Starring Rory Calhoun, Rhonda Fleming, Paul Kelly, John Abbott, Alan Napier
Directed by Sam Newfield
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
Three men whose bad choices have left them stranded and hungry in an exotic port land a second chance aboard a cargo ship, but greed and alcohol send them down another road to ruin.
For the most part this is a routine melodrama aboard a sailing ship, with Kelly as a failed captain whose surrender to his temptations squander his second chance for a decent life. He's joined by Abbott, affecting a cockney accent, whose perpetual drunkeness doesn't help, and Calhoun, who's the straight arrow of the bunch, but won't challenge Kelly due to owing him his life. Fleming is the beauty and part-owner aboard ship who tries to stand up to the men but fails. However, the film improves considerably when they go ashore on an uncharted island where the fine British character actor Alan Napier provides excellent villainy. Using the superstitions of the natives, he has amassed a position of power as their "god" and punishes any crime by sentencing the accused to a deadly snake pit. Unfortunately, most of the island night scenes are badly lit, robbing the more horrific moments of their effectiveness. It's not a bad film, but would have benefitted from spending more of its running time on the island and giving Napier a bigger role.
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