Alaska Seas

This film is worth watching and far better than its reputation, to be a minor movie, because it is a pretty good programmer which will surprise and enchant you; I promise. Robert Ryan is excellent in this ambivalent character for, I admit, a plot, a scheme that has nothing new to propose. A scheme which we have already seen many times before mostly in westerns, and certainly not in movies involving fishermen in Alaska.... Jerry Hopper is a director who deserves to be more widely known, he was an efficient film provider in any kind except science fiction. Remember PONY EXPRESS, SECRET OF THE INCAS, NAKED ALIBI...Yes, a good director.

Things have changed in the Alaska salmon fishing industry since the government stepped in and limited the river-wide traps. But the desires of the old hands are still the same. Brian Keith wants to marry Jan Sterling and run the salmon fishing/canning cooperative. Gene Barry wants the old monopoly on canning. And Robert Ryan. Keith's old partner who walked out, wants to get out of jail and go back to his boat.

It's a fairly standard men-against-the-world story, with Ryan occupying the middle ground between Keith's too-good-to-be-true position, and Barry's greed. Ryan wants things the way they were, back when he could do what he wanted, but the $1000 lien on his boat for docking owed to Timothy Carey is a real impediment. So which way is he going to go?

In the meantime, there's some nice shots of glaciers calving into the sea, and strong men pounding each other with their fists, but everything shot on the Paramount lot with some moving mattes. Jerry Hopper shoots this programmer with efficiency. Keep an eye out for Ralph Dume, Ross Bagdassian, and Aaron Spelling in the cast.

I'm currently listening to my mother try to watch this movie on a portable DVD player. She's yelling and screaming at it, so I rank her performance a solid 8/10. Based on her reactions to the actual film, I rate the movie 2/10. Update: it's not working on the DVD player now. Apparently she bought the Spanish version: Los Mares de Alaska. At this point, I'm less concerned about the quality of the movie, than I am by the fact that my mom still owns a portable DVD player. New Update: she just pulled out a DVD/VCR combo unit. My brother is trying to figure out how to hook it up to a television manufactured in this century. This is getting out of control.

Salmon fishermen in Alaska vie for dominance using both fair means and foul. Rivalry intensifies as two of the leaders compete for the same girl.

Well-mounted Paramount production. No locations are cited by IMDb, suggesting the Alaskan background resulted from a studio tank, stock shots, and process photography. If so, the effect is very well done. I guess you could call this a "he-man" picture —it's Ryan at his rangiest, Keith at his brawniest, with plenty of action in the last half. But look how they've dolled-up Sterling. Her Nicky is very respectable looking, and a distance from Sterling's usual cheap, sassy blonde. Naturally the boys fight over her, which is not surprising since I think she's the only woman appearing on screen.

Unfortunately, Ryan sacrifices his unique talent for tortured sensitivity to the needs of an action picture. Frankly, his is a "wobbly compass" role a hundred less talented actors could have done. Too bad too that real-life eccentric Timothy Carey (Wycoff) had yet to show his riveting brand of menace on screen. That would emerge in Kubrick's 1956 classic The Killing. Also, can't help noticing blacklisted screenwriter Dan Mainwaring (Invasion of the Body Snatchers {1956}) had a hand here. I expect the notion of a collectively owned cooperative as a solution to cut-throat competition was his idea.

All in all, it's an entertaining film, mainly for guys. But I have to admit that even as a big salmon eater, I was disturbed by stock footage of masses of salmon struggling to stay alive inside the massive nets. I guess that says something about the adage of it being better not to know where your food comes from.

If there's one word to describe Robert Ryan, it's "dangerous". He's not the rebel with a heart of gold, nor is he so bad you'll fear for your life, but he's the type of bad boy that makes a girl know she's headed for trouble - and she picks up the pace. If you've only seen him in movies like Bad Day at Black Rock and Crossfire, check out Alaska Seas. Yes, he's still the bad guy, but he's a whole lot of fun, too. The dangerous kind, that is.

He and Brian Keith are former pals and business partners of an Alaskan cannery. Robert took off for a year and Brian held down the fort, and also fell in love with Robert's girl, Jan Sterling. Jan knows Brian is steady, and she intends to build a life with him; but when Robert comes back, her hormones make her think twice about her decision. The tension and banter skirt around the Hays Code as much as possible, and it's a very entertaining love triangle. Robert and Brian frequently have a Beefcake of the Year contest, and it's easy to understand why Jan is so torn. Whichever one gets her will be a lucky guy - check out her teeny, tiny waist! She puts Scarlett O'Hara to shame.

The sideline of Alaska Seas is the cannery business. Brian is legitimate, and Gene Barry is a poacher who tries to lure Robert to his side. Both plots are interesting and entertaining, and even though Robert is still the bad guy (he very rarely wasn't), he's very tempting. If you like him in this, check him out in Clash by Night, another steamy drama in a fishing village, or Ice Palace, another Alaskan cannery drama where he's actually the good guy!