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A sort of mini-De Mille picture from Republic studios, A Fair Wind To Java is a fast-moving adventure story set in the south seas. Fred MacMurray is excellent as the hero, really quite at home in the sort of costume picture role one wouldn't expect to find him in. What absurdities there are in the story are offset to a large degree by the actor's surprising moral authority as the humane captain. Vera Ralston is lovely if unexceptional as the heroine. The supporting cast is fine and energetic. As always, the Lydecker brothers provide superb special effects on a limited budget. Overall, a watchable, old-fashioned movie, if a tad anachronistic for the fifties. The ending provides genuine spectacle, and is well worth the wait.

Fred MacMurray is the captain of a schooner sailing in Dutch East Indies waters. He's gotten wind of some fabulous diamonds, and possession of dancing girl Vera Ralston who knows where they are. Meanwhile, he has to deal with John Russell, who's the owners' representative aboard the ship, pirate Robert Douglas, and the fact that the diamonds are on a little island in the Sunda Strait called Krakatoa. And, of course, it's 1883.

It's certainly not a great movie by any means, but under the direction of reliable Joseph Kane and, for Republic Pictures, an 'A' budget, it's a swell movie for kids and men who have never quite grown up. Jack Marta handles the Technicolor cameras well, and if it seems all bright cloths and sets from Republic's disappearing serial department, it does what is expected of cheap historical fiction. Certainly the Lydecker Brothers must have had fun setting up the special effects for when Krakatoa blows up. With Victor McLaglen, Claude Jarman Jr., and Grant Withers.

Out in the Dutch East Indies and Captain Boll is out looking for treasure, diamonds to be exact. But he is not alone, and not only does he have to contend with on board grumblings, he has angry tribesmen and a rumbling volcano thrown into the bargain as well.

Fair Wind To Java is a just above average adventure yarn, gleaming colour and a tidy production ensure it's a watchable piece. The standard plot formula {complete with pretty female love interest} is boosted by the film's last quarter, here the viewers patience is rewarded with fights aplenty and the presence of Krakatau volcano literally doing its stuff. In fact the last quarter is a joy for those with home cinema, rough seas and volcanic rumblings boom out of the speakers, and certainly up the ante of the viewing experience. Outside of that the film doesn't have much else to highlight, the acting in the main is fine, Fred MacMurray as Boll and Victor McLaglen as O'Brien both turn in solid professional performances, but Vera Ralston as Kim Kim is desperately poor in the main female role.

Not one to recommend to adventure fans with any great confidence, but certainly worth a look on a rainy day. 6/10

In reading a book about Fred MacMurray that came out last year I learned that he considered this the worst of his films. While I don't think it's as bad as all that the main weakness of Fair Wind To Java is the casting of Fred MacMurray in a part that was originally intended for John Wayne.

The same author who wrote the novel this film is based on wrote Wake Of The Red Witch which I consider one of John Wayne's best films and certainly his most romantic. After The Quiet Man came out Wayne decided to terminate his relationship with Republic Pictures and Herbert J. Yates. Republic and Yates made most of their money peddling John Wayne to the major studios with him occasionally doing a film for Republic over the years.

Try as he might MacMurray does not cut it as a swashbuckling captain of the China trade. Worse for him was the fact that his leading lady Vera Hruba Ralston was not what he was used to working with. He who made some of the best comedies around with people Irene Dunne, Claudette Colbert, Carole Lombard, Katharine Hepburn etc. found Ralston's lack of talent and professionalism too much.

The villain of the story is Robert Douglas an Australian merchant who also goes around as a Malay pirate with a Lone Ranger mask. This was a true comic book villain I just couldn't take seriously.

The climax is the eruption of Krakatoa where a cache of fabled diamonds are hidden in a temple. That's what MacMurray and Douglas and their respective crews are after. Now considering this is Republic Pictures and not one of the major studios the special effects aren't bad. And the color cinematography is nice.

But if you're beyond the age of 12 it's hard to take Fair Wind To Java all that seriously.

In glorious trucolour! Another Republic storybook masterpiece from the last 5 years of the studio, this is an Indiana Jones pirate/volcano movie before anyone thought of Indie...or Did Spielberg Lucas see this aged 8 are regurgitate it into the 80s as with Star Wars 70s epics from other Republic (serial) adventures of the 40s. Actually, don't Spielberg Lucas owe Republic Studios a lot!!.......FAIR WIND TO JAVA stayed in cinema circulation even after 1960 and was often seen in cinema screens at Kids matinees with other Republic films like TOBOR or the hopeless western botch PAWNEE. The 1969 cinerama sized KRAKATOA EAST OF JAVA (it was west, actually) might have attempted a bigger screen and scope, but this 1953 version with Fred and the pirates - and genuinely beautiful art direction and great modelwork, is a lot more fun. Even Vera the acting wife came out of this one well.