A Passenger to Bali was one of the great short novels of 1936. The young author, Ellis St Joseph was born in 1911 and gathered material during a trip on a freighter in the pacific. Though all the characters in his story are imaginary, the hurricane and certain other of the incidents actually took place. The freighter upon which he traveled was making its last voyage and this story carries the weight of first hand experience.

Orson Welles plays the main protagonist Reverend Dr Walkes, a Dutch Missionary bound for Bali to distribute bibles, who persuades captain English to allow him to purchase for $400 passage on his freight ship the Roundabout. Within the next few days Captain English comes to regret his decision to allow Walkes aboard his ship as he notices a restlessness and dissension brewing among his crew. He tries to get rid of his passenger in Bali but it appears that in Bali they are not accepting missionaries and indeed they are aware of Walkes. Everywhere he goes he makes trouble with the natives and is unwelcome in any country. It seems now that Captain English is to be burdened with him, a criminal, a man with no country, a flying Dutchman.

 "A Passenger To Bali". Sustaining. A good story about an evil "man without a country" who boards a freighter and then can't get off! An excellent performance by Orson as "The Flying Dutchman." The story was subsequently broadcast on "The Mercury Summer Theatre" on July 5, 1946 (see cat. #52743 and on "Escape" on December 10, 1950 (see cat. #11375). Orson Welles, George Coulouris, Eustace Wyatt, Alfred Shirley, Frank Readick, Ray Collins, Bernard Herrmann (music), Dan Seymour (announcer), Ellis St. Joseph (writer). 59:57