THE ROAD TO SINGAPORE (1931)

Definitely not the Hope/Crosby comedy, but worth a viewing for fans of pre-Code movies. It's set in the fictional locale of Khota, which sounds African but seems to be somewhere in the British controlled Orient. William Powell is a cad (or a bounder or a scoundrel, take your very British pick) who returns to Khota after a scandal involving another man's wife; he is not welcomed with open arms by the very proper Brits who populate the ritzy social club, but despite his somewhat dissolute aura, he becomes a dashing figure of interest for two women: Doris Kenyon, the new wife of stuffy doctor Louis Calhern, and Marian Marsh, Calhern's young sister. When Powell first flirts, rather aggressively, with Kenyon, she rebuffs him, but after a few weeks of marriage to Calhern, who completely ignores her social and physical needs, Kenyon goes on the prowl for Powell. Meanwhile, Marsh, a restless virgin whose only potential boyfriend is a passive dolt, also sets her sights for Powell. It turns out that Powell is not quite the complete cad he's been painted: he turns Marsh down flat (in an amusing scene in which he basically "scares" her straight) and tries to make Kenyon understand what she's in for if the two enter into an affair. Calhern discovers the goings-on and heads to Powell's bungalow with a gun. The ending is a pleasant surprise which would not have been allowed under the later Production Code.

This is one of Powell's earliest sound movies and he's a bit more rakish and decadent than he was later--at times, he comes off more like Clark Gable (though without his scampish twinkle) than William Powell. The rest of the cast is fine, with Marsh especially fun. There are also two upper-class twits, one played by the flamboyant Tyrell Davis, who wander in and out of the scenes arguing mindlessly, in the manner of the Caldicott and Charters characters in THE LADY VANISHES. There is a wonderful long panning shot (done with some miniatures and at least two "hidden" cuts) in the middle of the movie, starting on the face of the lonely and frustrated Kenyon staring out at the hot night, and backing up through the trees and brush until we end on the face of Powell, also staring out in longing. Quite good, especially if your cup of tea is steamy tropical melodrama. [TCM]