All Around the World with A Girl in Every Port (1928)

The 1928 Howard Hawks buddy film, A Girl in Every Port, tells the story of two sailors (Victor McLaglen and Robert Armstrong) and their romantic adventures in various ports around the world. The film screens on August 1 at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. More information about that  event can be found HERE.

The film features a somewhat large cast of supporting players -- the various girls in various ports -- headed by Louise Brooks. She plays Marie (or Mam’selle Godiva), the girl in Marseille, France. Also in the film was Spanish beauty queen Maria Casajuana (soon to be Marie Alba), who plays Chiquita, the girl from Buenos Aires, as well as Natalie Joyce and Elena Jurado as girls in Panama, Natalie Kingston as a South Sea Island girl, Sally Rand as a girl in Bombay, Phalba Morgan as Lena, a girl in Holland, Greta Yoltz (Eileen Sedgwick -- one of the five Sedgwicks) as another girl in Holland, Caryl Lincoln as a girl in Liverpool, and Myrna Loy as a girl in China (in an uncreditted role). 

Writing in the Hollywood Daily Citizen, Elena Brinkley noted, “It seems to me they’ll never finish signing girls for Victor McLaglen’s A Girl in Every Port.” Early on, among those she reports cast in the film was Anna May Wong. I wonder if Myrna Loy assumed her part?

With its bevy of beauties and with so many locales to call attention to -- A Girl in Every Port proved popular all around the world. Under its American title, documented screenings of the film took place in Australia (including Tasmania), Bermuda, British Malaysia (Singapore), Canada, China, Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom (England, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales).

Elsewhere, A Girl in Every Port was shown under the title Poings de fer, coeur d’or (Algeria); Una novia en cada puerto and Una chica en cada porto (Argentina); Das Verdammte Herz – Zwei lustige Matrosen (Austria); Une fille dans chaque port (Belgium, French) and Een liefje bij elke landing (Belgium, Dutch); Uma noiva em cada porto (Brazil); Una Novia en Cada Puerto (Cuba); Dívka v každém prístavu (Czechoslovakia) and Dievca v kazdom pristave and Vsade ine dievca (Slovakia); Blaue jungens, blonde Mädchen (Danzig); En Pige i hver Havn (Denmark); Una Novia en Cada Puerto (Dominican Republic); Een Liefje in iedere Haven and In iedere Stad een andere Schat! (Dutch East Indies – Indonesia); Poings de fer, coeur d’or and Une femme dans chaque port and Une fille dans chaque port (France); Blaue jungens, blonde Mädchen (Germany); Az ocean Don Juana (Hungary); Kærasta i hverri höfn! (Iceland); Capitano Barbableu and Il Capitano Barbableu and Capitan Barbablù (Italy); 港々に女あり or Minato Ni on’na ari (Japan); Ein zeitgemasser Don-Juan and Meitene katra osta (Latvia); Mergina kiekviename uoste (Lithuania); Poings de Fer – Coeur d’Or Blaue Jungen – Blonde Madchen (Luxembourg); Una novia in cada puerto (Mexico); In iedere Stad … een andere Schat! and In elke stad een andere schat (Netherlands); En pike i hver havn (Norway); A kochanek miał sto and Dziewczyna w kaz.dym porcie and Era Pogoni Za Bogatym Memzem (Poland); Uma Rapariga em Cada Pôrto and Uma companheira em cada pôrto (Portugal); O fata in fiecare port (Romania); Una novia in cada puerto and Un Amor en Cada Puerto and Una xicota a cada port (Spain, including The Canary Islands); En flicka i varje hamn (Sweden); and Poings de fer et coeur dor (Switzerland).

Here are various advertisements for the film from around the world, gathered from the far corners of the Louise Brooks Society archive.

Shanghai, China, June 1928 -- another naval-themed film follows

 

 

 

Adelaide, Australia, August 1928 -- it's "speshul"

Warsaw, Poland, March 1929 -- premiere showing

Vilnius, Lithuania, April 1929 -- a Russian-language newspaper

Sumatra, Indonesia, June 1929 -- a "super production"

La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, December 1929 -- Brooks is described as"perverse"

Japan, 1929 -- from a magazine

More about A Girl in Every Port can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its A Girl in Every Port (filmography page).

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