THE ROAD TO SINGAPORE

 

This is not a Bob Hope-Bing Crosby comedy. It's a 1931 Warner Bros. melodrama, directed by Alfred E. Green. I discovered it on the HBO Max streaming service, of all places. 

Before he even shows up in the film, Hugh Dawltry (William Powell) is described as "a bounder". The suave Dawltry lives on a plantation near a village called Khota, located somewhere in Southeast Asia. The group of upper-class Brits who reside there consider Dawltry an outcast. Hugh develops an interest in Philippa March (Doris Kenyon), the frustrated new wife of a disagreeable doctor (Louis Calhern). The doctor's 18 year old sister (Marian Marsh) also has a huge crush on the mysterious Dawltry. The slippery Hugh manages to deal with his problems in his own way. 

THE ROAD TO SINGAPORE is a rather low-key story that owes much to the smooth presence of William Powell. As Dawltry, Powell spends most of the film wearing fashionable suits and imbibing alcohol. The ladies in the British colony of Khota find him fascinating, while the men can't stand him. Dawltry apparently has plenty of money (he doesn't actually work), but other than his supposedly bad reputation, the viewer never learns all that much about him. 

Doris Kenyon (an actress I'm not familiar with) is the bored wife who yearns for Powell. She's all right in the role, but I was far more interested in the ultra-cute Marian Marsh, who brings some much-needed brightness in her attempts to get Hugh Dawltry's attention. It's fun to watch Marsh try and vamp an amused Powell. 

The rest of the characters are stuffy, arrogant Brits who don't have much to do other than spend time at the local club. Actually the lead characters don't do much more than that either--Doris Kenyon is constantly lounging about, fanning herself from the heat and looking miserable. The only natives that are shown are inconsequential servants. 

The movie is very much like a stage play, except for one notable SVENGALI-like shot. It's a camera movement that starts out with a closeup of Doris Kenyon looking out the window of her house, sweeps across a miniature outdoor set, and winds up on a close-up of William Powell looking out his window. 

The main Pre-Code elements here are a scene where Marian Marsh and Doris Kenyon are dressed only in lingerie and stockings, and the ending, which probably wouldn't have passed muster if the film was made later in the decade. The real reasons to watch THE ROAD TO SINGAPORE are William Powell and Marian Marsh.