The Wreck of the Hesperus

"Suggested" by a story by Edward Huebsch and "based upon the poem by Henry W. Longfellow," screenplay-writer Aubrey Wisberg came up with close to what is the only western set in 1830's New England, including a contrived jail break; law-abiding citizens fighting the forces of evil (vigilantes); gang fights and, even, a cross-country chase on horseback of a stagecoach.

Utilizing Huebsch's suggestion and Longfellow's basis and more than an uncredited little-bit from "Reap the Wild Wind," Wisberg has a seafaring captain, who has been beached for losing his ship, Willard Parker, going into the salvage-from-wrecked-vessels business with lovable old Edgar Buchanan---keep an eye on him---and leading the fight against the erection of a lighthouse that would tend to slow down the salvage business more than somewhat.

Parker's brother dies in a shipwreck, and he begins to suspect that his lovable old partner may be causing the ship wrecks by misdirecting the vessels. (Not unlike unlovable Raymond Massey in "Reap the Wild Wind.") Tain't long ere Parker and Buchanan are on opposite sides.

This grade B retelling of the Longfellow poem is not great art, but it's a good movie for children, especially for a rainy afternoon. Stalwart Willard Parker does battle with a ton of stock footage of storms and ships at sea; and the film is amiable, moving along at a nice clip. Old New England is seldom depicted in old movies (or new ones for that matter), and it's always fascinating to see how it's recreated. This is is a nice reimagining of a bygone era. The actors are more than adequate; avuncular and reassuring, as in a Disney film.

"The Wreck of the Hesperus" is a B-movie from Columbia Pictures. However, it seems to have almost nothing to do with the Longfellow poem of the same name.

When the story begins, Captain Macready (Willard Parker) crashes his ship into the rocks. Apparently, someone on shore had been using lanterns to confuse ships and guide them into the rocks in order to profit from the resulting salvage. Macready survives but now shipping companies won't hire him following the accident. So, he gets a job with a salvage company. Soon he begins to suspect his boss might have something to do with these shipwrecks.

Like other B-movies of the era, this one is just a bit over an hour in length and it stars lesser studio talents. Apart from Edgar Buchanan (only a minor star at the time), you probably won't recognize any of the cast.

So is it any good? Well, since Columbia made a ton of Bs and they tended to be a bit better and more polished than most, it's not surprising that despite the cast, the story is pretty good. Plus, although unknowns, the cast was just fine. It's also an unusual story for a B, which often tended to be westerns, mysteries and comedies.

Willard Parker is a little bit wooden here as former sea captain "John Macready", who runs a salvage business with his partner "George Lockhart" (Edgar Buchanan) in a coastal Maine town. One night, after a particularly violent Atlantic storm, he becomes aware that a recently wrecked ship might have been done so deliberately - and that his partner might be implicated. The challenge is, how can he prove this without looking equally guilty himself, and get the Governor (Boyd Davis) to get the State to erect a lighthouse to warn other ships of the dangers? Director John Hoffman has made quite a decent fist of this "Jamaica Inn" style version of Longfellow's famous poem, with good sound and storm effects to complement the adequate performances on screen and he keeps the story jogging along nicely until a, sadly, rather rushed ending. Still, it's a decent action feature that highlights some of the true dangers of 19th century seafaring that is well worth 75 minutes on a weekend afternoon...

It is a very interesting story. Captain Macready loses his ship in a storm, foiled by false decoy fires to the rocks, which makes a very dramatic opening of the drama. He can't get another command and thus has to earn his living by other methods and turns into a wrecker, saving goods from stranded ships. What he doesn't know is that his business partner is leading the business of wrecking ships. When his own brother becomes a casualty in the shipwreck of the "Hesperus", he decides to change sides completely and joins the party of villagers by the sea who want to build a lighthouse. This goes against the interest of his employer, and so there is a bitter and deadly conflict with an intrigue thickening to some severe eruption.

Such a story could have been made so much more of than this brief film of less than 80 minutes, although the drama is tremendous, the acting is professional, and the cinematography is impressing with all those storms and shipwrecks, so all the suspense ingredients of a great film are here, but they are not used at all. Instead you have a straightforward account of the events, leaving no space for any dynamics. It's great entertainment as a fascinating story, but you miss the competence to take the opportunity of such epic and tremendous resources.