The Port of Missing Girls

Like H. B. Warner in "City of Missing Girls," (no plot relationship), the actor who carries this modest B-movie is an older man best known to modern viewers for his late-life supporting roles -- and part of the surprising charm of this flick is to see what a good actor the gentleman really was, when given a starring role. Harry Carey is absolutely wonderful as a sea captain with a tragic past who tries to help others find the happiness that has eluded him -- and in the end the viewer cares more about him than about the star-crossed young couple whose ups and downs we are supposed to be emoting over. "Port of Missing Girls" features a great little "exotic" nightclub scene, a credible false-accusation-of-murder plot, and some excellent low-budget art deco sets and costumes, but what really makes it shine is Harry Carey, a man who projects genuine warmth, secret sorrow, and manly toughness with an unaffected simplicity that i cannot compare to that of any other actor of his time period or the present era.