clintlyle In his 1976 book CLAUDETTE COLBERT, film historian William Everson writes extensively about I COVER THE WATERFRONT, praising it as one of Colbert's best films and as containing one of her best performances. Everson's book was one in the series edited by Ted Sennett, THE PYRAMID ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE MOVIES.In discussing the movie, Everson references scenes which are not found in the 60 minute print in existence today. (Another reviewer states the original movie is 72 minutes long.) Here is an excerpt from Everson's text which refers to the missing scenes: ". . . there seem to be years of world-weariness compressed into the tone of Colbert's voice in her one line 'Who cares about tomorrow?' as she rolls over into the embrace of Ben Lyon, before an off-screen seduction. In the scene where she visits the bordello to collect her father, there's a wonderful combination of humor, resignation and the implication that this is a frequent procedure, when she good-naturedly says she'll wait for him, as he's still 'busy' upstairs. When she finds he's been 'rolled,' her mood changes to one of fury. Transformed into a fighting demon, she lashes out at his companion, retrieves the money, and then, as the floozie dissolves into tears, has a change of heart and peels off a bill for her. 'Here, I guess you've earned it!', is her exit line as she propels her father homeward." In the existing 60 minute version, I COVER THE WATERFRONT is a valuable piece of film history. How much more valuable it would be to have the missing scenes restored.

kidboots Reliance Pictures was an off shoot of Edward Small productions and was also responsible for some really interesting films ("Palooka" (1934), an excellent adaptation of the Joe Palooka comic strip with Jimmy Durante and "Let "em Have It" (1935), a dynamic story about a ruthless gangster played by Bruce Cabot) during it's short life. James Cruze was hired by Reliance to direct it's first film in 1933, "I Cover the Waterfront". Based loosely on the best selling expose by reporter Max Miller, the film combined lurid fact with fiction, sprinkled with chilling drama.When reporter Joe Miller (Ben Lyon) is called out to report on a nude bather (pretty risqué even for 1933!!) he meets Julie Kirk (Claudette Colbert) and realises her father is Eli Kirk, an old fisherman, who he has suspected for a long time is involved in a smuggling racket. He is - people smuggling!!!and he is cold blooded enough to think nothing of throwing a chinaman overboard when the customs officers get too close. The one person he loves unconditionally is his daughter Julie but she has suspected for a while that something is troubling her father. Miller starts to romance Julie - to see what she knows, but of course the inevitable happens and they fall in love.Claudette Colbert and Ben Lyon were the nominal stars but the real reason to watch is Ernest Torrence. He had always been a menacing villain ever since portraying the degenerate Luke Hatfield in "Tol'able David" (1921) but in this movie he really outdoes himself as the fearsome tobacco spitting killer, who will stop at nothing to avoid detection of his smuggling racket. An amazing story, according to "Human Monsters", involves a harpooning expedition, where several twenty foot sharks were caught for the scene in which illegal immigrants were hidden in the shark carcasses. Special breathing masks attached to snorkels enabled the Chinese extras to survive the scenes in which they are bound in chains, inside the sharks. "I Cover the Waterfront" also boasted a popular theme song, which became a jazz standard, covered by many artists, including Billie Holiday.Recommended.

classicsoncall Wow, where to start? Here's a real gem from the pre-Code days that touches on just about every controversial subject that the Hayes Commission took to task in print and film. It starts out with reporter Joe Miller (Ben Lyon) investigating a nude moonlight swim, leading to a highly risqué exchange between himself and Julie Kirk (Claudette Colbert), discreetly positioned behind a large boulder. From there, the story moves to Miller's work on a Chinese smuggling operation, using his connection to Miss Kirk to try and get the goods on her father, a crusty seaman who plies the ocean for all sorts of contraband.I have to say, I wasn't quite prepared for some of the scenes depicted in the story. When the Coast Guard moves in to get a closer look at Captain Eli's (Ernest Torrence) fishing boat, the Captain has his crew drop a shackled Chinese immigrant overboard! All part of the risk involved as Eli would explain. "The poor Chink tried pretty hard to get into the United States" is Miller's reaction, and to make his point, brings the body back to the City Editor's desk! What!!?? There's also the scene aboard the Santa Madre prison ship, where Miller playfully traps Julie in manacles and a neck restraint in a classic bondage scene. The only thing missing was a tattered leopard print dress for Colbert, which might have crossed someone's mind if it wasn't such a completely different genre.The scene that really had me jumping out of my seat though was the shark chase by Eli and Ortegus (Maurice Black) in the small fishing boat. That was just outrageous, especially when they harpooned the fish and it ran away with the boat! That segment for me was just about as frightening as the opening scene of "Jaws"; I mean, who would ever even think of making a living in an occupation with that kind of hazard? Then think about this for a minute - how do you convince a Chinese immigrant that he's got to crawl inside a shark to make it to shore? Did stuff like this really happen? Well if nothing else, this is a unique film, with all the noirish atmosphere you could ask for in a flick from the Thirties. Perhaps a bit too dark in spots, making it hard to follow the action, but when accentuated with that lonesome old foghorn in the distance, you've got just the right touch. Made to order for a dark and rainy night, as Claudette Colbert might suggest, watching from the comfort of a roaring fireplace.

jesswis For those who like "It Happened One Night", read = fans of great quotes, the boozer/ace/snoopy journalist flicks, or Claudette Colbert's big doe eyes, it's a must see film. Add to that the titillating and graphic aspects of the film, which was made only one year before the 1934 amendment of the Hayes motion picture production code* and you have a film or media history lover's paradise. I'm talking same-sex bed sharing, white people being restrained, graphic deaths, explicit techniques for breaking the law; the works. That's pretty much where the plot twists begin and end, but it's enough to keep a viewer, uh, captive. Anyway, the film is based on a book by a reporter who wrote about the shipping and fishing docks on the Pacific Ocean in the 1930s. There's unemployment and there's the black market; there's those who survive by any means necessary, and those who just sink for lack of work. And then there's journalistic integrity somewhere in the hazy mix.With an editor who won't leave him alone because the leads are constantly rolling in, wannabe investigative reporter Joe Miller (Ben Lyon) can't get a decent night's rest from his waterfront beat. Forced to cover everything from bootleggers to herring stench, mob arrests to nude swimmers, he's got no choice- he'd be out a job if he doesn't jump when the boss says so. His pantheon of sources, all characters, comes to include the daughter (Claudette Colbert at her sassy best)of his favorite mark for reporting: Eli Kirk, a kingpin of the docks and bootlegger extraordinaire. Seeing his in with Kirk's daughter, Julie, Miller dogs the seafarer, convinced he can pin him with illegal immigration of Chinese workers (whose lives are quickly extinguished by smugglers if the KGB-like Coast Guard should come their way, sirens blasting).Miller's editor, unlike the fish in whose bellies Kirk so often carries his bottles, doesn't bite, reminding his ace that he needs to prove it with facts, not hunches. So Miller sets out to use Julie, the captain's daughter, to prove it. Alas, as can be expected, love gets in the way. And he soon learns she may not bargain easily when it comes to her father. Will Miller be able to unearth the smugglers and get the girl or will he lose his editor's patience, steamy love affair, and his job in the process?The movie's got more life, wit, and zest in presenting determination and desperation by far than Grapes of Wrath (the movie). *From Wikipedia: 1934 changes to the CodeThe Motion Picture Association of America responded to criticism of the racy and violent films of the early 1930s by strengthening the code. An amendment to the code in June of 1934 prohibited any reference in a motion picture to illicit drugs, homosexuality, premarital sex, profanity, prostitution, and white slavery.