Sea Spoilers

"Sea Spoilers" is one of the occasional adventure, drama and other genre films that John Wayne interspersed with the plethora of Westerns he was staring in during the 1930s. Wayne made nearly 40% of his films - 70, during the that one decade in a career that spanned five decades. In this film he plays a U. S. Coast Guard ensign playing the waters of the North Pacific off the Coast of Alaska.

Back in that day, the seal fur market was a lucrative one and seal hunting and poaching in breeding grounds was illegal. This film is about the Coast Guard efforts to break up a big seal poaching operation. Along the way, Wayne's Bob Randall has to take a young officer and son of his commanding officer under his wing. And he winds up having to rescue his girlfriend from the poachers as well.

The film has some shorts scenes of Coast Guard boats in action, and some good film clips of the various ports along the Alaska coast. The final battle action wreaked havoc on lots of shanty shacks in a hidden harbor. This is a good film to judge Wayne's acting talent, and he's quite good compared to all the rest of the cast. The screenplay is just fair and the production quality is just so-so. John Wayne fans should enjoy it and those who like outdoor and coastal scenes should be entertained.

Sea Spoilers finds John Wayne as the commanding officer of a Coast Guard Cutter on duty in the Pacific Northwest looking for seal poachers. This was the first of six films that Wayne did in 1936-1937 for Universal in an effort to broaden his acting horizons. Not one of these B films for Universal was a western.

It gets real personal after Wayne's sweetheart, Nan Grey, witnesses the murder of a drunken playboy on his yacht. The playboy, Ernest Hilliard realizes he's been the dupe of these seal poachers for some time and threatens to spill to the authorities. The head of the outfit, Russell Hicks, has a thing for Grey and instead of just killing the only witness, kidnaps her and takes her to his Aleutian hideaway.

In the meantime Wayne also has been superseded in command of his vessel by William Bakewell who is the son of the commanding officer George Irving. Believe it or not Bakewell has a phobia about water and wants to be in the air. He eventually gets his wish, but the villains capture him for his trouble.

Sea Spoilers is a competently made action film and the final battle with the Coast Guard and the poachers is very well staged, especially considering this is a B film. Fuzzy Knight fulfills the role of sidekick, just as if this were a western. He and the Duke worked well together, a pity he didn't do any more films with Wayne other than Shepherd of the Hills.

I have a hard time though wrapping my mind around the concept of a Coast Guardsman with a water phobia. It's explained, but how did Bakewell get in the service in the first place even with a father that had a lot of pull? And did Russell Hicks have that bad a thing for Nan Grey?

Sea Spoilers could have used a better story. Still it's not a bad action film and some of the westerns the Duke was doing for Lone Star films were a whole lot worse at this time.

John Wayne is Bob Randall, the best boatswain in the Coast Guard. His ship is heading home and he's looking forward to two things: he expects to be promoted to skipper of his ship, and he knows he'll see his girl Connie. Alas, things don't work out—at least not right away.

First, the commander back in port passes over Bob and appoints his own son to command the ship. The Duke is disappointed but grits his teeth—he is too much the professional to let it affect his work. But second, Connie is kidnapped by a gang of seal smugglers and taken out to sea and who knows where. Can this be allowed to stand?

Sea Spoilers does not exactly stretch the intellect, but it's fun, nevertheless.

Nan Grey is spirited as Connie, the girlfriend. Her part is not large but she has a few good scenes—she directs some fiery speeches at the head bad guy (Russell Hicks), and she displays smarts when a swift escape becomes vitally necessary.

Hicks is a particularly nasty baddie; suave in appearance and manner, he exults in the early success of his evil plans and freely insults his captives and enemies.

Some minor subplots distract briefly, such as the young commander's fear of rough water, and the seal brought on board by the Duke's assistant and pal (Fuzzy Knight, as combination right hand man and comic relief). But it's really John Wayne's show: he plays a handsome, dutiful and daring young officer who's tall and strong and not a big talker. What's not to like?

An American mystery drama; A story about sealskin smugglers who kidnap the girlfriend of an Alaskan coast guardsman who has recently been made temporary boatswain of a patrol cutter. The film has reasonable production values for a short feature, good location work too. Alas, the B-movie story has some unbelievable elements like a captain with sea phobia, a lot of plot consequences that are coincidental, and detours that make this an overfilled pie. Nevertheless, the final battle is very well staged. John Wayne has a cool charm which shines through as the man overlooked for promotion and placed second in command to a green Captain played adequately well by William Bakewell.

During the 1930s, John Wayne made dozens of B-movies....and nearly all of them were westerns. However, "Sea Spoilers" is one where he isn't a cowboy...but is an officer with the US Coast Guard in Alaska.

When the story begins, Bob is the acting commander of a patrol boat and he anticipates being made the captain full-time. However, the commander appoints his son as the new captain...and it's an obvious case of nepotism. But Bob is a professional and serves his new commander faithfully...even when it turns out the guy has aquaphobia!!! The new captain also just isn't very competent and this is a problem when some murderers and poachers kidnap Bob's girlfriend...and the captain's poor skills result in the crooks getting away with the lady. Can Bob somehow manage to stop these jerks and get the girl...without a mutiny or insubordination?

By this point in his career, Wayne was much more natural on screen and here, despite the film having an unusual theme and locale, he does a very good job. Overall, a very good example of a B...one that's been colorized and recently posted to YouTube.