of Bill getting drunk and into fights that Spike must continually save him from while also trying to pick up a lady, Spike meets an exotic young circus performer while Bill remains on the ship with a toothache. Spike instantly falls in love with the beauty, even going so far as to offer her all of his saved money he wants to use to establish himself with a small house, for safe keeping only, of course, but when Bill finally meets the girl, Marie, he knows that she's nothing but trouble. They knew each other years back at Coney Island when she was his girl, and she even has his symbol tattooed on her arm (hidden by a band that Spike never sees). He knows she's going to take Spike for all he's worth, but how does Bill let Spike know? It would be one challenge if the girl was just some girl, but it's something else completely since Bill's mark is on her. How can Bill convince Spike of Marie's underhanded nature without turning Spike against himself?
That conflict, told lightly, balancing on a tone between drama and comedy rather deftly, is more than just a sitcom level issue with the ability to clear everything up with a single sentence. Bill can't just clear it up because to do so would possibly hurt his friend even more. This is where the actual character work and effort made to establish the two men's friendship pays off. It's easy to believe Bill's struggles, Spike's potential (and eventual) reaction to the reality around Marie. That it's done silently is actually fairly impressive as well.
The resolution involves two men finding their friendship to be more important than the affection of a dishonest woman. Two men who grew to love each other through their love of fighting and their job on board a sailing ship find that they can always count on each other. It's quite well done, perhaps leaning a bit more dramatically than it should at times but never far from an easy effort at a smile from the audience. A Girl in Every Port is an entertaining little gem of a find from early in Hawks' career.
Appealing in more ways than one
fredf19 July 2000
This is what we call today a "guy film" in which two buddies share everything from drinking bouts to bar room brawls to girls. An early effort by director Howard Hawks, the bar and fight sequences are fast, at times comical and always colorful.
Another interesting thing about the film is that we get a chance to see what ordinary people looked like in the 20's. Being about two sailors and their adventures ashore, we a shown a much more exotic world than we might see today. Take for example when one of our heroes picks up a Dutch girl, dressed in full traditional Dutch costume which was common at the time. From our modern view, we expect her to act like some old fashioned Dutch doll, but instead she acts like any other teenaged girl who is out on a date with a hunk. It is a reminder that people haven't changed that much.
Louise Brooks is another treat in the film. A very extraordinary personality, Louise is the center of attention whenever she is on screen. The sexual tension is highly electric in her scenes. It was because of this film that she was chosen for her famous role as Lulu in "Pandora's Box" where she would make cinema history. All in all, although the film is not one of the greats, it certainly has some great moments and is well worth seeing.
Another interesting thing about the film is that we get a chance to see what ordinary people looked like in the 20's. Being about two sailors and their adventures ashore, we a shown a much more exotic world than we might see today. Take for example when one of our heroes picks up a Dutch girl, dressed in full traditional Dutch costume which was common at the time. From our modern view, we expect her to act like some old fashioned Dutch doll, but instead she acts like any other teenaged girl who is out on a date with a hunk. It is a reminder that people haven't changed that much.
Louise Brooks is another treat in the film. A very extraordinary personality, Louise is the center of attention whenever she is on screen. The sexual tension is highly electric in her scenes. It was because of this film that she was chosen for her famous role as Lulu in "Pandora's Box" where she would make cinema history. All in all, although the film is not one of the greats, it certainly has some great moments and is well worth seeing.
All In All A Nice Movie
Louise-1413 August 1999
A Girl In Every Port is a nice comedy equiped with laughs, betrayal, lust and fighting. It is about two sailors and their adventures with women. As one character finds his girls being stolen leaving the infamous heart and anchor on all of his women. Love interest in this movie is Mam'selle Godiva/ Tessie, played by Louise Brooks. A circus diver she enters the film late in the movie. She fiens interest in one of the friends, trying to seduce the other. A predatory character, Tessie is a nice addition to this film. Which without could have become just another non-convincing comedy. I enjoyed this film mainly because of Brooks. All in all a nice movie.
First Hawks' Movie With Male Bonding Theme
springfieldrental29 April 2022
Howard Hawks had been called by film critic Leonard Maltin as "the greatest American director who is not a household name." His imprint in the early Golden Age of Hollywood is everywhere. His versatility in expertly handling all types of genres, from screwball comedies, to westerns, to film noirs, to even musicals, is all encompassing. Hawks played a huge influence on future film directors such as Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino and France's Jean-Luc Godard. The director's speciality, however, was movies about the friendly bonding of males, a concurrent theme in many of his films.
Beginning as a director in silent movies, his first movie containing the first traces of the Hawksian male trademark is February 1928's "A Girl In Every Port." Hawks wrote the story that the film's screenplay was based. It details a sailor, Spike (Victor McLaglen), who has a girlfriend in every port where his schooner docks at. Trouble brews when he discovers another sailor, Salami (Robert Armstrong), has coincidentally swept every girlfriend of his off their feet, leaving each of them a distinctive heart-shaped charm with an anchor inside. Spike finally catches up to Salami, and they duke it out. Using a similar set-up by the play and the movie "What Price Glory?" Hawks' story has the two adversaries ultimately forming a close bond-that is until Marie (Louise Brooks) enters the scene, stealing Spike (and his money) away from Salami. Film historians cite "A Girl In Every Port" as the first time in the director's oeuvre where his male characters feel friendship is more important than a relationship with a women. In this movie, Louise Brooks plays a conniving thief who is out to steal every penny from the gullible Spike.
An avid tennis player as a youth (he won the United States Junior Tennis Championship), Hawks joined the Aviation Section of the U. S. Signal Corps during World War One teaching untrained pilots how to fly. Living in Pasadena, California, after the war, he had worked summer jobs at film studios. His first employment was as a prop boy for Douglas Fairbanks films. Working alongside the actor, Mary Pickford and Cecil B. DeMille, Hawks secured a position at Paramount Pictures as a Production Editor and script writer. In 1925, Hawks was offered to direct films at Fox Films, with "A Girl In Every Port" his fifth movie.
The 21-year-old actress Louise Brooks' career took a giant leap forward in her role as Marie. Soon after "A Girl In Every Port" was released, German director G. W Pabst spotted her on the screen and felt she would be perfect for what turned out to be her defining role, 1929's "Pandora's Box." This Hawks film and her next appearance in "Beggars In Life" solidified Brooks' reputation as one of the more talented rising new stars in cinema.
Beginning as a director in silent movies, his first movie containing the first traces of the Hawksian male trademark is February 1928's "A Girl In Every Port." Hawks wrote the story that the film's screenplay was based. It details a sailor, Spike (Victor McLaglen), who has a girlfriend in every port where his schooner docks at. Trouble brews when he discovers another sailor, Salami (Robert Armstrong), has coincidentally swept every girlfriend of his off their feet, leaving each of them a distinctive heart-shaped charm with an anchor inside. Spike finally catches up to Salami, and they duke it out. Using a similar set-up by the play and the movie "What Price Glory?" Hawks' story has the two adversaries ultimately forming a close bond-that is until Marie (Louise Brooks) enters the scene, stealing Spike (and his money) away from Salami. Film historians cite "A Girl In Every Port" as the first time in the director's oeuvre where his male characters feel friendship is more important than a relationship with a women. In this movie, Louise Brooks plays a conniving thief who is out to steal every penny from the gullible Spike.
An avid tennis player as a youth (he won the United States Junior Tennis Championship), Hawks joined the Aviation Section of the U. S. Signal Corps during World War One teaching untrained pilots how to fly. Living in Pasadena, California, after the war, he had worked summer jobs at film studios. His first employment was as a prop boy for Douglas Fairbanks films. Working alongside the actor, Mary Pickford and Cecil B. DeMille, Hawks secured a position at Paramount Pictures as a Production Editor and script writer. In 1925, Hawks was offered to direct films at Fox Films, with "A Girl In Every Port" his fifth movie.
The 21-year-old actress Louise Brooks' career took a giant leap forward in her role as Marie. Soon after "A Girl In Every Port" was released, German director G. W Pabst spotted her on the screen and felt she would be perfect for what turned out to be her defining role, 1929's "Pandora's Box." This Hawks film and her next appearance in "Beggars In Life" solidified Brooks' reputation as one of the more talented rising new stars in cinema.
Typical buddy movie (almost gay by modern standards)
bbmtwist21 May 2017
The only reason this fllm seems to garner attention is due to Louise Brooks in the final segment. She is attractive enough but displaying little dramatic talent, just a show piece that any woman, actress or not, could have provided the film makers.
I am among those who just 'don't get" Louise Brooks, and I guess I will die unchanged. Nothing special at all in my book. She just had a "look," but no talent.
A buddy movie, that could be termed gay "but without any sex," just camaraderie devoid of the influence of the female.
I am among those who just 'don't get" Louise Brooks, and I guess I will die unchanged. Nothing special at all in my book. She just had a "look," but no talent.
A buddy movie, that could be termed gay "but without any sex," just camaraderie devoid of the influence of the female.
Fun and smartly made, if a little less than perfect
I_Ailurophile3 August 2023
It never ceases to amaze how, excepting rare instances, silent films often manage to be delightfully charming even if they don't immediately make a major impression. It helps the case of this one to be an early picture of iconic filmmaker Howard Hawks, one of the few surviving works of silent legend Louise Brooks, and moreover, a Fox Films production that wasn't consumed in the tragic vault fire of 1937. Setting aside the participants this may not be a feature that entirely stands out on its own - yet while perhaps not an absolute revelation, it's very ably made and solidly enjoyable, and a fine credit to all involved. 'A girl in every port' may not be a total must-see, but it's a fantastic classic on its own merits, and well worth checking out if one has the chance.
The writers give us a cheeky story of a womanizing lout cruising through various ports, coming into conflict with a fellow seaman who has the same habits, and ultimately finding brotherhood with him and further adventures. For all the social issues and other more serious notions that one could drum up as related points of discussion, the scenario is strictly played for comedy, and that pure intent makes it a good deal of fun from start to finish. The underlying story is solid and engaging in and of itself, but even more important in this case I think is the strong scene writing that gives us flavorful humor and apt guidelines for the actors, marked all the while with just the right measure of heart to help it to stick. Victor McLaglen and Robert Armstrong lead the cast with terrific performances of glad mirth and commendable expressiveness, and it's honestly a joy just to see them play around. One is rather inclined to think they didn't really need any instruction from Hawks to achieve such gay frivolity (and tinges of sincerity), but let there be no doubt that the man's direction is also wholly superb. Every shot and scene is orchestrated with a buzzing energy, not to mention frolicsome vitality, that squeezes every possible ounce of merriment out of every small moment. In fact, while I can hardly claim as of yet to have seen everything the director made, as far as I'm concerned this easily stands shoulder to shoulder with some of his best.
That excellence absolutely extends to cinematographers Rudolph J. Bergquist and L. William O'Connell, whose contributions reflect an active, dynamic mindfulness exceeding what one broadly associates with the silent era. Some shots in 'A girl in every port' are downright brilliant, for that matter, reflecting not just the gay spirit of the proceedings but an artistry that can't be said of all like fare. Those stunts and effects that are employed come off great, and even details like costume design, hair, and makeup are lovely. The production design and at direction, too, are just dandy, lending to the chipper tenor of the title and further demonstrating just how much skill, intelligence, and care went into it. And I hardly even need say how pleased I am to see Brooks here; she was a performer who was ahead of her time in some ways, particularly in the delicate nuance of her acting, and every opportunity to see her on the Silver Screen is a blessing.
There arguably comes a point in the latter half where the tone somewhat shifts, and the revels are traded in for more story-driven beats in a manner that feels imbalanced; as a consequence the picture might be uneven to some degree. More distinctly irksome, perhaps, is how the ending is a tad too neat and tidy, coming off a bit as Movie Magic more than earnest storytelling. But even at that, at large it's so tremendously smart in its craft, in every capacity - writing, direction, acting, all the work of those behind the scenes - that it forges ahead through the marginal roughness and is all-around stupendously entertaining. To the extent that this is less than perfect, the imperfections are minor.
Flawless it is not, yet while I certainly anticipated liking this when I sat to watch, still I'm taken with just how good it is. Every last trace of the feature conjured and assembled with welcome wit and thoughtfulness, and with a mind only for giving audiences a good time. That goal was very capably met, and between Hawks, McLaglen, and Armstrong, let alone Brooks or anyone else on hand, I don't know who deserves the most credit for its success. One way or another this remains an admirable slice of cinema past, and though as a matter of personal preference it may not appeal equally to all, I'd have no qualms recommending it to just about anyone. Suggested especially for fans of the era, or of those involved, 'A girl in every port' holds up well even more than ninety years later, and is well worth the time it takes to watch.
The writers give us a cheeky story of a womanizing lout cruising through various ports, coming into conflict with a fellow seaman who has the same habits, and ultimately finding brotherhood with him and further adventures. For all the social issues and other more serious notions that one could drum up as related points of discussion, the scenario is strictly played for comedy, and that pure intent makes it a good deal of fun from start to finish. The underlying story is solid and engaging in and of itself, but even more important in this case I think is the strong scene writing that gives us flavorful humor and apt guidelines for the actors, marked all the while with just the right measure of heart to help it to stick. Victor McLaglen and Robert Armstrong lead the cast with terrific performances of glad mirth and commendable expressiveness, and it's honestly a joy just to see them play around. One is rather inclined to think they didn't really need any instruction from Hawks to achieve such gay frivolity (and tinges of sincerity), but let there be no doubt that the man's direction is also wholly superb. Every shot and scene is orchestrated with a buzzing energy, not to mention frolicsome vitality, that squeezes every possible ounce of merriment out of every small moment. In fact, while I can hardly claim as of yet to have seen everything the director made, as far as I'm concerned this easily stands shoulder to shoulder with some of his best.
That excellence absolutely extends to cinematographers Rudolph J. Bergquist and L. William O'Connell, whose contributions reflect an active, dynamic mindfulness exceeding what one broadly associates with the silent era. Some shots in 'A girl in every port' are downright brilliant, for that matter, reflecting not just the gay spirit of the proceedings but an artistry that can't be said of all like fare. Those stunts and effects that are employed come off great, and even details like costume design, hair, and makeup are lovely. The production design and at direction, too, are just dandy, lending to the chipper tenor of the title and further demonstrating just how much skill, intelligence, and care went into it. And I hardly even need say how pleased I am to see Brooks here; she was a performer who was ahead of her time in some ways, particularly in the delicate nuance of her acting, and every opportunity to see her on the Silver Screen is a blessing.
There arguably comes a point in the latter half where the tone somewhat shifts, and the revels are traded in for more story-driven beats in a manner that feels imbalanced; as a consequence the picture might be uneven to some degree. More distinctly irksome, perhaps, is how the ending is a tad too neat and tidy, coming off a bit as Movie Magic more than earnest storytelling. But even at that, at large it's so tremendously smart in its craft, in every capacity - writing, direction, acting, all the work of those behind the scenes - that it forges ahead through the marginal roughness and is all-around stupendously entertaining. To the extent that this is less than perfect, the imperfections are minor.
Flawless it is not, yet while I certainly anticipated liking this when I sat to watch, still I'm taken with just how good it is. Every last trace of the feature conjured and assembled with welcome wit and thoughtfulness, and with a mind only for giving audiences a good time. That goal was very capably met, and between Hawks, McLaglen, and Armstrong, let alone Brooks or anyone else on hand, I don't know who deserves the most credit for its success. One way or another this remains an admirable slice of cinema past, and though as a matter of personal preference it may not appeal equally to all, I'd have no qualms recommending it to just about anyone. Suggested especially for fans of the era, or of those involved, 'A girl in every port' holds up well even more than ninety years later, and is well worth the time it takes to watch.
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