(4 of 4)
As a spit-&-polish naval attache who takes over the refloated ship after the Amethyst's captain dies of his wounds, Richard Todd is so convincing that the movie conveys a real-thing flavor. It car ries all the blood-and-sweat conviction of a candid film chronicle made on the spot.
Aboard ship there are no signs of acting, but the movie does sag a bit into detect able histrionics when Akim Tamiroff, as a cunning Red warlord, shows up as a negotiator and puts on a dazzling display of inscrutability. The months wear on, and Lieut. Commander Todd begins to understand the superiority of spit to polish. At last, with the courage of a heart made whole, Todd runs the battered vessel past artillery-lined riverbanks on a wild, 140-mile nighttime dash to sea. It is all history now, but the capable direction of Michael (Around the World in 80 Days) Anderson has made it happen again believably.
*Not to be confused with the Japanese bombing and sinking of the U.S. gunboat Panay on the Yangtze, upstream from Nanking on Dec. 12, 1937.