I realize that great special effects shouldn't make or break a movie, and they don't here, but they ARE really terrific. The shipwreck scenes in the beginning of the film are not only great for 1958, they're great by today's standards too. I'd love to see a making of documentary. I'm so bored with the special effects "making of" docs of today. It's always that everything was first shot against a green screen, and then come the interviews with the SPX guys telling you what they did and how hard it was to do. "Yep, we just programmed the computer and went for coffee while it rendered the action". Yeah, really impressive. No computer here. This is the true essence of what used to be a CRAFT. Albeit scaled down, everything you see here on the screen actually existed in real life and not in cyberspace. I don't know if anyone will ever read this, or even care to compare, but watch the similar ship scenes in the newer version of King Kong and then compare them to what was done here almost 50 years sooner. IMHO, the scenes in the 2005 "King Kong" look more like a very realistic cartoon! Same thing with this years "Flyboys". The dogfights had a lot of great "camera" angles and thrilling sequences, but nowhere near as thrilling as done almost 80 years before for "Wings". And besides, that cartoon look clashes with the live action stuff. Yes, NOT using a computer WOULD have made things harder for the "Flyboys" and "Kong" crews, but if they're really any good they would have come up with better results! That's why the director of "The Fugitive" crashed a REAL train for the film rather than stoke up the computer chips. You really want real, you have to have real in there someplace! I really think that the film industry has it backwards. Huge budget films should spend all that money on the harder to do but more satisfying "hand crafted" SFX and leave the computer generated junk for the low budget flicks.
40 Reviews
Excellent ... if letter-boxed
Panamint20 March 2006
The night scenes are filmed very well but you must see them in wide-screen format or letter-boxed. For example, close scenes inside the ship at night are well filmed and staged, but literally won't make sense if not viewed letter-boxed. The outdoor sea scenes (almost all dark) are awesome, probably better than if they had been computer-generated. But again, the movements of the ships will not make sense if viewed other than letterbox. The story is largely told through movement- of ships, or of men moving around in the dark. I mention this to help any potential viewer.
Cooper gives a compelling, desperate performance that makes you really want to watch what happens to his character, Capt. Patch. Also, this is probably the most believable performance by Heston as an ordinary, non-historical, non sci-fi character. I was pleasantly surprised by both Cooper's and Heston's performances. Both performances are essentially very modern-style screen acting, and are not dated after these many years.
The supporting roles are undeveloped and one-dimensional, including the role so forcefully played by the young Richard Harris. Its a shame the great Virginia McKenna is so underused here. She could have made the film appeal to a broader-based audience. The other supporting actors (Alexander Knox at his most wooden) don't add to the film.
Even if you don't like seafaring stories, watch this for the acting by the two stars, and for the marvelous night cinematography. Film students and buffs should look carefully at the night scenes inside the ship and on the docks. You will see true night cinema work, with perfectly set light meters and minimalist lighting. In other words: nighttime lighting and camera artistry, not gimmicks.
Cooper gives a compelling, desperate performance that makes you really want to watch what happens to his character, Capt. Patch. Also, this is probably the most believable performance by Heston as an ordinary, non-historical, non sci-fi character. I was pleasantly surprised by both Cooper's and Heston's performances. Both performances are essentially very modern-style screen acting, and are not dated after these many years.
The supporting roles are undeveloped and one-dimensional, including the role so forcefully played by the young Richard Harris. Its a shame the great Virginia McKenna is so underused here. She could have made the film appeal to a broader-based audience. The other supporting actors (Alexander Knox at his most wooden) don't add to the film.
Even if you don't like seafaring stories, watch this for the acting by the two stars, and for the marvelous night cinematography. Film students and buffs should look carefully at the night scenes inside the ship and on the docks. You will see true night cinema work, with perfectly set light meters and minimalist lighting. In other words: nighttime lighting and camera artistry, not gimmicks.
Cooper and Heston - on the same screen
blanche-219 October 2009
Gary Cooper and Charlton Heston star in "The Wreck of the Mary Deare," along with an incredible supporting cast including Richard Harris, Michael Redgrave, Alexander Knox, and Emlyn Williams. The reason for such a cast? The original director was to be Alfred Hitchcock.
Heston plays John Sands, captain of a small rescue ship, who finds the freighter Mary Deare drifting. The crew seems to have abandoned the ship, but there's one person left, the first officer Gideon Patch. What happened on board isn't certain, but Patch begs Sands not to say anything about the ship until there is an official investigation and the ship is examined by an objective third party. Sands goes along, though this means not telling anyone that ship hasn't sunk, as people are led to believe, but that it is on the Minquiries Islands.
Very good drama, with a screenplay by suspense writer Eric Ambler. The shipboard atmosphere and storm sequences are great, and the performances are strong. Despite filming shutdowns due to Gary Cooper being ill, you wouldn't know it from his fiery portrayal of Patch, whose reputation and career are on the line. Heston does very well opposite him.
This is really the best of Gary Cooper's last few films. He only made one film after this, The Naked Edge, released in 1961 after his death, and that was a bomb. By that point, he had to stop filming frequently to get oxygen. He was ill while making "Mary Deare," but probably didn't realize that he had cancer. Amazing that he worked to the very end. He deservedly died the huge star that he had been for 30-plus years.
Very good movie, suspenseful, with great performances, atmosphere, and effects.
Heston plays John Sands, captain of a small rescue ship, who finds the freighter Mary Deare drifting. The crew seems to have abandoned the ship, but there's one person left, the first officer Gideon Patch. What happened on board isn't certain, but Patch begs Sands not to say anything about the ship until there is an official investigation and the ship is examined by an objective third party. Sands goes along, though this means not telling anyone that ship hasn't sunk, as people are led to believe, but that it is on the Minquiries Islands.
Very good drama, with a screenplay by suspense writer Eric Ambler. The shipboard atmosphere and storm sequences are great, and the performances are strong. Despite filming shutdowns due to Gary Cooper being ill, you wouldn't know it from his fiery portrayal of Patch, whose reputation and career are on the line. Heston does very well opposite him.
This is really the best of Gary Cooper's last few films. He only made one film after this, The Naked Edge, released in 1961 after his death, and that was a bomb. By that point, he had to stop filming frequently to get oxygen. He was ill while making "Mary Deare," but probably didn't realize that he had cancer. Amazing that he worked to the very end. He deservedly died the huge star that he had been for 30-plus years.
Very good movie, suspenseful, with great performances, atmosphere, and effects.
Piling the Ship On the Minquieries
bkoganbing24 May 2006
The Wreck of the Mary Deare was the next to last film of Gary Cooper and it pairs him with Charlton Heston who was fresh off his Oscar from Ben-Hur. Between the two of them they were the heroes of six sound Cecil B. DeMille films. And this film does have some special effects old C.B. DeMille might have enjoyed.
Salvage tug captain Charlton Heston based in the UK comes across an abandoned freighter named the Mary Deare. Only Gary Cooper, sporting a head injury, and acting very mysterious is on the vessel. When raging seas prevent Heston from reboarding his ship, Cooper saves his life by hauling Heston on board when he can't hold on to the rope.
In the meantime Cooper completes his objective which was to beach the ship on a series of jagged rocks in the English Channel named the Minquieries. He's doing this because he suspects skullduggery from the crew and the late captain of the Mary Deare.
Americans Cooper and Heston are given good support by a cast of players from the UK such as Emlyn Williams, Michael Redgrave, Alexander Knox, and Mary Ure. The villain of the piece is second officer Richard Harris in one of his early and acclaimed parts before he became a star.
The Minquiries have a lot of legend about them. They are the top of an Atlantic based plateau. None of them are big enough to rate being called an island. Smugglers and pirates in centuries passed piled many a ship on them and looted the contents. Today the only thing on them are small fishing huts. They are a well known hazard to navigation.
The scenes involving the wrecking and salvage of the ship are well done. Many years ago I saw a picture of MGM's special effects man Buddy Gillespie inside the tank with the model of the Mary Deare. It was an interesting insight into the special effects game on the high seas.
Fans of both Cooper and Heston will like this film. I suspect C.B. DeMille regretted not having a chance to direct his two favorite leading men in a joint project.
Salvage tug captain Charlton Heston based in the UK comes across an abandoned freighter named the Mary Deare. Only Gary Cooper, sporting a head injury, and acting very mysterious is on the vessel. When raging seas prevent Heston from reboarding his ship, Cooper saves his life by hauling Heston on board when he can't hold on to the rope.
In the meantime Cooper completes his objective which was to beach the ship on a series of jagged rocks in the English Channel named the Minquieries. He's doing this because he suspects skullduggery from the crew and the late captain of the Mary Deare.
Americans Cooper and Heston are given good support by a cast of players from the UK such as Emlyn Williams, Michael Redgrave, Alexander Knox, and Mary Ure. The villain of the piece is second officer Richard Harris in one of his early and acclaimed parts before he became a star.
The Minquiries have a lot of legend about them. They are the top of an Atlantic based plateau. None of them are big enough to rate being called an island. Smugglers and pirates in centuries passed piled many a ship on them and looted the contents. Today the only thing on them are small fishing huts. They are a well known hazard to navigation.
The scenes involving the wrecking and salvage of the ship are well done. Many years ago I saw a picture of MGM's special effects man Buddy Gillespie inside the tank with the model of the Mary Deare. It was an interesting insight into the special effects game on the high seas.
Fans of both Cooper and Heston will like this film. I suspect C.B. DeMille regretted not having a chance to direct his two favorite leading men in a joint project.
A star amalgam of sea saga and courtroom melodrama with fine suspense values...
Nazi_Fighter_David17 November 2002
Warning: Spoilers
The freighter 'Mary Deare' is set afire and abandoned by its crew during a storm on the English Channel... Gary Cooper is the only man aboard, until he is joined by Charlton Heston, whose vessel has been rammed through one night by the freighter...
Heston is in the ship salvaging business and runs a tug called the Sea Witch... He believes that mysterious events occur on this boat... Cooper is deliberately trying to wreck the ship...
At a London Court of Inquiry, Cooper is faced by many accusers and the mystery of the 'Mary Deare' becomes a major news item...
At first, Cooper does little to aid himself, giving only evasive testimony... Finally, he and Heston swim beneath the wreckage on the reefs in search of evidence...
'Wreck of the Mary Deare' is really Cooper's film... His performance is strong but is possessed of a fanatic determination that carries through and works... Heston's role, that of the devil's advocate, is well played, although there is little to work with in terms of character... As opposed to Cooper who is out to redeem his name, lost by the suspicious murder of the ship's original captain, Heston's John Sands is a marvelous counterpart... All he is interested in is getting the salvage rights to shipping wrecks... He becomes involved in Cooper's situation but is emotionally impartial, being circumstantially tied to the situation, until he finally realizes that the man may be right justice, somehow, at this point overtakes Heston's preoccupation with making money and he becomes a more rounded character...
I liked the scene when an evasive Cooper asks Heston not to tell the investigators that the ship is grounded... Heston asks, "Give me one reason I should trust you," and Cooper answers desperately, 'When you were dangling on the end of a rope over the side of the ship, you trusted me. Now," he continues, "I'm on the end of a rope. Do I have to beg you, Mr. Sands?"
Heston says nothing, and when Mr. Petrie, the owners' investigator (played by Alexander Knox) starts asking questions, all Heston will say is that the forward bulkhead went and the ship could not be saved... He avoids the issue of the sinking, and Petrie sees through this immediately... Heston is uncomfortable having lied, but Cooper insists that the ship's location be kept a secret until the court of inquiry has had a chance to examine the wreck... Cooper won't tell Heston why he asks this favor...
Based on a novel by adventure-master Hammond Innes, 'The Wreck of the Mary Deare' is a good film, curious, star amalgam of sea saga action and courtroom melodrama (originally intended for Hitchcock) with fine suspense values, good color photography and an able cast...
Look for Richard Harris (1930-2002) who quickly earned a reputation as an interesting performer precisely in 'The Wreck of the Mary Deare,' 'The Guns of Navarone,' and 'Mutiny on the Bounty.'
Heston is in the ship salvaging business and runs a tug called the Sea Witch... He believes that mysterious events occur on this boat... Cooper is deliberately trying to wreck the ship...
At a London Court of Inquiry, Cooper is faced by many accusers and the mystery of the 'Mary Deare' becomes a major news item...
At first, Cooper does little to aid himself, giving only evasive testimony... Finally, he and Heston swim beneath the wreckage on the reefs in search of evidence...
'Wreck of the Mary Deare' is really Cooper's film... His performance is strong but is possessed of a fanatic determination that carries through and works... Heston's role, that of the devil's advocate, is well played, although there is little to work with in terms of character... As opposed to Cooper who is out to redeem his name, lost by the suspicious murder of the ship's original captain, Heston's John Sands is a marvelous counterpart... All he is interested in is getting the salvage rights to shipping wrecks... He becomes involved in Cooper's situation but is emotionally impartial, being circumstantially tied to the situation, until he finally realizes that the man may be right justice, somehow, at this point overtakes Heston's preoccupation with making money and he becomes a more rounded character...
I liked the scene when an evasive Cooper asks Heston not to tell the investigators that the ship is grounded... Heston asks, "Give me one reason I should trust you," and Cooper answers desperately, 'When you were dangling on the end of a rope over the side of the ship, you trusted me. Now," he continues, "I'm on the end of a rope. Do I have to beg you, Mr. Sands?"
Heston says nothing, and when Mr. Petrie, the owners' investigator (played by Alexander Knox) starts asking questions, all Heston will say is that the forward bulkhead went and the ship could not be saved... He avoids the issue of the sinking, and Petrie sees through this immediately... Heston is uncomfortable having lied, but Cooper insists that the ship's location be kept a secret until the court of inquiry has had a chance to examine the wreck... Cooper won't tell Heston why he asks this favor...
Based on a novel by adventure-master Hammond Innes, 'The Wreck of the Mary Deare' is a good film, curious, star amalgam of sea saga action and courtroom melodrama (originally intended for Hitchcock) with fine suspense values, good color photography and an able cast...
Look for Richard Harris (1930-2002) who quickly earned a reputation as an interesting performer precisely in 'The Wreck of the Mary Deare,' 'The Guns of Navarone,' and 'Mutiny on the Bounty.'
Mystery at Sea
sol121819 October 2009
Warning: Spoilers
***SPOILERS*** Seeing this cargo ship on fire and adrift in the stormy English Channel salvage tugboat Captain of the "Sea Witch" John Sands, Charlton Heston, decided to get on board and investigate to see if anyone is still alive on the boat. To his shock and amazement Sands is attacked, from out of nowhere, by this wild eyed and hysterical man who claims that he's the ship's only survivor! The what seemed like crazy man turned out to be the ship's third mate Gideon Patch, Cary Cooper,and the ship he's now in charge of is the "Mary Deare".
Wih the "Mary Deare" taking on water and Sands stranded on it it's now up to Patch to steer it to the safely of the nearest French port. For some strange reason Patch beaches the "Mary Deare" on the treacherous Minquiers, or Minkies in English, coral reef off the Channel Islands! Patch is keeping what he knows about the "Mary Deare" secret planning to reveal what he knows at a naval court of inquiry. What's even more bizarre about Patch's actions he want's the totally ignorant Sands, who just went along for the ride, to play along with him! Even if by doing that would cost him his master ticket to be a ship captain! As we, and Sands, later find out there is a method to Patch's madness in his paranoia of what the purpose behind the "Mary Deare" string of accident that started when it left port in Rangoon Burma. ***SPOILERS***It secretly switched its cargo of jet aircraft engines to another cargo ship docked there. That ship just happened to belong to the Peoples Republic of Communist Red China!
Patch knows that as long as the "Mary Deare" remains in tact he can prove that there was a plan by it's owner Grunderson, Peter Illing, to sell its cargo of airplane engines to the Communist Red Chinese and then have the ship sunk by a series of staged accidents by it's officer in charge Captain Taggart. The fact that Patch prevented that from happening has put him on the hot seat for being an incompetent sea captain as well as a possible accomplice, in Captain Taggart's mysterious death, to murder. The only way he can clear his name is have the ship-the "Mary Deare- checked for its cargo that which Patch, by having it stranded on the Minkies, has everyone thinking that it's at the bottom of the English Channel. By having the ship being investigated by a naval board of inquiry would prevent Grunderson's paid off goons lead by Higgins, Richard Harris, from making sure that it, and its missing cargo of jet engines, never get to see the light of day!
P.S Even though at first intimidated by his co-star in the film Gary Cooper, whom he idolized, Charlton Heston held his own and in some scenes even eclipsed the legendary two time Academy Award winning actor. The movie turned out to be one of the last films the great Gary Cooper would ever make. Not knowing it at the time Gary Cooper was suffering from the early stages of terminal cancer that would eventually take his life two years later in May 1961 at the age of 60.
Wih the "Mary Deare" taking on water and Sands stranded on it it's now up to Patch to steer it to the safely of the nearest French port. For some strange reason Patch beaches the "Mary Deare" on the treacherous Minquiers, or Minkies in English, coral reef off the Channel Islands! Patch is keeping what he knows about the "Mary Deare" secret planning to reveal what he knows at a naval court of inquiry. What's even more bizarre about Patch's actions he want's the totally ignorant Sands, who just went along for the ride, to play along with him! Even if by doing that would cost him his master ticket to be a ship captain! As we, and Sands, later find out there is a method to Patch's madness in his paranoia of what the purpose behind the "Mary Deare" string of accident that started when it left port in Rangoon Burma. ***SPOILERS***It secretly switched its cargo of jet aircraft engines to another cargo ship docked there. That ship just happened to belong to the Peoples Republic of Communist Red China!
Patch knows that as long as the "Mary Deare" remains in tact he can prove that there was a plan by it's owner Grunderson, Peter Illing, to sell its cargo of airplane engines to the Communist Red Chinese and then have the ship sunk by a series of staged accidents by it's officer in charge Captain Taggart. The fact that Patch prevented that from happening has put him on the hot seat for being an incompetent sea captain as well as a possible accomplice, in Captain Taggart's mysterious death, to murder. The only way he can clear his name is have the ship-the "Mary Deare- checked for its cargo that which Patch, by having it stranded on the Minkies, has everyone thinking that it's at the bottom of the English Channel. By having the ship being investigated by a naval board of inquiry would prevent Grunderson's paid off goons lead by Higgins, Richard Harris, from making sure that it, and its missing cargo of jet engines, never get to see the light of day!
P.S Even though at first intimidated by his co-star in the film Gary Cooper, whom he idolized, Charlton Heston held his own and in some scenes even eclipsed the legendary two time Academy Award winning actor. The movie turned out to be one of the last films the great Gary Cooper would ever make. Not knowing it at the time Gary Cooper was suffering from the early stages of terminal cancer that would eventually take his life two years later in May 1961 at the age of 60.
How Would Hitchcock Have Made It?
JamesHitchcock23 August 2013
"The Wreck of the Mary Deare" is a British film, made by a British director, based upon a novel by a British writer (Hammond Innes), mostly set either in Britain or aboard a ship in the English Channel, and with a predominantly British cast. And yet it stars two major American actors, Gary Cooper and Charlton Heston. The reason, apparently, is that Alfred Hitchcock was originally slated to direct the movie, but pulled out, claiming that the novel couldn't be filmed without turning the story into "a boring courtroom drama." (Hitchcock was fascinated by crime, especially the psychology of crime, but the criminal justice process, whether it involved police work or the courtroom procedure, held little interest for him). The task of directing the film eventually went to another British director, Michael Anderson.
The film's central theme, however, is a characteristically Hitchcockian one- the fight of a man wrongly accused to clear his name. The man in question is Gideon Patch, an American-born sea captain with the British Merchant Navy, who is accused of incompetence after his crew mutiny and abandon ship, leaving the vessel to sink; Patch alone remains on board desperately trying to save the ship. The structure of the film owes something to that of "The Caine Mutiny" from a few years earlier in that the action begins at sea and then moves to a court hearing on land. This film, however, begins in medias res when a salvage man, John Sands, boards the stricken and apparently abandoned "Mary Deare" in the middle of a storm only to find that Captain Patch is still on board. We never actually see the mutiny or the earlier part of the voyage, even in flashback, but hear about them later, both in the conversations between Patch and Sands and at the subsequent court of inquiry into the loss of the vessel. In order to clear his name, Patch needs to prove that the ship was sabotaged and the mutiny arranged by the owners as part of an insurance fraud.
This was to be Gary Cooper's penultimate film- his last, "The Naked Edge" from two years later was also directed by Anderson- and he gives a fine performance. When we first see Patch on board the stricken vessel he first seems dangerously obsessive, perhaps even mad, but we later come to realise that he is one of the few men of integrity in this film. He receives good support from Charlton Heston as Sands. By 1959 Heston was a huge star- this was also the year of "Ben-Hur"- but he occasionally agreed to appear in supporting roles to work with a director or co-star he particularly admired. (For example, he had taken a fairly minor role in "The Big Country" just for the experience of working with William Wyler). There is also a good contribution from a young, per-stardom Richard Harris as Higgins, the ringleader of the mutineers.
Anderson was something of an uneven director. He is most famous for having made "The Dam Busters", one of the most beloved of all British war films, but he also has some fairly second-rate entries on his CV, such as "Logan's Run" and "Orca" (which also starred Harris). "The Wreck of the Mary Deare" is also in some ways an uneven film. In one respect Hitchcock was correct; the courtroom scenes are not very interesting. Cecil Parker as the Chairman of the Inquiry is particularly dull. The main interest lies in the action sequences, particularly those near the beginning in which Patch and Sands are desperately trying to save both the storm-battered ship and their own lives. Although the film was made more than fifty years ago, the special effects are very well done and these sequences remain thrilling even today. The look of the film, shot in a muted palette dominated by greys, browns and greens, also seems appropriate to the film's theme of dark deeds and conspiracies.
It would have been interesting to see how Hitchcock might have treated the story. His film would probably have been very different from Anderson's, but in one respect I am glad he never got to make it. After dropping out of this film he moved onto a new project which eventually became "North by Northwest", one of his greatest achievements. 7/10
The film's central theme, however, is a characteristically Hitchcockian one- the fight of a man wrongly accused to clear his name. The man in question is Gideon Patch, an American-born sea captain with the British Merchant Navy, who is accused of incompetence after his crew mutiny and abandon ship, leaving the vessel to sink; Patch alone remains on board desperately trying to save the ship. The structure of the film owes something to that of "The Caine Mutiny" from a few years earlier in that the action begins at sea and then moves to a court hearing on land. This film, however, begins in medias res when a salvage man, John Sands, boards the stricken and apparently abandoned "Mary Deare" in the middle of a storm only to find that Captain Patch is still on board. We never actually see the mutiny or the earlier part of the voyage, even in flashback, but hear about them later, both in the conversations between Patch and Sands and at the subsequent court of inquiry into the loss of the vessel. In order to clear his name, Patch needs to prove that the ship was sabotaged and the mutiny arranged by the owners as part of an insurance fraud.
This was to be Gary Cooper's penultimate film- his last, "The Naked Edge" from two years later was also directed by Anderson- and he gives a fine performance. When we first see Patch on board the stricken vessel he first seems dangerously obsessive, perhaps even mad, but we later come to realise that he is one of the few men of integrity in this film. He receives good support from Charlton Heston as Sands. By 1959 Heston was a huge star- this was also the year of "Ben-Hur"- but he occasionally agreed to appear in supporting roles to work with a director or co-star he particularly admired. (For example, he had taken a fairly minor role in "The Big Country" just for the experience of working with William Wyler). There is also a good contribution from a young, per-stardom Richard Harris as Higgins, the ringleader of the mutineers.
Anderson was something of an uneven director. He is most famous for having made "The Dam Busters", one of the most beloved of all British war films, but he also has some fairly second-rate entries on his CV, such as "Logan's Run" and "Orca" (which also starred Harris). "The Wreck of the Mary Deare" is also in some ways an uneven film. In one respect Hitchcock was correct; the courtroom scenes are not very interesting. Cecil Parker as the Chairman of the Inquiry is particularly dull. The main interest lies in the action sequences, particularly those near the beginning in which Patch and Sands are desperately trying to save both the storm-battered ship and their own lives. Although the film was made more than fifty years ago, the special effects are very well done and these sequences remain thrilling even today. The look of the film, shot in a muted palette dominated by greys, browns and greens, also seems appropriate to the film's theme of dark deeds and conspiracies.
It would have been interesting to see how Hitchcock might have treated the story. His film would probably have been very different from Anderson's, but in one respect I am glad he never got to make it. After dropping out of this film he moved onto a new project which eventually became "North by Northwest", one of his greatest achievements. 7/10
Just seeing these two legends together on screen makes this movie worth a look
davehi23 March 2005
Anyone connected to the sea or anyone who just likes a good sea story is going to love this movie. This movie isn't Ben Hur or High Noon nor does it try to be, but this is still a very worthwhile movie. The opening scenes of this film set it's mysterious and eerie tempo, almost a film nourish character that carries the viewer through the movie. I particularly enjoyed the scenes depicting the ship itself and found them to be more realistic and believable and better shot than almost any other movie of the genre. I can only hope that one day this long forgotten film with be rediscovered and find a new audience in a DVD version.
Two icons and that old fashioned beauty.
hitchcockthelegend27 July 2008
John Sands is the captain of a small rescue ship, one night he finds the Mary Deare drifting towards him. Sensing an opportunity for salvage rights, he boards her thinking the crew has long since gone. Yet the Mary Deare has one survivor, the enigmatic first officer Gideon Patch. Patch is acting strange and refuses to make sense when probed by Sands about the events on the ship, but as the two men steady the ship and come together, Sands agrees to keep quiet about the Mary Deare until the official investigation of the incident is heard on dry land.
Gary Cooper (Patch) & Charlton Heston (Sands), two giants both in stature and iconic standing, come together here in a drama mystery that is awash with old fashioned values. Based on the Hammond Innes novel, The Wreck Of The Mary Deare fuses action and suspense and then cloaks it in a court room denouement. For practically the first hour of the piece we are left purely in the hands of Cooper and Heston, both men bouncing off each other with acting gravitas born out of sheer hard work, it really is a thrill to witness both men giving gusto.
That this film is rarely mentioned in classic circles comes as surprise to me, I can only think that many feel that both the leads here deserved a better project? Maybe that this pairing should have produced a more memorable piece? Yet the film was a positive joy for me, a hark back to days when the effects masters had to graft and sweat for a desired effect, a time when men were men, a time when the likes of Gary Cooper got the job done in spite of illness.
Also here a young fresh faced Richard Harris puts down his marker for the future, his Higgins is both arrogant and snide in equal measure. Although the accent is a bit bemusing to myself, it's a memorable turn that delivers all that's required. Emlyn Williams & Michael Redgrave flesh out the solid support, whilst Michael Anderson (The Dam Busters) directs with knowing and careful hands. The film feels as though it was released far earlier than 1959, but that is in no way a bad thing, in fact it's quite a pleasant surprise. 7.5/10
Gary Cooper (Patch) & Charlton Heston (Sands), two giants both in stature and iconic standing, come together here in a drama mystery that is awash with old fashioned values. Based on the Hammond Innes novel, The Wreck Of The Mary Deare fuses action and suspense and then cloaks it in a court room denouement. For practically the first hour of the piece we are left purely in the hands of Cooper and Heston, both men bouncing off each other with acting gravitas born out of sheer hard work, it really is a thrill to witness both men giving gusto.
That this film is rarely mentioned in classic circles comes as surprise to me, I can only think that many feel that both the leads here deserved a better project? Maybe that this pairing should have produced a more memorable piece? Yet the film was a positive joy for me, a hark back to days when the effects masters had to graft and sweat for a desired effect, a time when men were men, a time when the likes of Gary Cooper got the job done in spite of illness.
Also here a young fresh faced Richard Harris puts down his marker for the future, his Higgins is both arrogant and snide in equal measure. Although the accent is a bit bemusing to myself, it's a memorable turn that delivers all that's required. Emlyn Williams & Michael Redgrave flesh out the solid support, whilst Michael Anderson (The Dam Busters) directs with knowing and careful hands. The film feels as though it was released far earlier than 1959, but that is in no way a bad thing, in fact it's quite a pleasant surprise. 7.5/10
High Seas Hijinks and Courtroom melodrama in one.
Scaramouche200420 October 2007
Warning: Spoilers
The Wreck of the Mary Deare, is an exciting piece of cinema. Although not a masterpiece and it was clear no Oscars were going to be won here, we are with all presented with a classic yarn that has a montage of rich ingredients.
The first forty minutes of the film is pure unadulterated peril on the high seas as salvage man John Sands (Charlton Heston) boards the apparently derelict "Mary Deare" during a massive storm in the English Channel.
On investigation Sands finds that part of the ship has been burnt out and gutted and the entire crew have abandoned ship. Just as Sands is about to take his new prize in tow, Acting Captain Gideon Patch (Gary Cooper) appears, the one crew member to stay behind, put out the fires and fight the "Mary Deare" through the rough seas to safety.
However it becomes clear to Sands, that reaching port is the last thing on Patch's mind as he purposely steers and beaches the ship onto the Minquieries, a plateau of deadly rocks - "a ships graveyard" Patch assures the confused Sands that this self destruction of his ship was done for a specific reason and begs Sands not to give away her final position until an official court of enquiry.
Sands and Patch are eventually picked up and are met on shore by a gaggle of police and maritime insurance agents desperate to know the final fate of the "Mary Deare" and a rescued crew with an altogether different version of events of the one that Patch himself tells.
Sly second Officer Higgins, brilliantly portrayed by the great Richard Harris tells of Patch's poor seamanship since assuming command and his panic at the fire and the rushed decision to abandon ship which has caused the death of so many of the crew.
Sands then questions whether he has 'backed the right horse' especially as Captain Patch already has a reputation for 'losing ships' in the past. However he stays true to his word and fails to divulge the valuable information he holds on the final resting place of the "Mary Deare"
There follows a maritime court of enquiry where after days of restraint, Patch is able to speak his piece and put the cat amongst the pigeons. Patchs testimony tells of how the ships fire and the evacuation was orchestrated by the "Mary Deares" owners and carried out by Higgins and other unscrupulous members of the crew, so that they can claim not only against the loss of the ship but also it's valuable cargo. However Patch is convinced and can provide the necessary evidence to prove that the real cargo had already been offloaded at Rangoon and replaced with crates of stone.
This evidence is the substituted cargo itself, now secured in number three hold of the "Mary Deare". This he explains is why he beached the ship on The Minquieries, so she will lie in shallow enough water for the hold and the aforementioned crates to be officially examined thereby proving the deception.
But when his calls for an official examination fall on deaf ears he and Sands take matters into their own hands and venture out to the "Mary Deare" to supply the said evidence themselves.
Also Minquieries bound is the desperate Higgins, under orders from the the equally desperate owners to finally sink the tell-tale ship and silence Patch forever into the bargain.
Can Sands and Patch prove the truth before Higgins and Co, or the ships final plummet into the murky depths take their lives?
With notable support from Micheal Redgrave, Alexander Knox and Virginia McKenna, it is really an exciting couple of hours worth of cinema. From the high sea adventure through the courtroom drama to the typical finale of the good guys meeting the bad guys, The Wreck of the Mary Deare stands up as a good old fashioned ripping yarn.
The first forty minutes of the film is pure unadulterated peril on the high seas as salvage man John Sands (Charlton Heston) boards the apparently derelict "Mary Deare" during a massive storm in the English Channel.
On investigation Sands finds that part of the ship has been burnt out and gutted and the entire crew have abandoned ship. Just as Sands is about to take his new prize in tow, Acting Captain Gideon Patch (Gary Cooper) appears, the one crew member to stay behind, put out the fires and fight the "Mary Deare" through the rough seas to safety.
However it becomes clear to Sands, that reaching port is the last thing on Patch's mind as he purposely steers and beaches the ship onto the Minquieries, a plateau of deadly rocks - "a ships graveyard" Patch assures the confused Sands that this self destruction of his ship was done for a specific reason and begs Sands not to give away her final position until an official court of enquiry.
Sands and Patch are eventually picked up and are met on shore by a gaggle of police and maritime insurance agents desperate to know the final fate of the "Mary Deare" and a rescued crew with an altogether different version of events of the one that Patch himself tells.
Sly second Officer Higgins, brilliantly portrayed by the great Richard Harris tells of Patch's poor seamanship since assuming command and his panic at the fire and the rushed decision to abandon ship which has caused the death of so many of the crew.
Sands then questions whether he has 'backed the right horse' especially as Captain Patch already has a reputation for 'losing ships' in the past. However he stays true to his word and fails to divulge the valuable information he holds on the final resting place of the "Mary Deare"
There follows a maritime court of enquiry where after days of restraint, Patch is able to speak his piece and put the cat amongst the pigeons. Patchs testimony tells of how the ships fire and the evacuation was orchestrated by the "Mary Deares" owners and carried out by Higgins and other unscrupulous members of the crew, so that they can claim not only against the loss of the ship but also it's valuable cargo. However Patch is convinced and can provide the necessary evidence to prove that the real cargo had already been offloaded at Rangoon and replaced with crates of stone.
This evidence is the substituted cargo itself, now secured in number three hold of the "Mary Deare". This he explains is why he beached the ship on The Minquieries, so she will lie in shallow enough water for the hold and the aforementioned crates to be officially examined thereby proving the deception.
But when his calls for an official examination fall on deaf ears he and Sands take matters into their own hands and venture out to the "Mary Deare" to supply the said evidence themselves.
Also Minquieries bound is the desperate Higgins, under orders from the the equally desperate owners to finally sink the tell-tale ship and silence Patch forever into the bargain.
Can Sands and Patch prove the truth before Higgins and Co, or the ships final plummet into the murky depths take their lives?
With notable support from Micheal Redgrave, Alexander Knox and Virginia McKenna, it is really an exciting couple of hours worth of cinema. From the high sea adventure through the courtroom drama to the typical finale of the good guys meeting the bad guys, The Wreck of the Mary Deare stands up as a good old fashioned ripping yarn.
Wonderful drama with shipping theme
tacquire27 January 2003
Really good, sound drama with Gary Cooper and Charleton Heston involving the world of shipping and salvage. From the raging sea to the eeryness of an empty ship, to the court room and back it maintains a very good pace.
Gary Cooper's Second to Last Movie
janice14329 December 2006
I watched the Wreck of the Mary Deare last night on TCM. I agree with the other reviewers, for the most part. However, I just love Gary Cooper, and it was quite obvious that he was not well when he made this movie. He looked sick and it seemed that he was just walking through his part. He died from prostate cancer a few years after this movie was released.
I remember the Oscar show when Gary Cooper got an honorable Oscar award and Jimmy Stewart accepted for him. Stewart was very emotional when he accepted the award on behalf of Cooper, so it was quite obvious that Cooper was seriously ill. And he was! With regard to Charlton Heston, he always gave a strong performance. And to watch him in the Michael Moore documentary, "Bowling at Columbine," was a sad sight to see! A lot of great actors and actresses in this movie, a lot of them gone.
I remember the Oscar show when Gary Cooper got an honorable Oscar award and Jimmy Stewart accepted for him. Stewart was very emotional when he accepted the award on behalf of Cooper, so it was quite obvious that Cooper was seriously ill. And he was! With regard to Charlton Heston, he always gave a strong performance. And to watch him in the Michael Moore documentary, "Bowling at Columbine," was a sad sight to see! A lot of great actors and actresses in this movie, a lot of them gone.
Uneven but satisfactory drama
malcp25 August 2015
Warning: Spoilers
The opening 40 minutes or so of this film are fantastic. Cooper and Heston are excellent. The sets and special effects are extraordinarily good and exceptionally realistic for the era and everyone should be gripped by this point. We then move to the first and most crippling thorn in the side of this film, Richard Harris. His role is small but important and played with all the subtlety of a lead balloon. With an accent that varies from brummie to cockney to South African (but is defiantly never Irish), he dominates every scene in which he appears in a way that - thanks to his acting - his character somehow never quite manages. We then move to what should appear to be a gripping peak, Cooper's day in court. This is a critical part of the story, but minor sub-plots, instead of being used to build up or sustain the tension, instead provide distractions and disperse much of the energy. The court case which is deliberately anti-climactic should serve to drive the momentum of the story forward, but comes across as a sort of ineffectual interlude until we are allowed to return to the drama of the final reel. Here again all is fine and things begin to build up again until Harris is required to take the menace and terror up a further notch. He fails. There is drama, but it's nothing to what it might have been. The film closes with a nondescript scene tying up loose ends and includes the line "I think perhaps there will be serious charges against the owners in London". Well gosh, really!
Barely Afloat
theognis-808217 May 2023
Gary Cooper, Charlton Heston, Michael Redgrave, Emlyn Williams, Alexander Knox, Richard Harris, and Virginia McKenna in the ingenue role: what can possibly go wrong? In the dead of night, in heavy seas and high winds, a ghost ship looms up out of the darkness. There are no lights and no one on the bridge. The lifeboats are gone. But intrepid Charlton Heston, thinking of salvage, risks his life to board it. Despite this promising opening, the plot soon devolves into courtroom bickering of minor interest. Alfred Hitchcock and his writer, Ernest Lehman, wisely bailed on this project and were replaced by Michael Anderson and Eric Ambler. John Gregory Dunne referred to money as "Monster" in his book with that title. This movie is yet more evidence that Hollywood is about money, not movies.
"I'm asking you to do something for me as one man to another!"
classicsoncall5 November 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Someone should have showed Charlton Heston how to do a rope climb. When his character, John Sands, attempts to board the Mary Deare during that storm, he uses only his arms to make his way up the length of cable. Same thing when he tried to leave the ship during the storm. You would think it would be intuitive to wrap your legs around the rope to maintain a better grip and provide additional support. It was one of the first things we learned in high school gym class. Heston strikes me as the athletic type, so unless that was the direction he got, it didn't make sense.
Disparate elements throughout the story eventually come together to flesh out an insurance scam that the owners of the Mary Deare attempted to pull off, with Gary Cooper's Captain Patch looking like a bit of a lunatic trying to make his case in court. It doesn't help that he's already been proven a hot head in previous incidents marring his judgment as a ship's captain, but with Sands' help, the pair manage to prove that his initial instincts were correct. I don't think I've seen Richard Harris in a villain portrayal before, he takes to the role of Lieutenant Higgins without a qualm about leaving men to die to cover for a bogus insurance settlement.
The principal draw for the film obviously is watching two screen icons do their thing - Charlton Heston and Gary Cooper. In his next to last film role, Coop looks a bit tired but up to the challenge. Both have appeared in better pictures, but this was a bit of a change of pace. It's a good story that switches gears from a violent sea storm to a tense courtroom drama. If you're prone to seasickness, you might need some Dramamine in the early going.
Disparate elements throughout the story eventually come together to flesh out an insurance scam that the owners of the Mary Deare attempted to pull off, with Gary Cooper's Captain Patch looking like a bit of a lunatic trying to make his case in court. It doesn't help that he's already been proven a hot head in previous incidents marring his judgment as a ship's captain, but with Sands' help, the pair manage to prove that his initial instincts were correct. I don't think I've seen Richard Harris in a villain portrayal before, he takes to the role of Lieutenant Higgins without a qualm about leaving men to die to cover for a bogus insurance settlement.
The principal draw for the film obviously is watching two screen icons do their thing - Charlton Heston and Gary Cooper. In his next to last film role, Coop looks a bit tired but up to the challenge. Both have appeared in better pictures, but this was a bit of a change of pace. It's a good story that switches gears from a violent sea storm to a tense courtroom drama. If you're prone to seasickness, you might need some Dramamine in the early going.
Routine Sea Drama
Maestro-1513 June 1999
This film is an entertaining piece of drama for a casual viewing. It has Charlton Heston in probably his last supporting role during his prime acting portion of his career. This film was made after he completed filming on Ben-Hur but before it was released. Heston took a backseat to Gary Cooper in this one, who gives another solid performance. This was one of his last films and he looked a bit tired. As far as the film, an interesting story of a sea captain's negligence and an unscrupulous team of ship salvagers on Coop's last command. Special effects are first rate for 1959. No classic here though.
despite all the plot problems, it's a good film
planktonrules18 March 2006
This movie certainly could have used a re-write on the script. While the main theme of the movie is wonderful, all the little pieces that make up the lot just don't add up together. Repeatedly, Gary Cooper's character does things that just don't make a lot of sense. And, for the most part, Charlton Heston just goes along with him--even though much of the time Cooper's character seems like a bit of a nutter! For these flaws, the film's rating goes down to 7.
So, how does the film STILL merit a good score overall? Well, the plot is very unusual and makes a lot of sense once all the pieces are put together. In other words, although there are SOME disparate and inconsistent elements in the plot, it is all tied together wonderfully at the end--like a really good mystery. See it also because it's one of Cooper's last films and he generally did a fine job (aside from occasionally seeming nuts).
So, how does the film STILL merit a good score overall? Well, the plot is very unusual and makes a lot of sense once all the pieces are put together. In other words, although there are SOME disparate and inconsistent elements in the plot, it is all tied together wonderfully at the end--like a really good mystery. See it also because it's one of Cooper's last films and he generally did a fine job (aside from occasionally seeming nuts).
The Wreck of the Mary Deare
Scarecrow-8812 September 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Cooper retains his commanding on screen presence in his shared screen time with the rising star, Charlton Heston, in this moderately entertaining adventure/courtroom drama. Cooper is an acting captain, Gideon Patch, abandoned by his crew as the cargo vessel, The Mary Deare, is apparently on its way to sinking. Salvagers, including Heston's Sands, see the ship and plan to possibly attain from it whatever value it might hold. Sands doesn't expect to meet Patch on board considering how badly maligned it looks, but that isn't even the beginning of what he will be a part of before the film is over.
Airplane parts that were to be transported are believed by Patch to be the reason behind systematic ruination of the Mary Deare (explosions, among other potentially purposeful acts to sink the ship). When confronting his captain about the criminal activity he considers by the crew, Patch is dismissively defied of his concerns. What happens between Patch and this captain, how the crew leave the ship under suspicious circumstances, why Patch would want to purposely drive the Mary Deare into the dangerous French Les Minquiers coral reefs to conceal its location, a British court inquiry on what happened to the ship (and on board it), Patch's abilities at commanding a water vessel of any kind, Patch's needed alliance with a jaded Sands who continues to trust less and less in the *man alone*, and the eventual return to the Mary Deare of Patch to prove his theory is correct about the reason behind sinking the ship to Sands all factor as key plot developments that drive this film.
Heston does show here it was only a matter of time before he would be a big star (Ben Hur was this same year), but he concedes to the absolute star power of a dying Cooper who is still a charismatic icon. I think the best part of the film is the opening of it as the friction between Cooper and Heston's characters are heightened by the ship's condition and ongoing weather conditions both dangerous to them (accompanied by the approaching coral reefs, as well). The ship itself looks quite damaged, taking on water and looking quite aged. Heston trying to help keep the ship from total decline and eventual sinking while Cooper seems dead set on beaching the Mary Deare produces hotheaded back-and-forth. I like that there's this obvious gradual build up of respect although distrust during the trial somewhat fractures the good will starting to emerge between the two macho stars.
That integrity and pursuit of proving that a greedy slug named Higgins (a young Richard Harris) was chief among the crew in helping his company sink the Mary Deare really establishes another Coop character so symbolic to that very recognizable archetype he was known for throughout his career. Seemingly a man with the whole world against him, this is the kind of part that seems fitting at the very end of Coop's career (he'd be dead the very next year). Coop's assertive nature at the beginning as Heston inadvertently stumbles onto a major situation when boarding his ship, the latter becoming an unwitting participant in the Mary Deare's beaching and secretive location is intriguing. Also I think you can understand why Heston's salvager would be puzzled and frustrated with Coop's acting captain, particularly as the treatment and hidden agenda of the Mary Deare is concerned.
The courtroom portion of the film, I understand, is important to build the plot and place Coop under a lot of scrutiny, but it kind of grounds the film after that really adventurous, thrilling opening involving the cargo ship and how it was under a severe deterioration due to how the crew treated her. I think Cooper gains our sympathy as a wronged man trying to identify a crime and use the inquiry as a means to expose corruption. The insurance that would've made the company a lot of money due to the ship's sinking thanks to the pricey cargo, Coop is up against a powerful entity. This isn't a bad MGM product, even if its superb opening kind of loses momentum when the two men return to land for the inquiry. Michael Redgraves is rather wasted as a lawyer, but Ben Wright is amusing as the tug boat captain of Heston's salvager, The Sea Witch. Wright has one of those captains who listens to everything his ship's mate has to say, and he's always around during the whole Mary Deare business as it involved a salvage so possibly valuable. While a capitalist, Wright's tugboat captain becomes a crucial ally to Cooper when all is said and done thanks to Sands' involvement. The stuffy inquiry and how Coop seems guilty by everyone, trying but failing to emphasize his innocence and spotlight criminal behavior through the series of happenings on the Mary Deare produces that gulp in the throat that proves its worth to the overall presentation of the film.
Airplane parts that were to be transported are believed by Patch to be the reason behind systematic ruination of the Mary Deare (explosions, among other potentially purposeful acts to sink the ship). When confronting his captain about the criminal activity he considers by the crew, Patch is dismissively defied of his concerns. What happens between Patch and this captain, how the crew leave the ship under suspicious circumstances, why Patch would want to purposely drive the Mary Deare into the dangerous French Les Minquiers coral reefs to conceal its location, a British court inquiry on what happened to the ship (and on board it), Patch's abilities at commanding a water vessel of any kind, Patch's needed alliance with a jaded Sands who continues to trust less and less in the *man alone*, and the eventual return to the Mary Deare of Patch to prove his theory is correct about the reason behind sinking the ship to Sands all factor as key plot developments that drive this film.
Heston does show here it was only a matter of time before he would be a big star (Ben Hur was this same year), but he concedes to the absolute star power of a dying Cooper who is still a charismatic icon. I think the best part of the film is the opening of it as the friction between Cooper and Heston's characters are heightened by the ship's condition and ongoing weather conditions both dangerous to them (accompanied by the approaching coral reefs, as well). The ship itself looks quite damaged, taking on water and looking quite aged. Heston trying to help keep the ship from total decline and eventual sinking while Cooper seems dead set on beaching the Mary Deare produces hotheaded back-and-forth. I like that there's this obvious gradual build up of respect although distrust during the trial somewhat fractures the good will starting to emerge between the two macho stars.
That integrity and pursuit of proving that a greedy slug named Higgins (a young Richard Harris) was chief among the crew in helping his company sink the Mary Deare really establishes another Coop character so symbolic to that very recognizable archetype he was known for throughout his career. Seemingly a man with the whole world against him, this is the kind of part that seems fitting at the very end of Coop's career (he'd be dead the very next year). Coop's assertive nature at the beginning as Heston inadvertently stumbles onto a major situation when boarding his ship, the latter becoming an unwitting participant in the Mary Deare's beaching and secretive location is intriguing. Also I think you can understand why Heston's salvager would be puzzled and frustrated with Coop's acting captain, particularly as the treatment and hidden agenda of the Mary Deare is concerned.
The courtroom portion of the film, I understand, is important to build the plot and place Coop under a lot of scrutiny, but it kind of grounds the film after that really adventurous, thrilling opening involving the cargo ship and how it was under a severe deterioration due to how the crew treated her. I think Cooper gains our sympathy as a wronged man trying to identify a crime and use the inquiry as a means to expose corruption. The insurance that would've made the company a lot of money due to the ship's sinking thanks to the pricey cargo, Coop is up against a powerful entity. This isn't a bad MGM product, even if its superb opening kind of loses momentum when the two men return to land for the inquiry. Michael Redgraves is rather wasted as a lawyer, but Ben Wright is amusing as the tug boat captain of Heston's salvager, The Sea Witch. Wright has one of those captains who listens to everything his ship's mate has to say, and he's always around during the whole Mary Deare business as it involved a salvage so possibly valuable. While a capitalist, Wright's tugboat captain becomes a crucial ally to Cooper when all is said and done thanks to Sands' involvement. The stuffy inquiry and how Coop seems guilty by everyone, trying but failing to emphasize his innocence and spotlight criminal behavior through the series of happenings on the Mary Deare produces that gulp in the throat that proves its worth to the overall presentation of the film.
missed Hitchcockian opportunity
SnoopyStyle30 August 2020
John Sands (Charlton Heston) is the captain of a small boat in the English Channel. He finds the freighter Mary Deare adrift and seemingly abandoned by her crew. He expects huge salvage rights until he comes across the ship's First Officer Gideon Patch (Gary Cooper) who is still on board. The captain died 4 days earlier. Patch took over command and now refuses to abandon ship.
The mystery is pretty interesting. One does notice that the ship interior does not sway that much. I can understand that too many swaying for a long time could be very nauseating to the audience but it doesn't seem right as the storm rages outside. They should be walking on a rollercoaster. The heart of the movie is essentially a two person play. This is a good pair to try but then the movie goes past it. This should be a great Hitchcockian thriller of two iconic stars in an isolated location. The mystery must be solved while the duo is still on board. I can see Sands' mate joining them when the tiny boat gets overwhelmed by the storm. So at most, this is maybe three characters in a stormy sea. That screams Hitchcock. The potential is endless but it becomes a rather dull courtroom drama in the end. By that time, the secret is well guessed at and it doesn't really matter anyways. Also, I don't understand Sands' motives or why he's helping Patch.
The mystery is pretty interesting. One does notice that the ship interior does not sway that much. I can understand that too many swaying for a long time could be very nauseating to the audience but it doesn't seem right as the storm rages outside. They should be walking on a rollercoaster. The heart of the movie is essentially a two person play. This is a good pair to try but then the movie goes past it. This should be a great Hitchcockian thriller of two iconic stars in an isolated location. The mystery must be solved while the duo is still on board. I can see Sands' mate joining them when the tiny boat gets overwhelmed by the storm. So at most, this is maybe three characters in a stormy sea. That screams Hitchcock. The potential is endless but it becomes a rather dull courtroom drama in the end. By that time, the secret is well guessed at and it doesn't really matter anyways. Also, I don't understand Sands' motives or why he's helping Patch.
Acceptable but slow-moving sea adventure dealing with the wreck of a freighter in the English channel
ma-cortes29 September 2015
From the great suspense Best Seller about the ghost ship Mary Deare based on the novel written by Hammond Innes , being well scripted by prestigious Eric Ambler . This intriguing as well as exciting flick packs crisp performance , thrilling scenes , suspense , courtroom drama , twists and turns . This interesting sea adventure focusing on a wreck is set in the British Channel , there John Sands (Charlton Heston ) along with his colleague , from a small rescue ship called ¨Sea Witch¨ , meet the freighter Mary Deare drifting . Although there's only a little fire , the whole crew seems to have left the vessel ; however there is an officer , the only crew member on board . John's already looking forward to a large salvage fee , but then he meets a first officer named Patch (Gary Cooper) still on board . Sands can't get back to his tug boat and stays with Patch while Patch grounds the Mary Deare . Although he doesn't understand yet what happened on the Mary Deare , Sands allows Patch to persuade him not to talk about what he saw on board and to drag out the official investigation of the incident . Patch in order to prove his innocence and to vindicate his good name decides to investigate the deeds and as a result the events go wrong .
This is a alright suspense movie in Hitchcockian style where intrigue , tension , suspense appear threatening and lurking in every corridors and interior and exterior from a freighter . The best scenes turned to be when the stars appeared at end of the film in underwater scenarios and fighting enemies . ¨The wreck of the Mary Deare¨ originally was to be shot by Alfred Hitchcock but he turned down the offer to make ¨North by Northwest¨ . Almost all the studio work for the film was done in Hollywood, with California-based Britishers playing supporting parts . However , the lengthy scene of the inquiry was filmed in Britain, following a small amount of British location work ; London-based actors and a British crew were employed for these scenes . Nice acting by Gary Cooper as a disgraced merchant marine first officer called Gerald Patch who elects to stay aboard his sinking cargo ship to demonstrate the ship was deliberately scuttled . However , Cooper had frequent illnesses during the shooting . Good performance from Heston , as usual , as a boat salvager who comes up a seemingly empty ship one night . Heston was impressed that Gary Cooper still performed his own stunts , including remaining submerged for long periods of time, despite his age and obvious ill health . Richard Harris hated the constant delays while making the film so much that he refused to return to Hollywood for five years . Very good support cast formed by notorious English actors such as Michael Redgrave , Emlyn Williams , Cecil Parker , Alexander Knox , Virginia McKenna and John Le Mesusier .
Evocative as well as atmospheric musical score by George Duning . Rousing and colorful cinematography in Technicolor by Joseph Ruttenberg . This overlong motion picture was compellingly directed by Michael Anderson , plenty of thrills , action , twists , breathtaking production design with great scale models , and being pretty entertaining though with some feeble stereotypes and flaws . Michael Anderson is a British veteran filmmaker, a director and assistant director, who shot all kinds of genres , especially known for Shoes of fisherman (1965) , Operation crossbow (1968) , Doc Savage (1975) , Logan's run (1976), Around the world on 80 days (1956) and The Dam Busters (1955) , Milennium (1989) .
This is a alright suspense movie in Hitchcockian style where intrigue , tension , suspense appear threatening and lurking in every corridors and interior and exterior from a freighter . The best scenes turned to be when the stars appeared at end of the film in underwater scenarios and fighting enemies . ¨The wreck of the Mary Deare¨ originally was to be shot by Alfred Hitchcock but he turned down the offer to make ¨North by Northwest¨ . Almost all the studio work for the film was done in Hollywood, with California-based Britishers playing supporting parts . However , the lengthy scene of the inquiry was filmed in Britain, following a small amount of British location work ; London-based actors and a British crew were employed for these scenes . Nice acting by Gary Cooper as a disgraced merchant marine first officer called Gerald Patch who elects to stay aboard his sinking cargo ship to demonstrate the ship was deliberately scuttled . However , Cooper had frequent illnesses during the shooting . Good performance from Heston , as usual , as a boat salvager who comes up a seemingly empty ship one night . Heston was impressed that Gary Cooper still performed his own stunts , including remaining submerged for long periods of time, despite his age and obvious ill health . Richard Harris hated the constant delays while making the film so much that he refused to return to Hollywood for five years . Very good support cast formed by notorious English actors such as Michael Redgrave , Emlyn Williams , Cecil Parker , Alexander Knox , Virginia McKenna and John Le Mesusier .
Evocative as well as atmospheric musical score by George Duning . Rousing and colorful cinematography in Technicolor by Joseph Ruttenberg . This overlong motion picture was compellingly directed by Michael Anderson , plenty of thrills , action , twists , breathtaking production design with great scale models , and being pretty entertaining though with some feeble stereotypes and flaws . Michael Anderson is a British veteran filmmaker, a director and assistant director, who shot all kinds of genres , especially known for Shoes of fisherman (1965) , Operation crossbow (1968) , Doc Savage (1975) , Logan's run (1976), Around the world on 80 days (1956) and The Dam Busters (1955) , Milennium (1989) .
Fast-paced, well-acted, under-appreciated
athomed24 July 2012
Although Gary Cooper doesn't appear on screen for the first ten minutes or so, this movie is clearly his. Charlton Heston is billed second, and while his part is substantial, Cooper ultimately gets the meat of the movie. It's downright striking when Cooper, as Patch, first appears. This sea-wary captain looks nothing like the dapper romantic lead we associate with Cooper. He's grizzled, tired and dirty from head to toe. Cooper never got his universally-praised swan song moment before he passed, mainly because critics at the time panned a wonderful little movie called Love in the Afternoon based solely upon the age difference between Cooper and Audrey Hepburn.
You may not even notice, but there's very little dialog for the first forty minutes of this movie. There's such an eerie feeling, and so much going on visually, that dialog isn't even necessary. The special effects are stunning in this film. Everything in this picture, unlike contemporary movies, looks utterly believable. The beginning in particular has a few breathless sequences which certainly stand the test of time visually.
This picture is directed very capably by Michael Anderson; it nearly became an Alfred Hitchcock production before Hitchcock decided to make a little film called North by Northwest instead. No matter, Anderson, of Logan's Run and Around the World in Eighty Days fame, does a fine job at the helm. Heston plays his part, Sands, very well; free of the grandness and scope that people usually peg him for from the epics. Richard Harris also takes the villain role which could have easily come off as silly and made it dangerous and creepy.
I give this movie a 9 because I think the script could have used a couple lighter moments between Cooper and Heston. The ending scene, while a little short, was especially well-done. It takes on added emotional weight by the fact that this film would be Cooper's second to last. Watch this movie for Heston. Watch it for Harris. Watch it to see the pairing of two heavyweights in Cooper and Heston, but especially watch it for Cooper.
You may not even notice, but there's very little dialog for the first forty minutes of this movie. There's such an eerie feeling, and so much going on visually, that dialog isn't even necessary. The special effects are stunning in this film. Everything in this picture, unlike contemporary movies, looks utterly believable. The beginning in particular has a few breathless sequences which certainly stand the test of time visually.
This picture is directed very capably by Michael Anderson; it nearly became an Alfred Hitchcock production before Hitchcock decided to make a little film called North by Northwest instead. No matter, Anderson, of Logan's Run and Around the World in Eighty Days fame, does a fine job at the helm. Heston plays his part, Sands, very well; free of the grandness and scope that people usually peg him for from the epics. Richard Harris also takes the villain role which could have easily come off as silly and made it dangerous and creepy.
I give this movie a 9 because I think the script could have used a couple lighter moments between Cooper and Heston. The ending scene, while a little short, was especially well-done. It takes on added emotional weight by the fact that this film would be Cooper's second to last. Watch this movie for Heston. Watch it for Harris. Watch it to see the pairing of two heavyweights in Cooper and Heston, but especially watch it for Cooper.
2/3 Of A Fine Film
timdalton0077 September 2020
For film buffs, The Wreck of the Mary Deare is the film that Alfred Hitchcock didn't make. It was the project, ultimately abandoned by the famed thriller director and screenwriter Ernest Lehman, that spawned the mich celebrated North By Northwest. Yet the cinematic adaptation of Hammond Innes' best-seller did get made, by a noted director and with two of cinema's most iconic leading men. So what are we to make of the film that did get made?
It certainly has all the makings of a fine film, and it's easy to see why MGM thought of Hitchcock to make it. Innes' novel had been a hit for reading audiences in its original medium, a nautical thriller involving a near-ghost ship, a would-be salvager, and the mystery at the heart of the ship's apparent abandonment mid-ocean. Throw in a legal thriller in the middle between sections at sea, revealing the characters on the stricken vessel in greater detail, and you had a compelling mix. Could it be translated to the screen, though?
Yes and no. The opening and closing thirds of the film, set around the titular freighter, are, without question, it's highpoints. The former dealing with the discovery of the ship by a would-be salvager (Charlton Heston) who not only finds the first officer turned captain (Gary Cooper) onboard but also gets into a race to save the ship, is arguably the film at its best. It's here that director Michael Anderson (not far off his Oscar nomination for Around the World in 80 Days) and screenwriter Eric Ambler (a thriller writer himself) creates a compelling tale of men at sea, struggling against the elements and each other. It promises great things for the rest of the film that follows.
Unfortunately, it isn't quite able to deliver on that promise. The middle third of the film, dealing with a court of inquiry, should solidify the tension and mystery of the piece. Instead, and it isn't clear where the blame lies for this, the entire film loses steam as it goes from nautical thriller to courtroom potboiler. Even with the presence of Cooper and Heston, not to mention the rising star of Richard Harris and character actors such as Alexander Knox, the film flounders under the weight of trying to keep the pace and tension up. The final third, which sees a return to the Mary Deare, thankfully picks things back up as the truth behind the disaster is revealed, with potentially fatal consequences. The result is watchable if unevenly paced.
Elsewhere, the film has plenty to recommend it for featuring. Both Cooper and Heston are in solid form, with Cooper's tired looks suiting his put-upon officer with a questionable past. Heston, as the young salvager thrust into the heart of the mystery, makes a part that feels more like a plot device at times believable. The supporting cast is solid, if not always remarkable, from Richard Harris as Cooper's younger officer and nemesis to Alexander Knox as a representative of the ship's owners and Virginia McKenna as the daughter of the Mary Deare's captain. Anderson, as director, brings together the better parts of the film with aplomb, including some fine model work representing the ship and a score from George Duning. While they can't overcome the problems with the middle of the film, when the film works, it works.
For all of its faults, and there were plenty, The Wreck of the Mary Deare remains a fine thriller. It is ultimately 2/3 of a fine film, sandwiched between a less than stellar middle third. Even so, between the cast and the production as a whole, the film stands up well enough. It just isn't the classic that it perhaps ought to have been, but if nautical thrillers are something you wish, you could a lot worse than give this a watch.
It certainly has all the makings of a fine film, and it's easy to see why MGM thought of Hitchcock to make it. Innes' novel had been a hit for reading audiences in its original medium, a nautical thriller involving a near-ghost ship, a would-be salvager, and the mystery at the heart of the ship's apparent abandonment mid-ocean. Throw in a legal thriller in the middle between sections at sea, revealing the characters on the stricken vessel in greater detail, and you had a compelling mix. Could it be translated to the screen, though?
Yes and no. The opening and closing thirds of the film, set around the titular freighter, are, without question, it's highpoints. The former dealing with the discovery of the ship by a would-be salvager (Charlton Heston) who not only finds the first officer turned captain (Gary Cooper) onboard but also gets into a race to save the ship, is arguably the film at its best. It's here that director Michael Anderson (not far off his Oscar nomination for Around the World in 80 Days) and screenwriter Eric Ambler (a thriller writer himself) creates a compelling tale of men at sea, struggling against the elements and each other. It promises great things for the rest of the film that follows.
Unfortunately, it isn't quite able to deliver on that promise. The middle third of the film, dealing with a court of inquiry, should solidify the tension and mystery of the piece. Instead, and it isn't clear where the blame lies for this, the entire film loses steam as it goes from nautical thriller to courtroom potboiler. Even with the presence of Cooper and Heston, not to mention the rising star of Richard Harris and character actors such as Alexander Knox, the film flounders under the weight of trying to keep the pace and tension up. The final third, which sees a return to the Mary Deare, thankfully picks things back up as the truth behind the disaster is revealed, with potentially fatal consequences. The result is watchable if unevenly paced.
Elsewhere, the film has plenty to recommend it for featuring. Both Cooper and Heston are in solid form, with Cooper's tired looks suiting his put-upon officer with a questionable past. Heston, as the young salvager thrust into the heart of the mystery, makes a part that feels more like a plot device at times believable. The supporting cast is solid, if not always remarkable, from Richard Harris as Cooper's younger officer and nemesis to Alexander Knox as a representative of the ship's owners and Virginia McKenna as the daughter of the Mary Deare's captain. Anderson, as director, brings together the better parts of the film with aplomb, including some fine model work representing the ship and a score from George Duning. While they can't overcome the problems with the middle of the film, when the film works, it works.
For all of its faults, and there were plenty, The Wreck of the Mary Deare remains a fine thriller. It is ultimately 2/3 of a fine film, sandwiched between a less than stellar middle third. Even so, between the cast and the production as a whole, the film stands up well enough. It just isn't the classic that it perhaps ought to have been, but if nautical thrillers are something you wish, you could a lot worse than give this a watch.
Great Classic Film
whpratt127 November 2005
This is a great film Classic because of the great contributions that Gary Cooper gave to Hollywood on the silver screen and all his fans from the past and present. Charlton Heston, (John Sands), "Gideon",'99, gave a great supporting role as a salvage specialist who had great interests in the Mary Deare. However, Gary Cooper, (Gideon Patch), "The Naked Edge",'61, was the Captain in charge and had other ideas what he was going to do with his ship and a deep dark secret that was laying at the bottom of the ship. There is a great mystery looking at the foggy scenes of a ship fighting against the horrible waves of a rough ocean, with no course in sight. Virginia McKenna, (Janet Taggart), "Born Free",'66, was the daughter of the former Captain of the Mary Deare and had a very important letter from her dad that could possibly help Gideon Patch. This is by no means a typical sea story, there is plenty of meaning and depth to this entire picture. Enjoy good Acting from beginning to the very end.
Mary Doesn't Charm
Bob-4510 October 2000
Why does a sumptously-produced, mystery-action film with two first-tier stars (Gary Cooper, Charleton Heston)sink without a trace? THE WRECK OF THE MARY DEARE is the perfect example of the "art" of movie-making. Add a stirring musical score, a love interest and a modicum of humor, and this film could have been a big hit in 1959. Sadly, it lacks all three. It is surprising to see Charleton Heston playing a supporting role, even to Gary Cooper. Even before BEN HUR, Heston had graduated to top billing. Two major pluses in this film are the stunts and the special effects. These would be impressive today. They were phenomenal in 1959. The movie is worth seeing for them alone. Sadly, that's just about all you get
It is worth it for what it is, but it could be much better.
filipemanuelneto11 April 2021
This film is a maritime drama set, for the most part, on the English Channel: a small salvage boat finds a ship, apparently abandoned and adrift after a fire. But what seemed like an excellent business day for the crew became a mystery when they discovered the captain alone on board and apparently decided to take the ship to dangerous shallows and rocks that could make it sink.
The film is simple, in that there is nothing complicated in the story told and does not have major twists and turns. The mystery is quite evident right from the start, but we continue to see in order to understand how the villains are going to be caught and what kind of entrapment the ship's captain has devised to do so. There are quite obvious problems and flaws, just as there was material and potential to do more and better. The ending is, surely, the least well done and appealing part of the film, which would have gained from being entirely set at sea and ending with the arrest of the villains. Still, the film is worth it for what it is.
The cast has three great artistic names, who probably will not have kept great memories of the film. Charlton Heston brought the main character to life and left us with a dignified and restrained interpretation, although it was far from brilliant. The actor makes good use of his charisma, but the character is not particularly well-built. Gary Cooper, in one of his last works as an actor and already very weakened by the disease, deserves applause for his hard work and for his dedication and willpower. Michael Redgrave and Richard Harris also appear, in smaller characters, making a limited contribution to a film designed to emphasize the duel between two charismatic characters, intense and with antagonistic personalities and personalities.
Technically, it is a warm and uninteresting film. The maritime scenes are elegant and the ships have all the charm of the steam era, but that's it. Cinematography is regular and fails to take advantage of the momentum of the waves to occasionally and in a restrained way make us feel the waves crashing on those ships. The light also seemed to me to be faint and faint, even in scenes shot in broad daylight. The soundtrack is uninteresting and almost absent.
The film is simple, in that there is nothing complicated in the story told and does not have major twists and turns. The mystery is quite evident right from the start, but we continue to see in order to understand how the villains are going to be caught and what kind of entrapment the ship's captain has devised to do so. There are quite obvious problems and flaws, just as there was material and potential to do more and better. The ending is, surely, the least well done and appealing part of the film, which would have gained from being entirely set at sea and ending with the arrest of the villains. Still, the film is worth it for what it is.
The cast has three great artistic names, who probably will not have kept great memories of the film. Charlton Heston brought the main character to life and left us with a dignified and restrained interpretation, although it was far from brilliant. The actor makes good use of his charisma, but the character is not particularly well-built. Gary Cooper, in one of his last works as an actor and already very weakened by the disease, deserves applause for his hard work and for his dedication and willpower. Michael Redgrave and Richard Harris also appear, in smaller characters, making a limited contribution to a film designed to emphasize the duel between two charismatic characters, intense and with antagonistic personalities and personalities.
Technically, it is a warm and uninteresting film. The maritime scenes are elegant and the ships have all the charm of the steam era, but that's it. Cinematography is regular and fails to take advantage of the momentum of the waves to occasionally and in a restrained way make us feel the waves crashing on those ships. The light also seemed to me to be faint and faint, even in scenes shot in broad daylight. The soundtrack is uninteresting and almost absent.
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