Edgar Allan Pooh . . . and others that you'd just as soon forget. When you start out NOW, VOYAGER, you do not want to wind up as TOPPER. This is why ONE WAY PASSAGE may not be everyone's cup of Koolaid. (It's bad enough to spend an hour with a DEAD MAN WALKING, but it adds in salt to injury if the nun's also on her last legs!) However, such griping from casual viewers does not detract from Warner Bros. true topical intent with ONE WAY PASSAGE. The affair here between "Don" and "Joan" is alcohol-fueled from start to finish, right through to their graves and beyond. In Real Life, America was "Dry" under Prohibition when ONE WAY PASSAGE was filmed, and drunken driving deaths were at an all-time low. IF the USA goes through with a Repeal and becomes awash with booze once again, Warner Bros. courageously warns here, it will mean a ONE WAY PASSAGE for literally MILLIONS of citizens into Eternity. Since half of those slaughtered on the highways are Innocent Tea-Totallers--including thousands of babies and children under age 12--each and every viewer must look into their hearts, Warner exhorts, and ask "Do we REALLY want to support such a ONE WAY PASSAGE?"

SnoopyStyle It's love at first sight for Dan Hardesty (William Powell) and Joan Ames (Kay Francis) as they bump into each other at a Hong Kong bar. Police detective Steve Burke catches up to Dan and takes him into custody. They are taking the boat to San Francisco. Dan pulls them both overboard but rescues the drowning detective. They joined by Joan, drunken petty thief Skippy, and con artist Betty who is pretending to be a countess. Joan doesn't know that Dan faces a death sentence and he doesn't know that she's terminally ill.The only thing holding this back from unreserved love is why Steve is after Dan. It needs an opening of what happened in the original incident to exonerate him in the audience's eyes. The fact that he saved the detective from drowning already points to his goodness. It would be better to have something more definitive. Skippy's little scams are loads of fun. He's great comic relief. Powell is charming as heck. This is a fine rom-com with a dark edge.

grantss Overly schmaltzy, but works, just.A ship bound to San Francisco from Hong Kong has some interesting passengers. One of them is a convicted criminal, being escorted back to California by a policeman. Another is a sickly heiress. The criminal and the heiress meet and fall in love. Cue romance, and a tough choice...It's the intrigue that makes this story watchable. The romance is of your usual conventional soppy variety, so really nothing to write about there, except that it does influence the criminal's actions (adversely, I might add). Decent performances by William Powell and Kay Francis in the lead roles. The policeman, played by Warren Hymer, is quite one- dimensional, however. Even worse is Frank McHugh as the drunk: very hammy and irritating. He does provide the best scene of the movie, however. The mirror scene was Chaplinesque in its hilarity.

GManfred "One Way Passage" is an old-fashioned love story of the kind they don't make anymore. Too sentimental, too much human feeling for today's cold, unfeeling world. People don't connect the way that William Powell and Kay Francis do here in 2011, and I'm willing to bet what passes for love nowadays is not nearly as romantic, for lack of a better word.Two doomed people meet in a crowded bar in Hong Kong, and in a good opening scene. A trio is singing, "If I Had My Way", and our two principals are at the American section of the bar. Neither is aware of the fate of the other but their fortunes immediately take a turn for the worse, culminating in the sad, lovely ending of the picture.Kay Francis is as feminine as ever, Powell never more debonair. They are supported by Aline McMahon and Frank McHugh and the film that unfolds is by turns humorous and heartbreaking. McHugh supplies the humor but his portrayal of a drunken conman is one-note and almost grating. Aline McMahon never gives a bad performance and does not disappoint here.This is a nice old movie that, as mentioned, would not be received well if made today. Too much substance and not enough form.