I Cover the Waterfront (1933)

An old-fashioned, thoroughly hissable performance by that grand old trouper Ernest Torrence -- his last, incidentally -- buoys this equally old-fashioned melodrama, which, for the prurient, also includes a near-nude swim by Claudette Colbert. James Cruze had directed such silent-era classics as The Covered Wagon, but his talkie career proved disappointing, the relative success of I Cover the Waterfront notwithstanding. And even here Cruze seems reluctant to let Ray June's camera move much and the picture seems more dated than most 1933 productions. Filmed at the harbor in San Pedro, CA, and in Monterey, I Cover the Waterfront was the first release of independent company Reliance Pictures. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide