BLOOD ALLEY (1955)

Powder your nose, baby, the craggy-voiced skipper bellows. We're coming into Hong Kong. Getting there wasn't easy for wily Merchant Marine Capt. Tom Wilder. But it's exciting - and all an action fan might expect from a movie teaming legends John Wayne, Lauren Bacall and director William A. Wellman. Wilder braves dangerous waters and pursuing Red Chinese forces while steering a boatload of Chinese refugees and a doctor's daughter (Bacall) along a 300-mile waterway to freedom's shores. Wellman and his crew cram the CinemaScope frame with riches both scenic (Northern California locales authentically stand in for the Formosa Straits) and action-packed. This ship is under full steam. Destination: Blood Alley!