splash  A Girl in Every Port is a “buddy film,” the comedic story of two sailors and their adventures with various women in various ports of call. Under contract with Paramount, Louise Brooks was loaned to Fox for the film.

The film received glowing reviews. TIME magazine stated, “A Girl in Every Port is really What Price Glory? translated from arid and terrestrial irony to marine gaiety of the most salty and miscellaneous nature. Nobody could be more charming than Louise Brooks, that clinging and tender little barnacle from the docks of Marseilles. Director Howard Hawks and his entire cast, especially Robert Armstrong, deserve bouquets and kudos.” Weekly Film Review noted that the audience “Cheered it – and loved it!”

What many critics focused on was the bond between the two male characters, sailors played by Victor McLaglen and Robert Armstrong. Bland Johaneson of the New York Daily Mirror wrote, “A Girl in Every Port at the Roxy is a man’s picture. It’s a good character comedy. But the love interest is the love of two men friends. The girls are all rats. And that limits the picture’s appeal to the romanticists. . . . Victor McLaglen and Robert Armstrong do fine acting, and the comedy is neatly handled.” Limitations aside, women also liked the picture, according to the Newark Star-Eagle. “Women laughed delightedly in the Fox Terminal yesterday at what was supposed to be exclusively a he-man picture. Victor McLaglen starred as a true adventurer in A Girl in Every Port, and although the film was mostly fast battling, feminine spectators found delightful entertainment in it. . . . He has a prize associate in Robert Armstrong, who was the fighter in the stage version of Is Zat So, and Louise Brooks, cast as a sideshow siren, does capitally as the crisis of McLaglen’s career as a seaport Don Juan. . . . This is a salty, virile picture, full of flying fists and colorful rows in strange climates and distinguished by the unmovielike and emphatic characterizations of the two leading males.” 

The salty nature of the picture did not go unnoticed. According to Irene Thirer of the New York Daily News, “Director Howard Hawks has injected several devilish touches in the piece, which surprisingly enough, got by the censors.” An exhibitor from Michigan wrote in the Exhibitor’s Herald, “the salesman said that this was a good picture when he sold it to me… time must have rotted it for it is one of the smuttiest pictures on the market. If you want to promote immorality, by all means play this one. I have to use care and precaution in the selection of pictures, and this one brought plenty of criticism”.

Aside from its popularity in the United States, the film had an even bigger impact in Europe, especially France. Writing in 1930 in his “Paris Cinema Chatter” column in the New York Times, Morris Gilbert noted “ . . . there are a number of others – mostly American – which have their place as ‘classics’ in the opinion of the French. . . . They love A Girl in Every Port, which has the added distinction of being practically the only American film which keeps its own English title here.” The film enjoyed a long run in Paris, where to this day it is still highly regarded.

It has been claimed that G. W. Pabst cast Brooks in Pandora’s Box after having seen her in A Girl in Every Port. Looking at a chronological list of the actresses’ films, this assumption makes sense. Hawks’ buddy film (in which Brooks plays a kind of temptress) was released in the United States in February 1928. In Germany, Pabst was attempting to cast Lulu in the Spring and early Summer of the same year. The claim that Pabst chose Brooks after having seen her in A Girl in Every Port was made by James Card in his 1956 article “Out of Pandora’s Box: Louise Brooks on G. W. Pabst.” And, it was repeated by Brooks herself in filmed interviews in the 1970’s. Why did Brooks say as much? Perhaps because Card said so. And why did Card say so? We may never know.

As records show, Blaue jungens, blonde Madchen (the German title for A Girl in Every Port) was not shown in Berlin until December 1928, after production on Pandora’s Box was finished. Could Pabst have seen the Hawks’ film prior to its German release? It seems unlikely. Or, might Pabst have noticed Brooks in one of her earlier films — such as Die Braut am Scheidewege (Just Another Blonde) or Ein Frack Ein Claque Ein Madel (Evening Clothes) — each of which was shown in Berlin before Pabst cast Brooks as Lulu? That seems more plausible.


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  • Promotional Materials
  • Posters & Lobby Cards
  • Scene & Publicity Stills

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STORY SYNOPSIS:
“Sailor Spike Madden, a happy-go-lucky Lothario, finds that another sailor is a rival for his girl friends in various ports of call. He finally overtakes Salami, the other sailor, and they become fast friends. Spike believes he has fallen in love with Marie, an especially attractive gold digger in France, but his friend dissuades him and they continue their merry way.”

PRODUCTION HISTORY:
The film was shot in November and December, 1927 at Fox’s studios in Hollywood. Location shooting was done on a boating trip to Santa Cruz Island, located along the California coast.

CAST
Victor McLaglen
 Spike Madden
Robert Armstrong
 Bill (also referred to as Salami)
Louise Brooks
 Marie (Mam’selle Godiva), the girl in Marseille, France
Maria Casajuana
 Chiquita (girl from Buenos Aires)
Natalie Joyce
 Girl in Panama
Francis McDonald
 Gang Leader
Leila Hyams
 Sailor’s wife
Natalie Kingston
 South Sea Island girl
Sally Rand
 Girl in Bombay
Dorothy Mathews
 Girl in Panama
Elena Jurado
 Girl in Panama
Phalba Morgan
 Lena, girl in Holland
Felix Valle
 Lena’s husband
Greta Yoltz
 Second girl in Holland
Caryl Lincoln
 Girl from Liverpool
Henry Armetta
 Bartender (uncredited)
William Demarest
 Fellow in Bombay (uncredited)
Myrna Loy
 Girl in China (uncredited)
Clarence Wilson
 Bartender (uncredited)
Gladys Brockwell
 undetermined role (uncredited)
Michael Visaroff
 undetermined role (uncredited)
CREDITS
Studio:
 Fox
Producer:
 William Fox
Director:
 Howard Hawks
Assistant Director:
 William Tummel
Writing Credits:
 Howard Hawks and James K. McGuinness (story), Seton I. Miller ( scenario), Malcolm Stuart Boylan (titles), associate writers Sidney Lanfield and Reginald Morris
Cinematography:
 L. William O’Connell and Rudolph J. Bearquist
Film Editor:
 Ralph Dixon
Settings:
 William S. Darling and Leo E. Kuter
Costumes:
 Kathleen Kay
Format:
 Silent – black & white
Running Time:
 6 reels (reported as 5,5000 to 5,882 feet), 64 minutes – elsewhere, The Netherlands: 1820 meters. United Kingdom: 5,863 feet.
Copyright:
 February 20, 1928 by Fox Film Corp. (LP24994)
Release Date:
 February 26, 1928
Premiere:
 February 18, 1928 at the Roxy Theater in NYC
Country of Origin:
 United States

ALTERNATE TITLES:
Under its American title, documented screenings of the film took place in Australia (including Tasmania), Bermuda, British Malaysia (Singapore), Canada, China, Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom (England, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In the United States, the film was also presented under the title Uma noiva em cada porto (Portuguese-language press).

Elsewhere, A Girl in Every Port was shown under the title Poings de fer, coeur d’or (Algeria); Una novia en cada puerto and Una chica en cada porto (Argentina); Das Verdammte Herz – Zwei lustige Matrosen (Austria); Une fille dans chaque port (Belgium, French) and Een liefje bij elke landing (Belgium, Dutch); Uma noiva em cada porto (Brazil); Una Novia en Cada Puerto (Cuba); Dívka v každém prístavu (Czechoslovakia) and Dievca v kazdom pristave and Vsade ine dievca (Slovakia); Blaue jungens, blonde Mädchen (Danzig); En Pige i hver Havn (Denmark); Una Novia en Cada Puerto (Dominican Republic); Een Liefje in iedere Haven and In iedere Stad een andere Schat! (Dutch East Indies – Indonesia); Poings de fer, coeur d’or and Une femme dans chaque port and Une fille dans chaque port (France); Blaue jungens, blonde Mädchen (Germany); Az ocean Don Juana (Hungary); Kærasta i hverri höfn! (Iceland); Capitano Barbableu and Il Capitano Barbableu and Capitan Barbablù (Italy); 港々に女あり or Minato Ni on’na ari (Japan); Ein zeitgemasser Don-Juan and Meitene katra osta (Latvia); Mergina kiekviename uoste (Lithuania); Poings de Fer – Coeur d’Or Blaue Jungen – Blonde Madchen (Luxembourg); Una novia in cada puerto (Mexico); In iedere Stad … een andere Schat! and In elke stad een andere schat (Netherlands); En pike i hver havn (Norway); A kochanek miał sto and Dziewczyna w kaz.dym porcie and Era Pogoni Za Bogatym Memzem (Poland); Uma Rapariga em Cada Pôrto and Uma companheira em cada pôrto (Portugal); O fata in fiecare port (Romania); Una novia in cada puerto and Un Amor en Cada Puerto and Una xicota a cada port (Spain, including The Canary Islands); En flicka i varje hamn (Sweden); and Poings de fer et coeur dor (Switzerland).

STATUS:
The film is extant, and has been released on VHS and DVD. A 35mm positive print is archived at the International Museum of Photography and Film at George Eastman House.

RELATED DOCUMENTS, PROGRAM NOTES, etc…:
— Thematic music cue sheet (Fox, 1928)
— Lobby cards (set of 7)
— Book excerpt by AFI (American Film Institute, 1971)
— Program note by Tom Luddy (Pacific Film Archive, June 8, 1974)
— Program essay by Tim Pulleine (Monthly Film Bulletin, July 1980)
— Program note by J.K. (George Eastman House)
— Blog post by Ian Johnston (notcoming.com, February 12, 2009)
— Program essay by Kevin Hagopian (New York State Writers Institute)
— Program essay by Thomas Gladysz (University of Wisconsin Cinematheque, December 2, 2013)
— Blog post by Thomas Gladysz (Louise Brooks Society, February 23, 2024)

TRIVIA: about the film

— Much was made over the “bevy of beautiful girls” appearing in the film. Writing in the Hollywood Daily Citizen, Elena Brinkley quipped, “It seems to me they’ll never finish signing girls for Victor McLaglen’s A Girl in Every Port.” Early on, among those she reports cast was Anna May Wong.

— Maria Casajuana, a Spanish-born dancer and one-time “Miss Spain,” made her screen debut in A Girl in Every Port. As a newcomer, her role was heavily promoted. Beginning with Road House (1928), Casajuana appeared in films as Maria Alba. She also appeared in Goldie, a 1931 remake of A Girl in Every Port.

— Casajuana was not the only actress working under another name. Gretel Yolz was actually Eileen Sedgwick, one of the Five Sedgwicks, a pioneering family in Hollywood.

— Fox claimed, and Film Daily reported that A Girl in Every Port had broke the “world’s record” for a single day’s box office receipts, when on February 22, 1928 it screened at the Roxy Theater in New York and grossed $29,463.00. A hit, the film was written up in just about every NYC publications, from the German-language New Yorker Volkszeitung to Women’s Wear Daily to the socialist Daily Worker.

— In his book Hawks on Hawks, Joseph McBride asked the director: “What is the reason for the running bit of business in A Girl in Every Port of one guy pulling the other guy’s finger?” Hawks replied: “You ever hit anybody hard? Your finger goes out of joint, and somebody takes it and pulls it back into joint. I hit [Ernest] Hemingway, and I broke the whole back of my hand. I wish it had just gone out of joint.”

— A Girl in Every Port was a big hit in France. Jean-Paul Sartre took Simone de Beauvoir to see the film on one of their first dates. The writer Blaise Cendrars stated the film “marked the first appearance of contemporary cinema”.

— In 1931, Fox remade A Girl in Every Port as a sound film entitled Goldie. The remake was directed by Benjamin Stoloff and starred Spencer Tracy, Warren Hymer and Jean Harlow. The 1952 Marx Brothers’ film of the same name is unrelated.