''To the Ends of the Earth'' is a 1948 American

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

film directed by Robert Stevenson and starring Dick Powell and

Signe Hasso Signe Eleonora Cecilia Hasso (''née'' Larsson; 15 August 1915 – 7 June 2002) was a Swedish actress, writer, and composer. Biography Hasso was born in the Kungsholmen parish of Stockholm, Sweden in 1915. Her father and grandfather died when s ...

Plot

In 1935, United States Narcotics Agent Michael Barrows (Powell) is assigned to find an unidentified freighter suspected of smuggling drugs. When he and the

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...

spot it along the California coast, they give chase. Barrows watches helplessly through binoculars as the freighter captain has about a hundred chained slave laborers thrown overboard to drown. The ship escapes by passing beyond the 12-mile limit and entering

international waters The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed region ...

. Horrified by what he has seen, Barrows determines to smash the narcotics ring – traveling "to the ends of the Earth" if need be – without first clearing it with his boss, Commissioner H. J. Anslinger (played by the real

Harry J. Anslinger Harry Jacob Anslinger (May 20, 1892 – November 14, 1975) was a United States government official who served as the first commissioner of the U.S. Treasury Department's Federal Bureau of Narcotics during the presidencies of Herbert Hoover, ...

). The trail leads him to Shanghai, where his Chinese counterpart, Commissioner Lum Chi Chow (

Vladimir Sokoloff Vladimir Aleksandrovich Sokoloff (russian: Влади́мир Алекса́ндрович Соколо́в; December 26, 1889 – February 15, 1962) was a Russian-American character actor of stage and screen. After studying theatre in Moscow, ...

), has obtained information from a dying man. The man had escaped from a slave labor gang growing

poppies Poppies can refer to: *Poppy, a flowering plant * The Poppies (disambiguation) - multiple uses *'' Poppies (film)'' - Children's BBC remembrance animation *"Poppies", a song by Patti Smith Group from their 1976 album '' Radio Ethiopia'' *"Poppies", ...

somewhere in Egypt. Lum Chi Chow believes that once the poppies are harvested within the next few days, they will be smuggled into Shanghai for final processing. Suspicion falls on Nicholas Sokim (

Ludwig Donath Ludwig Donath (6 March 1900 – 29 September 1967), was an Austrian actor who appeared in many American films. Life Born to a Jewish family, Donath graduated from Vienna's Academy of Dramatic Art and became a prominent actor on the stage i ...

), as he has a criminal record, but he claims to have been out of the drug business for many years. During his investigation, Barrows meets recent widow Ann Grant (

), who is preparing to send orphan Chinese teenager Shu Pan Wu ( Maylia) to the safety of the United States. When a drug processing lab is discovered beneath Sokim's business, Sokim commits suicide. With time running out, and the trail going cold, Barrows travels to Egypt to search for the hidden poppy fields. There, he teams up with British Commissioner Lionel Hadley (an uncredited

Vernon Steele Vernon Steele (born Arturo Romeo Antonietti; 18 September 1882 – 23 July 1955) was a Chilean-born British actor known for his appearances on the Broadway stage and in American films. He often played patrician young men in silent films. Steele ...

) and French Commissioner Lariesier (Marcel Journet). They managed to locate the poppy fields on land belonging to Binda Sha (

Fritz Leiber Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. ( ; December 24, 1910 – September 5, 1992) was an American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theater and films, playwright, and chess expert. With writers such as Rober ...

). Barrows is disturbed to learn that the irrigation system for the fields was set up by Ann Grant's late engineer husband. When Binda Sha realizes he has been caught, he throws himself off a cliff to his death. Meanwhile, the unprocessed drugs are smuggled to

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

in the stomachs of camels. The camels are slaughtered and the drugs retrieved. An alert agent spots them being transferred to innocent-looking butter containers sent aboard a ship bound for New York via Havana under the watchful eye of Naftalie Vrandstadter (an uncredited

Ivan Triesault Ivan Triesault (born Johann Constantin Treisalt; in Reval (now Tallinn) – January 3, 1980 in Los Angeles) was an Estonian-American actor. His parents were from the island of Hiiumaa. Life His first stage appearance was at the German Theat ...

). Barrows boards the ship and once again encounters Ann Grant and Shu Pan Wu; the latter seems to have developed a schoolgirl crush for him. As they near New York, the drugs disappear under cover of a fire, despite the vigilance of Barrows' planted agents. Barrows figures out that they were thrown overboard attached to weights. The ropes are treated so that they will part after a certain time, allowing the drugs to resurface and be picked up. Barrows summons the Coast Guard, who capture the drug ring's boat and the drugs. He takes the recovered packages and heads to shore with Ann and Shu Pan Wu. Shu Pan Wu steals a revolver and orders the crew to sail to a different location. When Barrows advances on her, she shoots him without hesitation, however, the gun is loaded with blanks, as the treasury agent had grown suspicious of her. Shu Pan Wu turns out to be the adult leader of the ring.

Cast

* Dick Powell as Commissioner Michael Barrows *

as Ann Grant * Maylia as Shu Pan Wu *

as Nicholas Sokim *

as Commissioner Lum Chi Chow *

Edgar Barrier Edgar Barrier (March 4, 1907 – June 20, 1964) was an American actor who appeared on radio, stage, and screen. In the 1930s he was a member of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre and was one of several actors who played Simon Templar on '' The Saint'' ...

as Grieg *

John Hoyt John Hoyt (born John McArthur Hoysradt; October 5, 1905 – September 15, 1991) was an American actor. He began his acting career on Broadway, later appearing in numerous films and television series. He is perhaps best known for his film and TV ...

as Bennett * Marcel Journet as Commissioner Lariesier *

Luis Van Rooten Luis d'Antin van Rooten (November 29, 1906 – June 17, 1973) was a Mexican-born American actor. He was sometimes credited as Louis Van Rooten. Van Rooten was born in Mexico City, Mexico, and emigrated to the United States with his parents when ...

as Alberto Berado *

as Binda Sha * Michael Raffetto – Professor Salim (uncredited)

Reception

When first released Thomas M. Pyror of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' gave the film a mixed review, and wrote, "''To the Ends of the Earth,'' for all the journalistic austerity of its introductory sequences inside the narcotics division of the Treasury Department and at the United Nations council table in Lake Success, is predominantly a cops-and-robbers tale that relies too heavily on physical violence to make its impress. Unfortunately, this heightens the synthetic flavor of the picture and accounts in large measure for the attitudinized nature of the story's development that lessens its over-all dramatic impact...The author of all this, Mr. Kennedy, has concocted a highly involved and complicated screen play that sparkles and sputters as far as dramatic effectiveness goes, and thereby imposes an average look upon a picture which, with a little more resourcefulness, might easily have been distinctive." The staff at ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...

'' liked the film and wrote, "An engrossing, globetrotting semi-documentary on the evils of narcotics pushers, specifically those who try smuggling opium onto U.S. shores...The chief factor in the film's success as an adventure picture is the realistic documentary approach."''TV Guide''
Film review, 2008.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:To The Ends Of The Earth (Film) 1948 films 1948 adventure films American crime thriller films American black-and-white films Columbia Pictures films 1940s English-language films Film noir Films scored by George Duning Films about illegal immigration to the United States Films about the illegal drug trade Films directed by Robert Stevenson Films set in Egypt Films set in Lebanon Films set in Shanghai Seafaring films Films with screenplays by Sidney Buchman 1940s crime thriller films 1940s American films