[1] Directed by John Brahm, the film was remade as Istanbul (1957) with the location moved to Turkey, and Errol Flynn and Cornell Borchers in the starring roles.

[2][3] Pearl smuggler Matt Gordon (Fred MacMurray) finds romance with Linda Grahame (Ava Gardner) just before the start of World War II.

However, when the Japanese attack Singapore, the church where she is waiting to marry him is bombed; Gordon searches frantically in the wreckage, but cannot find her.

Now known as Ann, she spent years in a prison camp together with plantation owner Michael Van Leyden (Roland Culver), then married him.

Giving up, Gordon retrieves the pearls from his old hotel room, and hides them in the luggage of the current occupants, American tourists Mr. and Mrs. Bellows (Porter Hall and Spring Byington).

[4] The New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther was merciless in his review, "Ava Gardner is sultry and empty-headed as the script demands.

Mr. MacMurray doesn't ever appear to have his heart in what he is doing, and Spring Byington and Porter Hall as the tourists from the Midwest conduct themselves in the time-honored fashion that is supposed to denote slightly-addled American transients.

There's a Casablanca-like ending at the airport, with the chief inspector showing he has a heart and that true love between the adventurers can't be denied no matter what.