Across the Pacific

Director Vincent Sherman met with John Huston just before Huston left the project to join the United States Army Signal Corps to shoot documentaries for the war effort.

The two directors conferred just before they were about to shoot the scene in which Leland is trapped in the movie theatre and three assassins are trying to kill him.

"How does he get out?" Sherman asked. Huston replied, "That's your problem! I'm off to the war!"

Huston then went off to join the war effort before the film was finished, taking the film script with him, explaining "Bogie will know how to get out." The studio's solution to the problem was to discard Huston's footage of the impossible dilemma and write a new scenario. Sherman directed the final scenes.

The background for the opening titles is a map of the Panama Canal. The orientation of the map and the compass is correct, but the labeling of the map is incorrect. In fact, the Atlantic end of the canal and the city of Colon are at the upper left (Northwest), and the Pacific end of the canal and Panama City are at the lower right (Southeast). The map is correctly labeled behind the closing credits.

Also available in a computer colorized version.