Review of Blood Alley

Captain Tom Wilder (John Wayne), languishing in a southern Chinese Communist prison and kept sane by his imaginary girlfriend "Baby," is freed from his jailers by a bribe raised by the efforts of local villagers. There is a price. As an experienced sea captain, Wilder is expected to convey the 180 villagers 300 miles down Blood Alley (really the Pearl River or Zhu Jiang: just check a map) to the safety of Hong Kong so that they may escape the machinations of the brutal Chinese Communists. Wilder is initially reluctant: His ship is just an old ferryboat (1885), and he has no maps or charts to navigate a river that has many boat wrecks. The ferryboat is flat-bottomed and reaches a grand total of 8 knots (nautical miles per hour). And yet Wilder is intrigued by the opportunity to outwit the Reds. Time is short, as the ruthless Communist soldiers, searching for Wilder, are terrorizing the villagers. After a trick that ensnares the Communist patrol boat on a high riverbed, Wayne and his passengers are soon on their way down river. Wilder is accompanied by a doctor's daughter, Cathy Grainger (Lauren Bacall), fellow-escapee and love interest. Along the way are many obstacles: gunboats, stormy weather, mutiny, poisoned food, etc. There is a final escape through shallow water aided by a human tow. Through it all you just knew that Wilder would see things through in the end. After all, even though there were over 600 million Chinese, they did not stand a chance against the Duke. Colorful and Entertaining.