The Decks Ran Red

First time watching and I was captivated throughout. I'm not sure why attention was given to Dorothy Dandridge as hers seemed like a small part. Very brutal but believable plot given that anything could happen on the open sea. I especially liked the scene of the ship intending to ram the lifeboat. It was a great camera angle and one actor uses sailor jargon like, "she's really got a bone in her teeth". I was also amused by the hip lingo used by the actors. Crawford reminds me of a ratpacker no matter what film he is in. I was wondering if anyone could tell me what ship(s) was used in the film for the interior and exterior shots? It looks like a Liberty Ship I took a cruise on, the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien.

One never ceases to be amazed at how wide film-makers spread the net in order to find material and director Andrew L. Stone has loosely, very loosely based his screenplay upon a mutiny that took place in 1905.

This is one of two films he made with James Mason in both of which his character has to contend with a psychopath. In 'Cry Terror' he is up against Rod Steiger and in this the honour goes to Broderick Crawford at his most brilliantly brutish.

Stone is probably most renowned for sinking the already condemned luxury liner SS Ile de France in 'The Last Voyage' and here he has utilised a Liberty ship, making the most of the confined spaces below decks to emphasise the aura of menace whilst Testosterone levels are increased by the presence of the cook's wife played by sultry Dorothy Dandridge whose character progresses from eye candy to avenging angel.

The editing by Stone's wife Virginia keeps the momentum going and is especially effective during the action packed second half which maintains one's interest despite highly improbable goings-on that strain credibility to the utmost.

The character of Edwin Rummell, sounds suspiciously like Erwin Rommel to me which may or may not be coincidental, gives James Mason an unfamiliar role as an action hero and it was Stone himself who commented that Mason 'was too intelligent for some of the work he had to do in movies.' Quite.

I agree with the previous comments 100%, but I just wanted to add something about the magnificently evil Broderick Crawford and Stuart Whitman (!!). When Stuart gets his hands on Dorothy the second time, the suspense was so strong that I involuntarily started screaming homicidal epithets at the small screen. Be sure to watch this one alone so you can let it all hang out without being embarrassed.

Back in the day, films often featured actors playing races other than their own. Charlie Chan was played by a Swedish-American and Boris Karloff played the Chinese detective Mr. Wong. All of these are pretty silly when you see them today due to the casting (though they both still made some terrific series films). Such is how I felt as I watched "The Decks Ran Red", where two Maoris from New Zealand were played by Black Americans! Black people and Maoris simply don't look like each other...and I especially laughed because Dorothy Dandridge of all people played one of them. I've been to New Zealand a couple times...and never saw ANYONE who looked like her! It's a shame, as it's not a bad story...it's just incredibly poorly cast.

Along a similar vein, I read up on the ill-fated S. S. Berwind. The mutineers in the actual 1905 incident were black men...though everyone in the film is white (aside from the two 'Maoris'). A lot of other changes were made in the original story...such as placing it in the 1950s as well as in the South Pacific. I'm not sure why these changes were made....but so many were made it's best to regard the film as fiction.

When the story begins, the captain of a merchant ship has died and Edwin Rummill (James Mason) has been hired to command the ship. However, when he arrives in New Zealand to take command, he can easily see that its crew are disgruntled and perhaps mutinous. Instead of refusing the assignment or getting a new crew, Rummill makes the disastrous choice to go ahead anyway, as the ship is already three days late.

Aboard the ship, you soon learn that Henry Scott and Leroy Martin (Broderick Crawford and Stuart Whitman) have hatched a truly evil plan. They have been fomenting dissent...and their ultimate goal is to get everyone but themselves on the ship to either kill each other OR they'll do it to them. Then, when the ship is derelict, they' plan to claim the boat as salvage and get rich. Does their plan work? Well, as I watched I had no idea since the film diverged so much from the 1905 incident...and I know how the 1905 incident went down.

The story is quite taut and certainly is never dull. The acting was good, though Dandridge's character wasn't needed in the film and she was just added as eye candy (after all, a merchant ship would NOT bring a woman along...especially back in 1905). Worth seeing...just don't think it has much to do with the REAL Berwind incident...which, incidentally, ended MUCH differently as well! Well worth seeing, but seeing the ACTUAL story probably would have been more exciting.

The Decks Ran Red flaps as the title under which sets sail a tense and focused movie that takes place aboard a freighter. The Berwind sails into port in New Zealand because its captain has mysteriously died. Awarded his first command, James Mason flies in to take over as skipper of the troubled ship. He finds a slovenly and insubordinate crew, and his officers tell him that mutiny may be in the wind.

Since some of the hands have jumped ship, Mason has some holes to fill. The only cook available will sign on only if he can bring his wife, Dorothy Dandridge (as a Maori whose command of the English language encompasses even the future-perfect tense). This sultry native, the only woman on board, doesn't cool down the smouldering unrest, but the arsonist is Broderick Crawford, who fuels the fires in order to advance his own half-baked scheme: To murder all the crew but a few henchmen, making it look like desertion and mutiny, then scuttle the ship and sell it and its cargo as salvage for $1-million.

It's basically an old dark house story taken to the high seas, with murders aplenty and the briny deep to swallow up the corpses. And, despite Mason, Crawford and Dandridge, its production values are not those of The Titanic. Still, it sails brisky along (slackening a bit toward the stretched-out ending) under Andrew Stone's competent if lackluster direction.

Stone and his wife Virginia were Hollywood's answer to the mama-papa candy store: He wrote and directed, she produced and edited. Their long career resulted in many forgettable films and some embarrassments as well (Song of Norway, for one). But there were a few modest successes, too: Highway 301, The Night Holds Terror, Blueprint for Murder. The Decks Ran Red can join them as a decidedly not luxurious but still seaworthy vessel.