Eight Bells

With a China contract that may save his faltering shipping line, Spencer Charters takes John Buckler off the passenger run and makes him captain on the first run; Buckler has just gotten engaged to Charter's daughter, Ann Southern, and he anticipates Buckler will eventually head the firm. This means demoting the ship's captain, Ralph Bellamy, to First Mate. When Miss Southern and her aunt, Catherine Doucet, stow away, the situation grows even rockier. Buckler is used to easier runs, and over-staffed ships. Bellamy harbors resentment and and an understanding of the ship's and crew's foibles. When he runs the ship slow because of laboring engines, Buckler speeds it back up, until the engines break down. To make up for lost time, Doucet reroutes the ship into a storm-laden patch of sea.

Director Roy Williams Neill handles the cinematic side of directing, and allows his actors to play out their roles handsomely. The crew is nicely differentiated, and the repair sequences and the storm at sea are rendered beautifully under the camera of DP Joseph Walker. The movie combines the standard arc of romantic comedies very well -- especially if you're used to seeing Bellamy as the guy the girl is engaged to when Cary Grant steps onto the scene. It's another of the superior programmers that Neill produced on a short budget in the sound era.

Cargo ship captain Ralph Bellamy is all set for the next voyage. If they complete the trip in good time, it will mean a big contract for the company. "If I don't bring her in by June 12th," he promises, "it'll be because the bottom's dropped out of her."

Unfortunately for Bellamy, the ship owner's daughter is engaged to John Buckler, who's not an experienced sailor but comes from an upper crust family. Buckler is appointed captain and Bellamy, a good sport, accepts the demotion to first mate for this one voyage.

Ann Sothern is very good as the spoiled and obnoxious shipping magnate's daughter. She stows away on the ship, Bellamy snaps at her for stealing his cabin, and the two are enemies--at least for now.

The plot is nothing too original but it's handled nicely: As Sothern realizes that fiancé Buckler's gentlemanly polish isn't much use in a crisis, she also learns to appreciate the qualities that the crew respect so much in Bellamy. An especially effective moment is a scene where Buckler chats blithely to Sothern about moonlight....while she watches Bellamy tend to wounded and exhausted workers.

The supporting cast offers a bit of humor (Franklin Pangborn as the captain's valet) and a crew of sensitive souls who dream about their families and futures back home. The production is fine, with sea storms and boiler room emergencies providing excitement. Bellamy and Sothern work together nicely--their initial animosity softens convincingly and without seeming to rush it, which is a good trick in a 70-minute story.

Overall, it's a well done B adventure picture that gets better as it goes along.