Pacific Blackout
Cast & Crew
Ralph Murphy
Robert Preston
Martha O'driscoll
Philip Merivale
Eva Gabor
Louis Jean Heydt
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
On the eve of the United States entry into World War II, civilian defense organizations are set up in Pacific coast cities. As one city prepares for a practice blackout, mechanical engineer Robert Draper is tried for the murder of his partner, with whom he invented an anti-aircraft device. Robert is found guilty and sentenced to execution; however, the blackout occurs just as a police truck is transporting him to prison, and when the truck crashes, Robert escapes. In the park he encounters Mary, a beautiful young woman who sympathizes with his plight and tries to help him get rid of his handcuffs. Mary remains with Robert even when he checks into a hotel and calls his friend, John Ronnel, for help. Ronnel, who acted as a character witness at Robert's trial, actually framed him, and now contacts the police and informs them of Robert's location. He then contacts Marie Duval, a nightclub singer who is in on the frame-up. Although Robert and Mary escape from the police, they are then commandeered by a group of enthusiastic civilian defense volunteers, who are operating a mock-hospital in a shelter as part of the blackout procedure. A pickpocket helps Robert release the handcuffs, and Mary, who is deemed "dead," is separated from Robert when she is carried by stretcher into the street. She sneaks away to the Cascade Club, where she confronts Duval, who reveals nothing. Mary decides to wait in the club, but after she leaves Duval, Ronnel emerges from his hiding place in her dressing room and kills the singer because she can identify him as the murderer. Robert goes to the club and then heads to the anti-aircraft division with Mary after discovering the division's phone number with Duval's body. There, Robert forces a confession out of Harold Kermin, who admits that he and Ronnel caused Robert's range finder to fail its test with the army so that they could sell the device to the enemy. Kermin also informs him that the base's munitions plant is going to be bombed that night by its own personnel because he and Ronnel exchanged the fake bombs for real ones. Mary, who is a telephone operator, had her co-worker and boss listen in to the confession by phone, and after they call the police, Kermin is arrested and Robert is taken into custody by the commanding officer of the base. All bombers flying test missions over the blackout area are recalled, but when bomber K-64 does not respond, Robert signals the crew by searchlight just in time so that they do not carry out their mission. With the end of the air raid, Ronnel is arrested for two murders, and Robert, now free, kisses Mary, with whom he has fallen in love.
Director
Ralph Murphy
Cast
Robert Preston
Martha O'driscoll
Philip Merivale
Eva Gabor
Louis Jean Heydt
Thurston Hall
Mary Treen
J. Edward Bromberg
Spencer Charters
Cy Kendall
Russell Hicks
Paul Stanton
Clem Bevans
Robert Emmett Keane
Edwin Maxwell
Rod Cameron
George Melford
Jessie Perry
Wade Boteler
Archie Twitchell
Kernan Cripps
Al Hill
Ed Peil Sr.
Bud Geary
Charles Hamilton
Peter Leeds
Stanley Blystone
Ted Oliver
John Sheehan
Edward Hearn
Frank Wayne
Fred A. Kelsey
Lee Shumway
Lee Phelps
Dick Rush
Ralph Dunn
James Farley
Robert Homans
John Hamilton
Charles Mcavoy
George Lloyd
George Eldredge
Robert Winkler
Harry Harvey Jr.
Sammy Mckim
Ralph Peters
George Turner
Richard Webb
Addison Randall
Keith Richards
Jack Egan
Harry Strang
George Magrill
Rose Plumer
Jack Norton
Nora Lane
Warren Ashe
Wallis Clark
Paul Mcvey
Margaret Armstrong
Art Yeoman
Fred Stanley
Frank Moran
Alaine Brandes
Jack Roberts
Howard Mitchell
Francis Sayles
Monte Blue
Len Hendry
Eddie Kane
Jack Chapin
Edward Earle
Sam Ash
Martin Faust
Frank O'connor
Jack Luden
William Cabanne
Pat Mcveigh
John Kellogg
Arthur Stuart Hull
Walter Shumway
Laurie Douglas
Eleanor Stewart
Gladden James
Louise Laplanche
Julia Faye
Gloria Williams
Betty Farrington
Henry Roquemore
Crew
Franz Bachelin
Gerard Carbonara
Hoagy Carmichael
Lester Cole
Hans Dreier
Burt Kelly
Harry Lindgren
W. P. Lipscomb
Helen Meinardi
Richard Olson
Thomas Scott
Curt Siodmak
Theodor Sparkuhl
Franz Spencer
Frederick Spencer
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The film opens with the following written prologue: "This is not a documentary film. Any resemblance to characters, living or dead, is purely accidental. The scenes depicting activity during a blackout are also imaginary, and do not attempt to be technically correct, nor to reflect accurately the official rules and regulations of the office of civilian defense." The film's working title was Air Raid, and it was reviewed as Midnight Angel before the title was changed to Pacific Blackout following the entrance of the U.S. into World War II. According to various early news items, the original story was purchased in April 1938; Olympe Bradna, Patricia Morison, Preston Foster, Madeleine Carroll and Fred MacMurray were considered for starring roles; Walter Ferris and F. Scott Fitzgerald were signed to write the script; Edward H. Griffith was to direct; and Jeff Lazarus was to produce this film. Box Office notes that footage from the 1941 Paramount film I Wanted Wings was used in this film.
