The Decks Ran Red

Forget the advertising tagline (although Dorothy Dandridge is beautiful to look at)! This is a crisp little thriller, apparently fact-based, about a couple of malcontent seamen (Crawford and Whitman) who try to foment a mutiny against new captain Mason as a cover for a scheme to kill the entire crew and bring in the ship as salvage. Except for a rather abrupt ending, nicely done by the Stones.

These two merchant sailors -- Broderick Crawford and Stewart Whitman -- get a crazy idea aboard a freighter. They're going to kill every officer and man aboard, waterlog the ship, radio for help, claim there was a mutiny and everyone left the ship but them, and claim the ship, worth a million bucks, for salvage.

Granted, the idea is slightly askew, but these guys are snipes, working down in the engine room and the temperature there runs around 116 degrees and sounds like the deepest pits of hell. That environment will drive anyone nuts. Besides, it's like the old joke. "How's your wife?" "Compared to WHAT?" If you put Crawford and Whitman next to the Manson Family or al Qaeda they look like paragons of rationality. So, okay, let's leave them some leeway, so to speak.

I'll skip the plot, I guess, because it doesn't require much in the way of explanation. The dialog lacks verve and credibility. "Anything can happen!" "Whoever destroyed the radios must have had a PURPOSE." And when the officers find three corpses in the engine room, someone says to Mason, "Do you realize the ENORMITY of this?" The acting doesn't require much comment either. Everybody involved delivers about what you'd expect. Mason is smooth, Crawford plays a junk man, Whitman is a little ratty, and none of the others stand out -- except Dorothy Dandridge. She can't act very well, but -- wow! What a dish. I don't know about "a million bucks" but Dorothy Dandridge could start a genuine mutiny alright.

I vaguely remember seeing this when it was released and, it may be hard for a contemporary viewer to understand but, like "The Sniper," which was released about the same time, it was shocking in its brutality. The theater suddenly went kind of quiet when Crawford deliberately picked off one of the crew members from a few feet away with a high-powered rifle. The sexy Dandridge was memorable too, although I don't recall that she quieted down the audience.

The Perrys, who produced, had a habit of using real locations for their shoots. "Cry Terror," another suspenser with James Mason, made good use of New York locations. And they actually sunk a liner for one of their movies, something like, "The Last Voyage." I'm glad they never made a movie about the end of the world.

The story isn't really a grabber and the acting is no more than routine but this is worth seeing, if only because it gives you a chance to feel what it's really like to be on a ship, not a mockup of the kind that John Wayne sails through with such ease. The ship, by the way, is pretty ship shape and not at all a rust bucket. She's also high in the water because she's carrying no cargo.

First time watching and I was captivated throughout. I'm not sure why attention was given to Dorothy Dandridge as hers seemed like a small part. Very brutal but believable plot given that anything could happen on the open sea. I especially liked the scene of the ship intending to ram the lifeboat. It was a great camera angle and one actor uses sailor jargon like, "she's really got a bone in her teeth". I was also amused by the hip lingo used by the actors. Crawford reminds me of a ratpacker no matter what film he is in. I was wondering if anyone could tell me what ship(s) was used in the film for the interior and exterior shots? It looks like a Liberty Ship I took a cruise on, the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien.

Despite Oscar winner Broderick Crawford and nominees James Mason, Dorothy Dandridge, Stuart Whitman, and Jack Kruschen, this 84 minute amateurish production is excruciatingly long and dull and badly acted. This may be based on a real story but this production is among the worst films I've ever seen---and I've seen thousands of films. And all the acting is dreadful. It seems like they're making is up as they go along. Stupid dialog, ridiculous situations, and dumb characters make this a total waste of time. Laughable from the very opening, this turkey goes on and on and on until the foolish ending. I cannot believe such good actors as Mason and Crawford got stuck in this bilge. Dandridge comes off like a cartoon and Whitman is witless. David Cross, Hank Patterson, Barney Phillips, and Katherine Bard also appear to no advantage. This project should have been scuttled before the cameras started.

One never ceases to be amazed at how wide film-makers spread the net in order to find material and director Andrew L. Stone has loosely, very loosely based his screenplay upon a mutiny that took place in 1905.

This is one of two films he made with James Mason in both of which his character has to contend with a psychopath. In 'Cry Terror' he is up against Rod Steiger and in this the honour goes to Broderick Crawford at his most brilliantly brutish.

Stone is probably most renowned for sinking the already condemned luxury liner SS Ile de France in 'The Last Voyage' and here he has utilised a Liberty ship, making the most of the confined spaces below decks to emphasise the aura of menace whilst Testosterone levels are increased by the presence of the cook's wife played by sultry Dorothy Dandridge whose character progresses from eye candy to avenging angel.

The editing by Stone's wife Virginia keeps the momentum going and is especially effective during the action packed second half which maintains one's interest despite highly improbable goings-on that strain credibility to the utmost.

The character of Edwin Rummell, sounds suspiciously like Erwin Rommel to me which may or may not be coincidental, gives James Mason an unfamiliar role as an action hero and it was Stone himself who commented that Mason 'was too intelligent for some of the work he had to do in movies.' Quite.