That was an excellent one.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Sorry to say this but, this movie would have rated much higher if a different lead was cast. Don't get me wrong this movie is very watchable. With Wayne & Bacall starring, Paul Fix supporting, good writing, solid acting by leads and bit players it had it all but one thing... John Wayne is out of character. This movie as I said before would probably have been rated at between 7.5 to a 9 if Robert Mitchum had not been fired from the lead role early in the picture. Since this movie was being produced by Wayne's fledgling BATJAC Productions, he was forced into the role by Warner Bros., saying they would pull the plug on distribution if he did not star. Too bad. I can easily see Kirk Douglas sending this over the top. Just think of his performance in the movie In Harms Way and you'll get the idea. Jimmy Stewart would have been great also. Think Harvey....see what I mean! If your a Wayne fan as am I, you'll scratch your head and wonder.....hmmmmmmmmm. Later Wayne would have had the clout to say no. I'll rate this at 7 paddles on the River-boat wheel.

Captain Tom Wilder (John Wayne), languishing in a southern Chinese Communist prison and kept sane by his imaginary girlfriend "Baby," is freed from his jailers by a bribe raised by the efforts of local villagers. There is a price. As an experienced sea captain, Wilder is expected to convey the 180 villagers 300 miles down Blood Alley (really the Pearl River or Zhu Jiang: just check a map) to the safety of Hong Kong so that they may escape the machinations of the brutal Chinese Communists. Wilder is initially reluctant: His ship is just an old ferryboat (1885), and he has no maps or charts to navigate a river that has many boat wrecks. The ferryboat is flat-bottomed and reaches a grand total of 8 knots (nautical miles per hour). And yet Wilder is intrigued by the opportunity to outwit the Reds. Time is short, as the ruthless Communist soldiers, searching for Wilder, are terrorizing the villagers. After a trick that ensnares the Communist patrol boat on a high riverbed, Wayne and his passengers are soon on their way down river. Wilder is accompanied by a doctor's daughter, Cathy Grainger (Lauren Bacall), fellow-escapee and love interest. Along the way are many obstacles: gunboats, stormy weather, mutiny, poisoned food, etc. There is a final escape through shallow water aided by a human tow. Through it all you just knew that Wilder would see things through in the end. After all, even though there were over 600 million Chinese, they did not stand a chance against the Duke. Colorful and Entertaining.

This film has an abrupt, jarring opening, even by 1950s B-Movie standards. The "chemistry" apparently sought between John Wayne and Lauren Bacall was a blatant effort to reprise 1951's Humphrey Bogart pairing with Katharine Hepburn in THE AFR!CAN QUEEN. But Bacall makes a second-rate Kate at best, while tagging the Duke as a third-string Bogie is a charitable description. Picture Sylvester Stallone and Talia Shire starring in a 1977 remake of BONNIE AND CLYDE, and you'll know what a misfire BLOOD ALLEY is. For a movie nearly two hours long, the close is just as off-putting and curt as the beginning. While Susu's pidgin English and the just off-camera attempted rape of Cathy Grainger (Bacall) by a Chinese soldier are quaint period touches, the real drama was in which of their friends Ronald Reagan, John Wayne, and Charlton Heston were ratting out to Joe McCarthy's U.S. Senate witch hunt around this time. If Bogie isn't the never-revealed key to the imaginary friend of BLOOD ALLEY's "hero" Captain Tom Wilder (Wayne), perhaps the drunken Senator Cheesehead IS?

really, a comment by nnnn45089191 is exactly what this movie is, Right-wing propaganda of the 50's Author: nnnn45089191 from NorwayMost of the views here are from western countries, where people had tunnel vision of what china was about in the 1950s. propaganda is a universal tool used by Germans, Japanese, Americans, Chinese, English, in fact all government in that chapter of earth's history.the movie didn't even try to depict the real environment in china, having westerners dressed in feudalism period Chinese costumes and speak cantonese (mandarine is the official Chinese language and cantonese is only spoken in one Chinese province - canton) is just hilarious. And it also shows how desperate the film producers are trying to convey the story, no matter how unprofessional the movie looks.and when the "Chinese navy" fired, the battleship officers were speaking cantonese too... and Chinese army had absolutely no such fire power in the 1950s. if you don't get the hang of this, try imagining this way, 1. American's war against the native indians, 2.a bunch of white Americans dressed like indians, speaking a minority Indian language poorly 3.indian army's fighter jet rains deathreally, the film makers have no idea what china really is and they clearly showed no intention of even trying to convey the true image... the whole story was a make up.u really need to ask, what is it that they want to achieve by making such a film.i think they just want to evilize the Chinese communist government (they may be or not be, now their people are manufacturing for the world), like what GW Bush did to the old iraq regime whom was once supported by the USA government itself.