China Girl

Taut, tight tale from a story by Darryl Zanuck. (He used the name "Melville Crossman" when scripting in later years.) Montgomery is an American in Mandalay just before the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. He's a freelance newsreel cameraman who falls in love with Tierney, a Chinese beauty with a stateside education and accent. Bari and McLaglen are in the employ of the Japanese and attempt to get Montgomery into their clutches. Montgomery has a book containing military information, hence he is pursued by the villains. We've seen this story before in various incarnations, but the script by Hecht takes it a cut above the usual, and Hathaway's direction adds a certain to...