Harbor of Missing Men

This little Republic Pictures programmer is obviously a rip-off of TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT or simply THE BREAKING POINT. So, you already know what it is about: an adventure thriller which remains bearable but of course very lousy. RG Springsteen was then beginning in the business, as also were Harry Keller, Thomas Carr working at Republic for their careers debut. It is an acceptable but so predictable time waster. Only the short length convinced me to get aboard this film, and also I have always been more or less interested in the short Republic features from the late forties and early fifties. Only from time to time....

Brooklyn (Richard Denning) is a charter boat captain out of Key West. In addition to the money he gets from charters, he supplements it by doing a little bit of smuggling. When a local mobster, Danzinger (George Zucco), approaches him with a proposition to make BIG money, he jumps at the chance. However, transporting these guns to Cuba turns out to be a big mistake...and the folks take the guns...and the money...and the boat. As for Brooklyn, he jumps into the Gulf and eventually he's picked up by a sponge diving boat bound for Tarpon Springs. Only later does Brooklyn realize that Danzinger's secretary is behind the theft and getting to Danzinger to tell him what happened seems impossible. The secretary and her partner want to kill him to shut him up and Danzinger thinks he's a thief and wants to shoot him!

While this film was made in Hollywood, it is set in Florida and I happen to live pretty close to Tarpon Springs. It's still a Greek sponge diving community (albeit far more commercial now than back in 1950) and they STILL jump into the harbor to retrieve the cross at Epiphany....just like they do in the movie...though the divers are normally just teens. It makes for a nice bit of local color in the film. And, for me, this is reason enough to watch the film.

So is it any good? Yes....not great but watchable and enjoyable. It's hardly a must-see but if you like B action pictures, it's pretty good.

If you want to see more about Tarpon Springs, it's also the subject in the films "16 Fathoms Deep" and "Beneath the 12 Mile Reef".

At first I thought I was looking at an uncredited remake of TO HAVE AND TO HAVE NOT. Richard Denning runs a boat out of Key West that takes guys out fishing for tarpon.his assistant, called 'Rummy' isn't Walter Brennan, but Percy Helton. Soon, however, it turns out that he is a part of a smuggling operation. George Zucco hires him for a spot of gun running. When he drops off the gums and picks up the money, however, there Zucco's secretary, Barbara Fuller and a dangerous-looking man, there to make sure he doesn't run off with Zucco's money. An hour out of the Key, however, they take the money and throw Denning overboard to drown.

Instead, he's picked up by a boat of Greek-American sponge divers. They take him back to their home in Tarpon Springs, where he falls in love with the family's daughter, Aline Towne. However, there are bad people looking for him: Zucco, who thinks Denning has run off with his money, and Miss Fuller and friend, who don't want him found.

There are some oddities in the screenplay. Denning's character is nicknamed 'Brooklyn'. Although we're supposed to believe he comes from the Borough of Churches, he seems never to have heard of Christianity before.

Nonetheless, it's a good, if derivative movie. Director R.G. Springsteen, who usually helmed westerns, gets nice performances out of his actors, and cinematographer John MacBurnie shoots in a nice mix of noirish lighting and sun-dappled underwater photography.

Although this Republic production was not meant to win any awards, it's a good mix for a second feature, with a mix of excitement, romance and warmth that makes mid-century films interesting for people who enjoy a well-told yarn.

"Harbor of Missing Men" is one of those small films that are no longer made, but many of us wish they were. Directed by R.G.Springsteen, no relation to the Boss as far as I know, it is tight, tidy and has no useless trim. It tells the tale of a hard knuckle guy, who's used to dealing with gun runners, but this time his load of illicit firearms is stolen so what's a sort of hero to do? He "takes it on the lam, Lefty" as they used to say way back in the day. That guy is "Brooklyn" Gannon ably played by B movie stalwart Richard Denning. Gannon ends up hiding with a family of Greek fishermen and sponge divers down the Floridian coast. The family is headed by Steven Geray who played every possible nationality even though he was from Hungary. This fisherman's daughter is played by Barbara Fuller who was once married to cowboy actor Lash LaRue and the main nasty is ably played by George Zucco who was one of the screen's meanest. The movie is filled with some of Republic's best "B" players and it gives the viewer what they want and does it as only many of the 60 minute companion features could. Nobody said "There's no such thing as no such thing", but this is the kind of flick that could and get away with it.