Dangerous Charter

Three fishermen come across a yacht, abandoned except for a corpse. They're puzzled, but tow it back to port and put in for salvage. It's approved, but the police want to know what they're going to do with her. They reply there's a lot of money in the charter business. Surprisingly, the police have already put the charter notice in the papers. All they ask is that they be informed when someone wants the boat. It turns out to Dick Foote, with plenty of cash, working for a mysterious boss. The police are uncertain, so the owners set to sea with Foote: Chris Warfield, Chick Chandler, Wright King, and Warfield's fiancee, Sally Fraser, as cook.

It's a good story, competent if minor actors in place, Technicolor and Panavision, and some nice at-sea photography and off Catalina. So what is it that makes me consider it another poorly executed B movie? I concluded it's Peter Forster as the mysterious guy who pays for the charter comes on board in an absurdly unnecessary manner, and speaks in ripe, plummy tones at all times. It's also something about the pacing, mostly the odd pauses in the dialogue. Writer/director Robert Gottschalk seems to know what people say, but no clear idea of how they say it, or perhaps was simply trying to save money by avoiding extra takes.

Three fishermen discover an abandoned yacht in the middle of the ocean; they board it and discover a dead body. The authorities let them keep the boat guessing that the real owner to be a mysterious criminal who they suspect will try to charter it, which of course does happen and needless to say his intentions are no good.

Dangerous Charter was filmed in 1958 but not released until 1962. I am not too sure why this was but guess it found difficulty in getting a distribution deal. This seems a little unfair as this is a well-paced and pretty suspenseful little thriller. Unlike most sea-based movies it actually looks like it was shot on board the vessel. This authenticity does it some favours and the scenes at sea are very nice. The story itself is quite a routine affair but I did find myself involved with it and was actually bothered by what was happening on-screen. On the whole, this is a more than decent little genre piece.

I sat down to watch this movie without knowing all that much about it, though I was expecting the worst. To my surprise, I didn't find the movie to be terrible at all. True, it is not without faults. It's pretty low budget, with the seams (or cameraman shadows) showing at times. Also, the movie is a bit too low key; the bad guys don't come across as a real threat in almost all of their scenes. On the positive side, however, the movie moves at a pretty swift pace; the seventy four or so minute running time seems the right length for this particular story. And the movie does keep you curious as to what plot turns will happen and if the protagonists will be able to escape from harm. While I don't think this is a movie that's worth actively seeking out, I can say with full confidence that I have seen many, many movies that are much worse than this one. If you stumble across this movie, give it a chance.

OK, so it's not Taylor/Burton material! But so what? Remarkable as it was only shot in five days! Why do 'Premier' Movies take months........?

I think this is a testament to excellent acting/directing and production skills. There is a good story line, albeit a little predictable.

All in all a very watchable movie. I feel the actors delivered exactly what was required of them. We must remember this was filmed in the late Fifty's and 'Aired' in 1962.

A very different time and place from today! If you get the chance please watch this film.

The 'Marie Celeste' mystery meets 'Key Largo' in the form of a couple of bad guys led by an effete Mr.Big who misquotes Shakespeare and obliges the heroine to change into a pink bathing suit to allay suspicion onshore in this tinny little hostage drama shot in colour almost entirely on board an actual yacht off Santa Catalina Island.

By the look of the thing the hire of the yacht and the other boats used probably occupied more time and money than actually making the movie...