Burma Convoy
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Noel M. Smith
Charles Bickford
Evelyn Ankers
Frank Albertson
Cecil Kellaway
Willie Fung
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In the Burmese boom town of Lashio, a convoy of ammunition is being loaded at the headquarters of the Southwest Trucking Co., under the direction of American Cliff Weldon and his friend, Smitty. After the trucks are loaded, Cliff, Smitty and hotel manager Ann McBragel go to the Burma Road Café, where Cliff has Smitty sing "Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair." Cliff then announces his resignation to his boss, Victor Harrison, and his plans to return to the safety of Kansas City and a job at an automobile garage. The convoy leaves that night, and is unsuccessfully attacked the next morning by a lone airplane. Cliff returns safely to Lashio from Chungking, only to discover that his younger brother Mike, an aviator, has arrived from Shanghai to join the convoy. Despite his brother's objections, Mike insists on staying in Burma, and the brothers are then later attacked by an Eurasian prowler trying to steal Mike's luggage. When Mike opens his luggage, he discovers that the bag is not his, as it contains instructions for a parachute attack on the Burma convoy. After Cliff convinces Mike to return to Kansas City with him, Ann agrees to go out with the two brothers for their final night in Lashio. While Cliff and Ann dance, Mike spots the Eurasian who attacked him. Mike tells Victor that he has found the thief, but is murdered before he can tell the man's whereabouts. Later, British magistrate Major Hart holds a meeting of the Burma Road transportation counsel, during which Cliff announces that he is staying in Lashio until he avenges the death of his brother. Ann tells Cliff that Mr. Yuchau, a new member of the transportation counsel, was supposedly on Mike's train. When they fail to gain any evidence against Yuchau, Cliff agrees to lead the next convoy to Chungking. Cliff and Ann then follow Yuchau to a warehouse, where they find Mike's murderer, dead. Yuchau then appears to be trying to kill them, so they rush to Major Hart's offices with a note written in Chinese that they have found. Cliff seeks out Victor to translate the note, only to have Ann discover that Yuchau is actually a Chinese agent who has been tracking the murdered Eurasian spy. In the meantime, Cliff discovers that his old boss is the actual spy. Before Cliff can apprehend Victor, however, one of the spy's henchmen knocks the trucker out. Victor then leads the convoy to Chungking, just as Cliff is discovered in Victor's closet. Major Hart and Cliff form a posse to go after the convoy, and Ann sneaks along. The posse catches up with the convoy just as a Chinese guerrilla parachute battalion captures it. They successfully attack the guerrillas, and Cliff kills Victor, much to the chagrin of Ann's father Angus, an insurance agent who had written a five hundred dollar policy on the spy. To Ann's delight, Cliff then announces that he is staying in Lashio and takes back his old job.
Director
Noel M. Smith
Cast
Charles Bickford
Evelyn Ankers
Frank Albertson
Cecil Kellaway
Willie Fung
Keye Luke
Turhan Bey
Truman Bradley
Ken Christy
C. Montague Shaw
Harry Stubbs
Chester Gan
Vyola Vonn
Eddie Lee
Dorothy Vaughan
Grace Lem
Dave Thursby
Duke York
Loo Loy
Crew
John W. Boyle
Bernard B. Brown
Roy Chanslor
Stephen Collins Foster
William Fox
R. A. Gausman
Marshall Grant
Frederick Hollander
Ted Kent
Frank Loesser
Martin Obzina
Jack Otterson
Jaik Rosenstein
Stanley Rubin
H. J. Salter
Gilbert Valle
Vera West
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was Halfway to Shanghai. The film is mistakenly referred to as Burma Cowboy in the Variety review. An additional song is featured in the film, although the title could not be determined. Most contemporary reviews point out that this was the first film to deal with the trucking lifeline along the Burma Road to China just prior to the outbreak of World War II. Motion Picture Herald Prod Digest notes that while the film deals with the "trucking of munitions along the Burma Road to the Chinese army under British direction and with some Americans participating in the proceedings, there is no dialogue reference to Japan, and the parachute troops who attempt to sabotage the convoy are identified as Chinese insurrectionists."
