Across the Pacific

Across the Pacific, directed by John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart, is an espionage film also featuring Sydney Greenstreet and Mary Astor. The film was originally built around a plot involving a real Japanese attack plan targeting Pearl Harbor, but after the actual Pearl Harbor attack occurred, the script was hastily rewritten to move the target to the Panama Canal instead (the title Across the Pacific stuck even though the Pacific never actually appears in the film). Huston was called up by the US Army halfway through filming and left mid-shoot, in a scene where Bogart is surrounded by armed guards; Vincent Sherman completed the film without receiving official credit. Who it's for: anyone curious about a World War II espionage film with an unusual production story, whose director was called up mid-shoot and left the film to be finished uncredited by someone else. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a story actually set in the Pacific based on the title, since the plot was rewritten at the last minute to be set in Panama instead.