Review of Atlantic Ferry (1941) by Lanning : — 11 Jan 2011

With a title this catchy -- and at 2:00 in the morning -- I would normally not be viewing this movie, but I'm home ill and have Turner running 24-hours a day as I drift in and out of fevered dreams.

I'm happy to say that I was lucid when this one came on this morning, because it is very good. Up front, I'm not quite as much a fan of the Redgrave clan as I am, say, of the Barrymore clan -- but the Redgraves definitely have clans like the Sheens and the Baldwins beat hands-down for talent, so I will watch them.

I was pleasantly surprised by Michael Redgrave in the romantic lead here, and I feel very fortunate to have been introduced to two actors, Valerie Hobson and Hartley Power, who were very impressive. If someone tried to convince me that a bio-docu-pic about the rise of steam ships over sail and the race to have speedier delivery of mail between England and the Americas would be worth seeing, I'd have thought, yeah, right.

But I'm here to tell you that this really is an interesting story -- although as is often the case with bio-docu-pics, I'm sure it's a bit fanciful.