I Cover the Waterfront

I'll just start out by saying that this movie was a big disappointment.  We were all so pleased to find another early Claudette Colbert movie, but she has so little to do here that it was just a waste of her great talents.  I Cover the Waterfront follows reporter Joe Miller (Ben Lyon) as he tries to get the goods on Eli Kirk (Ernest Torrence), a smuggler who deals in illegal Chinese immigrants.  The beginning is pretty horrific - about to be trapped by the authorities, Kirk throws his "cargo" overboard (bound with chains to make absolutely sure he sinks), with a shrug and the comment that "He knew what he was getting into."  The big complication here is that Kirk has a daughter, Julie (played by Colbert), and our hero Joe falls in love with her.  In the end, Julie must choose between Joe and her father.  

The meeting between Julie and Joe IS rather funny. Joe receives a report of a nude woman swimming in the ocean.  It's Julie, and it seems she does it all the time. She doesn't like swimsuits (then again, if one thinks of the suits at THAT time, one can understand why!).  Joe camps himself beside her clothing, so she is unable to get dressed, and of course, he won't leave until she agrees to meet him again.  Here's a later scene, with Julie and Joe:



We can't really recommend this one, though it is nice to see Claudette in just about anything.  Better yet, get Torch Singer!