Intrigue

The owner of a seedy dive and brothel on a South Seas island meets two treasure hunters looking for a sunken ship with a $3-million cargo of gold. She persuades them to let her in on the deal. Complications ensue because of intrigue, double-crosses and an approaching violent monsoon.—frankfob2@yahoo.com

The Isle of Forgotten Sins Inn is run by the no-nonsense Marge, and features a bevy of lovely hostesses with questionable backgrounds. When Marge's boyfriend, Mike Clancy, and his deep sea diving partner, Burke, become embroiled in a fight, they tumble into the restaurant. Mike is declared the victor by Krogan, a former sea captain who has adopted the pseudonym Carruthers to run an island plantation. Krogan presents his talented friend, Johnny Pacific, a former ship's purser at the inn, and Johnny plays a classical tune on the piano. Mike recognizes Krogan as the captain of a ship that was scuttled, and recalls that three million dollars in gold bullion also went down with the ship. Suspecting that Krogan still has the gold, Mike and Burke plot to find the treasure and take it. After Olga, one of Marge's hostesses, murders a patron in the club, Marge realizes her inn will be shut down by the authorities, and flees with her hostesses, taking refuge on Burke's ship. Mike convinces Burke to take the women with them to Krogan's island as a cover. Mike and Burke are unwittingly playing into Krogan's hands, however, as he needs deep sea divers to recover the gold from his sunken ship. Krogan therefore welcomes the group to his island, and cleverly leaves his logbook, with a map to the sunken ship, in a place where Mike and Burke easily find it. As a monsoon brews near the island, Mike and Burke dive for the gold, but upon retrieving it, they get into a fistfight over who is to take the larger share. As they are fighting, Krogan, Johnny and a group of islanders overtake the ship and take them hostage, locking them in a cabin. After taking the gold with them, Krogan blows up the ship with dynamite. On their return to the island, Marge is horrified to learn that Olga has been giving Krogan and Johnny information about Mike and Burke's activities. Krogan has no intention of sharing the gold even with Johnny, who, as ship's purser, had told him about it in the first place. Krogan draws his gun, as does Johnny, and they kill each other in a hail of bullets. As they lay dying, Mike and Burke reappear, having escaped the ship just before the explosion. However, the monsoon reaches the island and a tidal wave splinters the hut. Mike and Marge are saved as they cling to a portion of the hut, and eventually float to safety. Much later, they have married and are the proprietors of The Bird Cage Café in the tropics.