Wayne produced Blood Alley but had no intention of appearing in it. The original lead Robert Mitchum was somewhat of a hell raiser in real life and managed to get himself fired after pissing off William Wellman. Duke reluctantly stepped in for Mitchum and finished the film.
Wayne and Bacall aren't much of a screen team. Bacall looks like she belongs back in Los Angeles on the Hollywood cocktail circuit. Wayne doesn't generate much heat with her, he probably had his hands full producing and acting.
Expecting the worst from yet another John Wayne anti commie rant film, Blood Alley wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It has the usual oddball 1950's stuff in it. Western actors playing Chinese peasants, some bad model work of the steamship trapped in a storm and a couple of jingoistic rants from Wayne. But once you get past all of that this it's a decent adventure film with good wide screen photography.
William Wellman was winding down a directing career that went back to silent pictures. Probably his most interesting period was during the 1930's and 40's directing films like, The Ox Bow Incident and The Public Enemy. Wellman also directed the very weird religious drama The Next Voice You Hear, about God speaking to the world over the radio.
An interesting guy with an interesting career.
115 minutes
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