Hell Harbor

This film begins on a remote island somewhere in the Caribbean Sea with a lecherous man by the name of "Joseph Horngold" (Jean Hersholt) owning the local trading post and seeking to buy a beautiful woman named "Anita Morgan" (Lupe Velez) as a wife from her ill-tempered and destitute father "Henry Morgan" (Gibson Gowland). Anita, on the other hand, wants nothing to do with Joseph Horngold and seeks to take whatever measures she can to prevent the marriage at all costs. It's then that a young sea captain named "Bob Wade" (John Holland) arrives in Hell Harbor and after one look Anita is immediately attracted to him. Of course, the fact that he can deprive Joseph Horngold of the money he needs to buy her from her father also figures into her considerations as well. In any case, he soon unwittingly becomes a central player in Anita's plan to find happiness and she is willing to do whatever it takes in that regard. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an extremely old film which definitely shows its age in all departments. It was also rather boring. That being said, I generally overlook certain faults in older films of this type due to my belief that one should not hold it to the same standards of today. But it was difficult for me to ignore the incredibly slow pace and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

Hell Harbor is a Caribbean port, formerly home to pirates. Henry Morgan (Gibson Gowland) kills and robs Peg Leg who sold a load of pearls. He gets blackmailed by Joseph Horngold (Jean Hersholt) and agrees to sell the marriage to his daughter Anita Morgan (Lupe Velez). She dreams of going to Havana. American pearl buyer Bob Wade (John Holland) arrives.

It's pre-Code and it's filmed in Florida. Florida is the most intriguing aspect. This has a bit of pirate-like local flavors although it's too in your face. Lupe Velez looks beautiful and is full of charisma. There is some good style attempted and some not-good execution. It's on TCM. It needs more restoration.

"Hell Harbor" is an early talkie and it feels like it. The script is stilted and unfocused. The best part of the film is when Lupe Velez (as Anita Morgan) sings.

Unfortunately, the quality of the print I saw was very rough, with skips in both the video and audio. Some dialogue--no matter how inept--was difficult to hear.

Much of the acting is over the top. The story is very simple. And with little character development, the motivations of the characters are ambiguous. Having little to work with, the actors abilities are not showcased well.

The only real plot concerns Anita's desire to go to Havana. But her father plans to sell her (in marriage) to a coarse local who entices him with pearls.

Henry King who was a contract director later on for 20th Century Fox and turned out some of their best films did this one for an outfit called Inspirational Pictures. The star here is Lupe Velez who by all accounts was one wild child. She plays one here in Hell Harbor.

She's the descendant of the famous pirate Henry Morgan in fact on this obscure Caribbean island everybody's a descendant of those bloodthirsty buccaneers of yore. But Lupe yearns for the big city life to be found in Havana.

Her meal ticket she sees as playboy John Holland who is arriving on his yacht and Lupe has just what he wants. Well one of the two things he wants. The other is pearls and trader Jean Hersholt has those. He also wants Lupe and Lupe's dead Gibson Gowland is quite willing to promote a marriage like that. Hersholt and Gowland have plans for Holland that don't include matrimony.

The location shooting in Tampa and surrounding environs substitute well for the Caribbean. Well it's close enough in any event. You'll also see cowboy sidekick Al St.John in an unusual non-western role as one of the island denizens. But of course there's the seductive Lupe Velez who got everyone's 1930 mojo going. Also unusual to see Jean Hersholt who is best remembered as the kindly Dr. Christian in a villainous part.

What Lupe Velez had never goes out of style.

Hell Harbor (1930)

** (out of 4)

Anita (Lupe Velez) dreams of reaching Havana and being "free" but her sadistic father (Gibson Gowland) trades her to a pawn seller (Jean Hersholt) but her one chance of escape comes from an American trader (John Holland) who shows up on the island. This pre-code has a reputation of being fairly dirty but I think most of the elements are rather weak or at least not as strong as some previous films. Sure, most of what we see here would be a major no no within a couple years but there are still much better and much dirtier pre-codes out there. In a lot of ways the story reminded me somewhat of D.W. Griffith's BROKEN BLOSSOMS because both films deal with a sweet girl being abused both mentally and physically by their father. King was a follower of Griffith so I do wonder if certain scenes in that 1919 classic were in his mind while filming this. The biggest problem I had with the film was the direction, which was quite weak from the start and things never really picked up until the very end. The current DVD offers the film up in an "uncut" 84-minute version and a shorter, wider released 63-minute version. I elected to watch the shorter version because several reviews I read said it was the better one and it isn't missing any of the "pre-code" stuff. From what I've read, the studio realized they had a pretty weak film so they took out a lot of the dialogue and released it with everything else in tact. I briefly jumped through the longer version and the majority of the uncut footage is just dialogue scenes that really add up to nothing. The pacing in the shorter version is pretty bad and it's even worse in the longer one because it never seems obvious what the director or screenwriter were trying to do. Velez dances around constantly trying to sell her innocence while the men look dirty and act like slime. Nothing ever really happens because the characters just talk, talk and talk some more and quite often these scenes just go no where as if they were just made up on the spot and the actors didn't know when to quit talking. Velez is pretty good in her role but the screenplay doesn't do her character much justice. The same is true with Holland who pretty much just stands around waiting to rescue the girl. Fans of GREED will enjoy seeing Hersholt and Gowland working together again and Universal horror fans will see a young Rondo Hatton in his first film. HELL HARBOR is a pretty weak movie all around and there's certainly not enough to make it worth sitting through unless you're a fan of one of the stars and must see everything they've done.