Tiger Shark

Portuguese fisherman (Edward G. Robinson) loses a hand to a shark and later loses his young wife (Zita Johann) to his best friend (Richard Arlen). He doesn't like it. A simple plot that was reused by Warner Bros. many times over the years. It's an okay early film from Howard Hawks. Worth watching for Robinson's colorful performance. Eddie G's sporting an earring and a hook for a hand, folks. It's not Shakespeare but it's hard to look away. Real maritime footage is a plus. Classic horror fans will recognize Zita Johann from The Mummy, which was released this same year. She's a lot more subtle in this than in that film.

I had once taped this one off Italian TV (during a lengthy Howard Hawks season of films shown in English but with Italian subtitles) but my VCR developed a fault and the recording was subsequently unwatchable! I sure am glad to have caught up with it now… First of all, Edward G. Robinson is the whole show here: his portrayal of the central character, a Portuguese fisherman who sees himself as the best in the business and speaks in amiable broken English (his catchphrase is: "Absolutely indeed") is first-rate and it was also quite funny to watch him sporting an earring. The plot is predictable enough (a woman comes between two best friends and the situation is resolved through tragedy) but that may be because the same elements were recycled so many times, even by Warner Bros. themselves, over the years: SLIM (1937), THE WAGONS ROLL AT NIGHT (1941), Raoul Walsh's MANPOWER (1941; with Marlene Dietrich coming between Edward G. Robinson and George Raft), etc.

Even more importantly, however, the imprint of director Howard Hawks is all over it: the vivid recreation of a man's world, the bonds which grow stronger through the everyday adversity which that entails, the invasion of a woman into this enclosed world which sets about the inevitable tragedy, etc. In fact, the brotherly (or even father-son) relationship seen here between Robinson and his younger protégée, Richard Arlen, is reprised in many another Hawks film – Pat O'Brien and James Cagney in CEILING ZERO (1935), Thomas Mitchell and Cary Grant in ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS (1939), Walter Brennan and Humphrey Bogart in TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1944), John Wayne and Dean Martin in RIO BRAVO (1959), etc; the unceremonious intrusion of the female character onto a perfectly ordered way of life is also seen enacted by Katharine Hepburn in BRINGING UP BABY (1938), Jean Arthur in ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS, Barbara Stanwyck in BALL OF FIRE (1941), Lauren Bacall in TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT, Joanne Dru in RED RIVER (1948), Margaret Sheridan in THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (1951), Angie Dickinson in RIO BRAVO, Elsa Martinelli in HATARI! (1962) and Paula Prentiss in MAN'S FAVORITE SPORT? (1964); early on, the "boys" in TIGER SHARK are gathered around drinking and singing to their hearts' content – a similar instance occurs also in ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS, RIO BRAVO and HATARI! Besides Robinson's performance and the fascinating early look at the Hawksian themes elaborated on more fully in his later films, TIGER SHARK is also notable for its exciting fishing sequences especially the rather grisly (for their time) shark attacks; the scene where Robinson loses his hand to one of the marauding beasts is particularly effective.

Actually, this viewing of TIGER SHARK has reminded me of several notable films which Robinson appeared in around the same time but with which I'm not all that familiar having watched them only once years ago, namely TWO SECONDS (1932), THE MAN WITH TWO FACES (1934), John Ford's THE WHOLE TOWN'S TALIKING (1935), Hawks' own BARBARY COAST (1935), THE LAST GANGSTER (1937), A SLIGHT CASE OF MURDER (1938), THE AMAZING DR. CLITTERHOUSE (1938), CONFESSIONS OF A NAZI SPY (1939), THE SEA WOLF (1941) and MANPOWER!

This is a fine little movie from the 1930s. Anchored by a rather outrageous performance from Edward G. Robinson, it's the story of two men in love with the same woman set to the backdrop of the tuna fishing industry out of San Diego. It's perhaps too short, but it effectively uses its time to tell its story well enough.

Mike Mascarenhas (Robinson) is the captain and owner of a fishing boat who lost his hand to a tiger shark when he was lost at sea, and he has incredible trouble with women. None seem to want anything to do with him despite his ownership of a successful fishing outfit that regularly brings in tens of thousands of dollars a year to himself and employs at least a dozen men. His thick Portuguese accent, constant bragging, and overbearing personality probably have something to do with it, but he's also a short, not terribly attractive man to boot, especially when compared to his first mate, Pipes played by Richard Arlen. Their first scene is Mike approaching Pipes and his new girl, talking about the girl that Mike had spoken to the night before who he hasn't heard from since. Pipes's girl reveals that Mike's girl had gotten away as fast as she could, despite whatever Mike was bragging about that morning. Pipes, being a good friend and first mate, ends up protecting Mike's reputation and feelings with another crewmate, Fishbone, tries to rag on Mike for being unsuccessful with the ladies.

On their trip out, a crewman, Manuel Silva, falls into the water and gets half eaten by a tiger shark, dying in the process. One of the most interesting things about this film is the clear-eyed view it has on the fishing industry. It's almost a documentary of the efforts men went to bring tuna back to American markets, and one of the most striking moments is when Mike demands that his crew catch that shark to cut it open and return Manuel's legs to him. Manuel is going to face St. Peter whole, Mike decides, and we watch them catch the shark and even beat it to death while it's on the hook. This film does not look away from this industry and the men who made it work.

Mike, being a good captain, takes Manuel's possessions to Manuel's daughter, Quita played by Zita Johann. Quita is a young, attractive woman with no means of support anymore, so Mike becomes instantly smitten and supports her financially to the point where he proposes to her. She's cautious though because, as she admits to him fully before she makes any response, she does not love him and is unsure if she ever will. That's important. He insists that she will grow to love him, and they get married in a big elaborate ceremony thrown at the last minute that ends with Mike getting too drunk, falling asleep, and Quita left to clean up after the party. There's never going to be love here.

Time goes on, Mike's business becomes less successful, and in the few days that Mike is in port, Pipes and Quita begin to get to know each other. This is not unpredictable stuff, but they begin to fall in love. Pipes is loyal to Mike and doesn't want to hurt him, though, so instead of following through on his passions, he decides that he needs to simply leave Mike's company and join a cargo ship instead of Mike's fishing vessel. However, an injury while pulling fish from the sea, a hook grabbing him by the neck, puts him out of commission, sending Mike back to port to help Pipes recuperate at Quita's hand. This is where the romance between the two becomes undeniable to both Quita and Pipes, with Mike still completely blind to the reality of it.

Quita decides to go out on the next fishing expedition, and Mike is happy to have her along while Pipes keeps his concern quiet. On the trip, obviously, Pipes and Quita cannot keep themselves from each other, finally succumbing to a physical manifestation of their affection (a kiss) only to have Mike witness it. In his rage, Mike locks in the rest of the crew, knocks Pipes out, throws him into a boat, and forces a leak with tiger sharks all around. Mike let his better side out, and he saves Pipes from the trap that he set himself, only to get attacked by the shark instead.

One smaller problem I have with this movie is the length of Mike's death scene. It's one of those Hollywood deaths where the character speaks plainly but somewhat breathlessly for as long as it takes to get all of his thoughts out. It ends up feeling artificial no matter what he says, and what he says in this particular instance ends up feeling a bit too generous. It's not really the wrong note if he thinks he's going to die and his best friend and wife are truly in love, but there's no anger from a character prone to outbursts, just simple acquiescence. It feels a bit off.

I should take a moment to highlight Zita Johann, though. Mike is the actual center of this movie, but I think one of the reasons that this movie works as well as it does is Zita. She's a strong woman who knows what she wants, and it's not Mike. She also knows that she's trapped into abject poverty if she doesn't take up his offer. She appreciates Mike for everything he does for her, but it hurts her that she simply does not love him. Zita's performance is the real anchor for the whole film, giving pathos to the film's final moments where Mike's death misses a bit.

Still, as a simple tale of a love triangle involving two professional friends, it's solid. As a look at an unusual and tough industry, it's fascinating. It's a little movie in Howard Hawks' career that's been pretty much forgotten entirely, but it's worth checking out.

Edward G. Robinson plays a one handed fisherman making his living on the California coast. Even with a hook for a left hand he does pretty good in his line of work. But that steel hook isn't exactly quail bait.

One of his crew is lost to the sharks during a voyage and he brings the news home to his daughter Zita Johann. She's back home after having run away from the fishing life and has had a pretty rough go of it.

Though she doesn't love him, Johann marries Robinson and then another Robinson's crew, Richard Arlen comes in to complicate things.

Other reviewers have mentioned the gazillion times Warner Brothers recycled the plot of Tiger Shark in other locales. But actually Robinson had done a version of They Knew What They Wanted back in 1930 entitled A Lady to Love. That's the real origin of this plot.

The fishing boat scenes are realistically handled and the principal players do a good job. But this story has been told better and told better by Mr. Robinson himself.

Sorry, I forgot to add a point to my comment that was rather an important one, at least to me. Tiger Shark was shot in the early 1930s and there are some interesting scenes of men sailing their boat into a school of tuna, guided by a lookout, then lining up in the leads and pulling the fish in using flexible poles, one at a time. The scenes are authentic and exciting. Alas, they are history. Tuna fisherman now use "long lines." (Koreans and Japanese have huge industries built around this technique.) The fishing boat now needs a smaller crew (less expensive) because there no longer any mano a mano contests between fish and man. The crew simply strings out long fishing lines, guided by sonar, more than a mile long, with baited hooks fixed to the lines at short, regular intervals, set for a given depth. This has proved far more lucrative than fishing exclusively for tuna with poles. The long lines have a tendency to clean everything that swims out of the sea; not just tuna but sharks, sea turtles, porpoises, and game fish like marlin (which can't be legally sold). By the time they are harvested, many of the animals are already dead, especially the air-breathing turtles and porpoises. The industry has become much more efficient and without passion. Mike probably wouldn't have approved but the organization that would now own his boat would have.