''Trade Winds'' is a 1938 American

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

murder mystery film directed by

Tay Garnett William Taylor "Tay" Garnett (June 13, 1894 – October 3, 1977) was an American film director and writer. Biography Early life Born in Los Angeles, Garnett attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and served as a naval aviator in Wo ...

written by

Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet, writer, critic, and satirist based in New York; she was known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles. From a conflicted and unhap ...

, Alan Campbell, and

Frank R. Adams Frank Ramsay Adams (July 7, 1883 – October 8, 1963) was an American author, screenwriter, composer, and newspaper reporter. Biography He was born on July 7, 1883, in Morrison, Illinois. Educated at the University of Chicago, Adams worked as ...

, based on story by Tay Garnett. The film stars

Fredric March Fredric March (born Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel; August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975) was an American actor, regarded as one of Hollywood's most celebrated, versatile stars of the 1930s and 1940s.Obituary '' Variety'', April 16, 1975, ...

and

Joan Bennett Joan Geraldine Bennett (February 27, 1910 – December 7, 1990) was an American stage, film, and television actress. She came from a show-business family, one of three acting sisters. Beginning her career on the stage, Bennett appeared in more t ...

, with a supporting cast featuring Thomas Mitchell,

Ralph Bellamy Ralph Rexford Bellamy (June 17, 1904 – November 29, 1991) was an American actor whose career spanned 65 years on stage, film, and television. During his career, he played leading roles as well as supporting roles, garnering acclaim and ...

and

Ann Sothern Ann Sothern (born Harriette Arlene Lake; January 22, 1909 – March 15, 2001) was an American actress who worked on stage, radio, film, and television, in a career that spanned nearly six decades. Sothern began her career in the late 1920 ...

. Distributed by

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stud ...

, ''Trade Winds'' was released on December 28, 1938.

Plot

Socialite Kay Kerrigan (

) is accused of fatally shooting millionaire cad Thomas Bruhme II ( Sidney Blackmer). Kay blames the callous Bruhme for her sister's suicide but when he is confronted, he dismissively throws Kay a gun, but she angrily shoots him in the stomach. Police detectives Ben "Homer" Blodgett (

) and George Faulkner ( Robert Elliott) find the body, with a gunshot in the back of Bruhme's head that is the fatal shot. After finding her handbag at the murder scene, the police are on Kay's trail. First she fakes a car accident, driving into the San Francisco Bay, then makes arrangements to go to Hawaii. When she pawns a unique piece of jewelry, Police Commissioner Blackton ( Thomas Mitchell) knows that Kay is alive and puts former detective Sam Wye (

) on the case. Kay with her hair dyed brown, and travelling on a British passport as "Mary Holden" has taken a ship to the South Seas. She is followed by Sam and his secretary Jean Livingstone (

), an old flame who also wants to collect a $100,000 reward now being offered by Bruhme's father. On a boat sailing to Saigon, Sam finally meets Kay, and immediately falls in love with her. Along the way, Homer and Jean do the same. Sam eventually determines that the actual killer was John Johnson (

Richard Tucker Richard Tucker (August 28, 1913January 8, 1975) was an American operatic tenor and cantor. Long associated with the Metropolitan Opera, Tucker's career was primarily centered in the United States. Early life Tucker was born Rivn (Rubin) Ticke ...

), a jealous husband whose wife was having an affair with Bruhme. Kay is thus cleared and free to marry Sam.

Cast

as Sam Wye *

as Kay Kerrigan *

as Ben Blodgett *

as Jean Livingstone * Sidney Blackmer as Thomas Bruhme II * Thomas Mitchell as Commissioner Blackton * Robert Elliott as Detective George Faulkner *

Joyce Compton Olivia Joyce Compton (January 27, 1907 – October 13, 1997) was an American actress. Biography Compton was born in Lexington, Kentucky, the daughter of Henry and Golden Compton. (Despite frequent reports to the contrary, her name was not ...

as Mrs. Johnson *

as John Johnson * Dorothy Comingore as Ann (credited as Linda Winters) * Wilma Francis as Judy

Production

Principal photography on ''Trade Winds'' took place from August 22 to October 20, 1938."Original film information: 'Trade Winds' (1938)."
''TCM'', 2019. Retrieved: August 1, 2019. The film was a "labor of love" for Tay Garnett.

Frank Nugent Frank Stanley Nugent (May 27, 1908 – December 29, 1965) was an American screenwriter, journalist, and film reviewer, who wrote 21 film scripts, 11 for director John Ford. He wrote almost a thousand reviews for ''The New York Times'' before lea ...

described the process in his review for ''

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 ...

'':

Tay Garnett earned the distinction yesterday of being probably the first man in history with the temerity to invite 80,000,000 persons to pay to see the movies he took on a world cruise. Mr. Garnett went abroad a few seasons ago and, having a rough outline of a script, he shot doorways in Japan, barrooms in Indo-China, the race track at Singapore, a pier in Bombay, a fishing village in the Laccadives, a twisting street in pre-war Shanghai. Hollywood bridged the gaps, set up the process screen, placed Fredric March and Joan Bennett before it ...

Release

in his contemporary review of''Trade Winds'' for ''The New York Times'', said: ""Trade Winds," which blew gently into the Music Hall yesterday and may be remembered by posterity as the process shot that went 'round the world. It is not exactly a travelogue. As a mystery film it's a bit on the porous side. We hesitate to call it a romantic comedy, beginning as it does with a suicide, adding a murder and ending with a third body on the floor. And certainly it's not a straight drama. Maybe a new word is in order—a travestery comiromance, or a dramalogue of travesty."Nugent, Frank S
"The screen; Tay Garnett's 'Trade Winds' brings a world cruise to the Music Hall."
''The New York Times'', January 13, 1939.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Bernstein, Matthew. ''Walter Wagner: Hollywood Independent''. Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 2000. .

External links

* * * *
''Trade Winds''
at Allmovie
Still Photos from 'Trade Winds'
by

Ned Scott Ned Scott (April 16, 1907 – November 24, 1964) was an American photographer who worked in the Hollywood film industry as a still photographer from 1935–1948. As a member of the Camera Club of New York from 1930–34, he was heavily influ ...

Streaming audio
''Trade Winds''
on

Lux Radio Theater ''Lux Radio Theatre'', sometimes spelled ''Lux Radio Theater'', a classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of American Broadcasting Company ...

: March 4, 1940
''Trade Winds''
on the

Screen Directors Playhouse ''Screen Directors Playhouse'' (sometimes written as ''Screen Directors' Playhouse'') is an American radio and television anthology series which brought leading Hollywood actors to the NBC microphones beginning in 1949. The radio program broadcas ...

: May 29, 1949 {{Walter Wanger 1938 films 1930s comedy mystery films American comedy thriller films American black-and-white films American detective films 1930s English-language films Films scored by Alfred Newman Films directed by Tay Garnett Films set in San Francisco Films with screenplays by Dorothy Parker United Artists films Films produced by Walter Wanger 1938 comedy films 1930s American films