User Reviews

Just your typical early 50''s Monogram programmer, entertaining for the type of film it is, but hardly a classic. John Archer is the new skipper of the Sea Tiger, but on the first day he takes over, one of the owners is shot and killed in his presence, just as he waa about to reveal sinethung about the abandoned Japanese boat. Archer must prove his innocence to co-owner Marguerite Chapman, but he suspects her of having a motive herself for killing her late partner. It turns out that the abandoned vessel from the war has secret treasures of varying kinds, and sinister crew members who show their disdain for Archer are obvious suspects, especially the smarmy inkeeper Ralph Sanford and Paul McGuire, another interested partner. As several of these characters have sinister sounding accents, they are all at the top of the list, but even the most predictable of these Monogram programmers has surprises.

Even the most turgid of Monogram's secondary features has enjoyable moments, and even when the scripts aren't believable or the characters complete cliches, they accomplish what they mean to, providing a complex plot and some fast moving action and little bits of humor. Archer is a rather dark anti-hero, not exactly like Bogart's likeable rogues, but rugged and determined. Chapman keeps the audience guessing as to what she's up to, and makes a great combination of heroine and vixen. The close cropped camera indicates that the set was crowded so the actors have to make use of minimal space. This builds in intrigue as well, but gets a bit convoluted towards the end, as if they were trying to stretch out the running time past an hour. But in spite of its minor flaws, it's a great discovery as Monogram surely knew how to make a lot out of so little.

This is little more than a juvenile thriller. True, production values are better than usual. I'm always a sucker for stories set on old wrecks, and there's a fair amount of action in this one, even if the cast is second rate. (This was Marguerite Chapman's third last movie. She was wise enough to move over to TV in which – as you might expect – she had a really outstanding career). The dialogue here is also far from "A" level. In fact it's the usual clichéd claptrap. And the characters are all the usual one-dimensional stereotypes. But the film's chief failing is that the plot allows the audience to know the identity of the killer right from the outset. Admittedly, the direction by Frank McDonald and other credits are capable, but they fail to lift the film out of the ordinary.