Michael Barrows (Dick Powell) goes on the trail of an opium smuggling gang. There are some big players involved in the chain and we follow Barrows through various countries including Shanghai, Egypt, Beirut and Cuba before he sets sail for New York. It is at the end of this journey that we have a surprise twist in the story and a spectacularly evil villain is revealed - one of my favourite moments. The cast are good - Maylia who plays "Shu Pan" looks a bit like a pussy cat alien. However, she ain't no pussy. Signe Hasso who plays "Ann Grant" is an enigma throughout the film and you just know that there is something menacing lurking within Ivan Triesault who plays "Vrandstadter". The cast change quite quickly during the film and this can be confusing at the beginning.In fact, the film is overlong and complicated with a very annoying intro that never seems to finish. Shut up and get on with the film! The beginning section is particularly confusing with all the different federal bodies and consuls that are involved. What on earth is going on and who is who? The film improves once Barrows sneaks onto the land of Binda Sha (Fritz Leiber) in search of the poppy field. You can then ride out the rest of the film which plays as a James Bond adventure and has some great ideas for smuggling drugs.There is a harrowing scene at the beginning of the film where we see some Chinese slaves being thrown overboard tied in chains and attached to the anchor. There are other memorable scenes throughout the film, eg, the search for the poppies, the fire on the ship to New York and the final confrontation on the small police/coastguard boat. It's a good film but it's length means that it can be quite exhausting, especially if you are trying to follow matters at the beginning.

I thoroughly enjoyed this picture and I had been looking for it for a long time. It's not often a motion picture can mesh all components into a first class entertainment production. This one is so completely absorbing from start to finish that I wished it wouldn't end. It was 110 minutes well spent.It is remarkable to note the metamorphosis in Dick Powells' career, from an effeminate tenor in "42nd Street" in the early '30's to a tough-talking, gravel-voiced film noir star, beginning in the mid '40's with "Murder, My Sweet", and "Cornered", culminating in this near-masterpiece.Can't find fault anywhere here. The story moves along at breakneck speed, and, as mentioned in my summary, if you get up to get a snack you will lose the thread of the story, so intricate and complex is the plot. If this were a book I would say I couldn't put it down.Whatever happened to good film-making? Movies get worse and worse, but thank God for TCM. This picture is a little outdated, but just go with it and take into consideration that it was made 60 years ago. Truly, they don't make 'em like this anymore.

Dick Powell's a detective again in To The Ends Of The Earth though his name here isn't Richard Diamond or Philip Marlowe. Instead he's what we would now call a DEA agent though that agency didn't exist back in those days. He works for the Treasury's Narcotics Enforcement Unit and a mystery involving a really large stash of opium takes him around the world and literally To The Ends Of The Earth in solving it.The film is narrated by Powell and this Columbia film is very similar in style to those 20th Century Fox documentary classics The House On 92nd Street and The Street With No Name from Henry Hathaway. The director is Robert Stevenson who is far more familiar to viewers for his later exclusive work for Walt Disney studios in such things as Old Yeller and Mary Poppins. You can hardly believe the same guy directed those items as well as To The Ends Of The Earth.Powell almost circumnavigates the globe, starting out in San Francisco and then going to Shanghai, Cairo, Beirut, Havana, and finally New York in pursuit of an international narcotics smuggling gang. The story takes place in the pre-World War II years while Japan occupied Manchuria. The most ridiculous part of the film is the notion that the Japanese are behind the opium trade as part of their war policy though the gang is certainly international enough.What makes the film relevant for today is the plea for international cooperation to put an end to the drug trade. In fact this film was one of the to even talk about drug addiction, a problem not mentionable under The Code. Opium dependence knows no borders, respects no nationalities.The film will also have a surprise ending that you might not expect coming. The only hint is a bit showing a portrait of who turns out to be the chief villain. The artist's interpretation of said villain screams out who's behind it all.Powell gets good support from Signe Hasso, Ludwig Donath, Vladimir Sokoloff and Maylia in telling roles. To The Ends Of The Earth is one of the best films Dick Powell made in his post musical period, don't miss it if you can.

In some ways, it is very much ahead of its time. In the first few minutes, you'll know you are watching a very well done movie. The scene where the slaves go overboard and it motivates Dick Powell to track down the murderer is enough to get you interested. Every time, Powell gets nearer something happens to sidetrack him. The predications about drugs and South America are extraordinary, given that over 50 years has elapsed. The way of smuggling the drugs is very clever. I recommend this movie because of its suspense and its ability to draw you into it.