Across the Pacific is a 1942 American spy film set on the eve of the entry of the United States into World War II. The film was directed first by John Huston, then by Vincent Sherman after Huston joined the United States Army Signal Corps. It stars Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, and Sydney Greenstreet. Despite the title, the action of the film never progresses across the Pacific, concluding in Panama.
The title had been used before by Warner Brothers for a 1926 silent adventure film by the same name starring Monte Blue, who also has a small role in this film. However, the plots of the two films bear no resemblance to each other.
Initially, it was planned that the film would portray an attempt to avert a Japanese plan to bomb Pearl Harbor. When the real-life Pearl Harbor bombing occurred, the script was quickly rewritten to change the location of the planned attack to Panama.
Director John Huston was called up to military service during filming; he claimed he left at the point near the end of the film in which Bogart is trapped in a house at gun-point. Vincent Sherman finished directing the film, minus the script which Huston took with him, explaining "Bogie will know how to get out". An implausible escape and plot wrap-up was shot, which Huston declared "lacked credibility".
