AllMovie

Ralph Ince was one busy beaver in 1927, starring in and directing several low-budget programmers. In Shanghaied, Ince plays a burly sea captain who loses his bankroll to a crooked café proprietor. In retaliation, the captain kidnaps the café's hootchy-kootchy dancer Patsy Ruth Miller, spiriting her away to his ship. Assuming that Miller is one of "those girls," Ince is surprised to discover that she isn't to be trifled with. Similarly, Miller is surprised to learn that she enjoys life on the high seas. Still, Ince is disdainful of the girl's former profession and returns her to shore at the earliest opportunity, insisting that she isn't good enough to be on his ship. One year later, however, Miller returns on board, having scrimped and saved to repay the captain for the money stolen from him in Reel One. Touched by her "reformation," Ince finally admits that he's been in love with the girl all along.