“One of the best filmed love stories of all time, the sublime One Way Passage is simply one of the great pleasures of life.” – Pre-Code.com

A tragic love story told with the lightest, most life-fulfilling touch, One Way Passage is one of the most immaculate delights in Pre-Code cinema. The Thin Man‘s William Powell stars as a charming jailbird on the run from the gallows, while the effervescent Kay Francis is a terminally ill woman clinging to the last sparks of life—and doing it in style in a succession of glimmering Orry-Kelly gowns! The two meet over Paradise cocktails in Hong Kong and fall in love aboard a transpacific ocean liner bound for San Francisco. What sounds on paper like a tearjerker is, in director Tay Garnett’s hands, a boozy, bubbly comedy featuring a sloppy drunkard (Frank McHugh), a fake countess (Aline MacMahon), a lovestruck policeman (Warren Hymer), and a seemingly endless supply of potent potables. The last of seven features Powell and Francis made together, One Way Passage is pure delight and an essential entry in our August-long “I’m On a Boat” series.

Plus we’re delighted to bring you a bonus nautical treat before the feature, the classic Walt Disney short Steamboat Willie featuring [generic public domain rodent creature]!