Manuela

Talk about growing up too quickly! At seventeen, Manuela (Elsa Martinelli), is already widowed and now a stowaway aboard rickety, tramp freighter, 'Conway Castle', in a determined bid to reach England.

Upon her discovery, steely eyed, hot tempered, hard drinking, bottle smashing captain Trevor Howard pledges to put her ashore along with crew member (not so super) Mario, responsible for smuggling her aboard, at the nearest point, a grim, barely inhabited island. Harsh treatment, but when you are the skipper, you're entitled to go overboard once in a while!

Gradually, Howard's fiery temper is tempered as he reveals a softer, more philosophical side to his character. Becoming increasingly self deprecating and introspective, followed by an outpouring of genuine love.

Life is clearly full of surprises in the Merchant Navy. One day you're the captain of a cargo ship, the next, you've joined The Drifters. 'Manuela' suddenly takes an unexpectedly dramatic turn and unleashes a further sombre, reflective twist before disappearing over the horizon.

Amongst Howard's motley crew are jittery, but strangely remote chaplain, Donald Pleasence and a bearded Warren Mitchell, apparently intent on performing his entire repertoire of accents and dialects.

A lost movie in an ocean of lost movies, but worth salvaging, if you are prepared to dive deep.

Films set on the high seas featuring a woman who encounters problems with women.So it is hardly surprising that lesser films such as this should be completely forgotten and unseen.Audiences would have had their fill of shipboard romance.This has a dramatic rather than a comedic conclusion.There is a short period where there is some dramatic action.Otherwise it is a verbose bore.

Reminiscent of Conrad, although he wouldn't have lowered himself to the silly plot about feline, lynx-eyed young Elsa Martinelli masquerading as a boy in the title role; a disguise that even a drink-sozzled Trevor Howard isn't fooled by.

Pedro Armendariz seems initially to be shaping up as the film's lead but Howard soon takes over and gives the performance that dominates the film, particularly effective in face of Armendariz's overcacting; which his shaven head makes seem even broader.

The scenes aboard ship have certain rugged realism, William Alwyn's plaintive score adds to the atmosphere. Among the supporting cast Donald Pleasance sports an acceptable Welsh accent as Howard's sanctimonious, bible-quoting first officer; while in the last minutes Michael Peake has a sinister cameo, made all the creepier from the fact that he never says a word.

This is one of those films that you see on an oldies station that plays some of those forgotten British black and white gems in amongst potboilers such as the "Carry On" series. "Manuela" is pure character study with a cast that brings depth and humanity to each portrait. At its center is Trevor Howard as the captain of an antiquated steamboat and a crew of disparate misfits. His façade as a crusty, cynical, misanthropic, disciplinarian is shattered by the arrival of Manuela, a young female disguised as a new crew member. The cast includes acting luminaries such as the ever enigmatic oddball and slightly sinister, Donald Pleasance, the life force that was Pedro Armendariz (Best remembered as James Bond's Turkish contact, Kerim Bey, in "From Russia With Love") and even Warren Mitchell before he became the abusive curmudgeon, Alf Garnett, in "From Death Do Us Part".

The center of attention is Elsa Martinelli as Manuela. She is luminous. She is childlike and wildly passionate. Her figure is willowy and her face elfin. In short, she is irresistible, especially when you have been condemned to working on a steam ship running between seamy sailing ports of South America and England.

There is a real sense of the heat, sweat, steam and coal dust and the dangers and hardships experienced by sailors on some of the old steam tubs. The black and white photography highlights the dank, dark recesses of the ship and the sweat and grime on the faces of the crew.

This is a tough film about tough men and that is what makes captain Prothero's love for Manuela so genuinely felt. Something unexpectedly beautiful has come into his life and he knows it. Trevor Howard expressed this depth of feeling without sentimentality.

I highly recommend "Manuela" to those who enjoy those old films that were made with such integrity and skill.

Pedro Amendariz meets Elsa Martinelli. She wants out of the tiny town she's living in and on to England..... her father was English. Armendariz agrees to smuggle her aboard his ship, where captain Trevor Howard is one of those men who is all brains and no heart, all shipping ambition and no human yearnings.... so when she turns up, he falls for her. But woman on ships are bad luck, and things start to go wrong. Soon the ship is at risk of being destroyed.

Guy Hamilton certainly hit the ground running when it came to directing movies; he had a string of prestigious and successful projects from his first movie in 1952, and here he was direcing this "sow, don't tell" drama of repression, ambition and love. It's sere in its handling, except for Armendariz, who, as always, leaks emotion, humor. and warmth in whatever he does on the screen.

As for Hamilton, he would peak in the 1960s, with British productions that were international hits; he directed three of the JAMES BOND pictures, cemented Michael Caine as a star.... and then became the director for big-budget adventure sequels in the 1970s, self-destructing in them in the 1980s. He died in 2016, 93 years old.