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Exciting flick on the danger waters of the Pacific with Wayne as a seasoned Captain undertaking several adventures and risks . As the Second World War breaks out , -1939- German freighter captain Karl Ehrlich (John Wayne) is about to leave Sydney , Australia , with his his boat , the Ergenstrasse (it was portrayed by the real HMCS New Glascow , a Prestonian-class frigate) , as he is determined to steer his vessel back to Germany . But a suspicious beauty is aboard as the British Commander Jeff Napier's (David Farrar who narrates the tale by voice-in-off) girlfriend , she's called Elsa Keller (Lana Turner) . As Elsa , a mysterious woman , is on board , that's why Ehrlich has been ordered to return to Germany safely along with whatever secrets she carries . Then the brave skipper sails despite an English blockade , being pursued by British and German navies as he abandons Down Under . As Karl must smuggle throughout enemy Oceans plenty of warships and cruisers . When Ehrlich's fiercely Nazi chief officer Kirchner (Lyle Bettger) commits an atrocity , the British chase becomes deadly . As Ehrlich tries to get his ship back to Germany across the Pacific , Atlantic Oceans and through a gauntlet of Allied warships .

This enjoyable picture packs thrills , drama , action , sea pursuits , it results to be pretty entertaining and appear as supporting players a lot of prestigious actors ; however , being overlong . John Wayne's good vehicle , though miscast as an obstinate Prussian skipper . The plot is plain and simple , as World War II begins , at its violent outbreak , a renegade as well as stubborn German freighter captain named Karl Ehrlich escapes from Sidney and must transport a mysterious passenger and arrive in his destination , Germany . Interesting and stirring script from James Warner Bella , John Ford's regular screenwriter , and John Twist based on a novel written by Andrew Geer . This ¨Sea chase¨ or ¨La Cacería¨ bears certain resemblance with "Blood Alley¨ (55) by William A. Wellman , also with a skipper Wayne , along with Lauren Bacall , pursued and surrounded by enemy ships and attempting to escape . The Wayne-Turner combination ignite the sparks you'd expect . Nice acting by the great John Wayne , here he takes an unusual character as Ehrlich , an anti-Nazi but proud German who hopes to outrun or out-maneuver the British warship pursuing him . A German Wayne rivaled only by his infamous Genghis Khan in ¨The Conqueror¨ film directed by Dick Powell , for strange role selection . And aboard his ship is the gorgeous and elegant Lana Turner who sings a wonderful song accompanied by the seamen . However , star Lana Turner and filmmaker John Farrow did not get along well during production , she felt Farrow gave her no direction at all and that he was unpleasant with her and her co-stars . There is a colorful secondary cast that includes Lyle Bettger as second-in-command officer , David Farrar as the British Commander , Tab Hunter as a young cadet , the veteran Paul Fix , the ordinary Alan Hale Jr , Richard ¨Dick¨ Davalos , John Qualen as chief machinist and John Doucette . Furthermore , two notorious support actors : Claude Akins , -Claude' normally dark hair was bleached blond for this character- and Gunsmoke's James Arness ; Akins later appeared on ten episodes of "Gunsmoke". Evocative cinematography in Cinemascope and WarnerColor by William H. Clothier , John Ford's customary cameraman . And thrilling and moving musical score by Roy Webb.

The motion picture was well directed by John Farrow . At his beginning he wrote short stories and plays during his four-year career in the navy ; in fact John was injured while serving as a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy in World War II . In the late 1920s Farrow came to Hollywood as a technical adviser for a film about Marines and stayed as a screenwriter , from ¨A Sailor's Sweetheart¨ (1927). He began directing in 1937 ¨Men in Exile¨ and ¨West of Shanghai¨ (1937). He married Tarzan's Jane , Maureen O'Sullivan , in 1936 and being Mia Farrow's father . John collaborated in the writing of several of his movies and shared the Academy Award for ¨Around the world in Eighty days¨ (56) . John was a good craftsman who directed all kinds of genres as Western : ¨Copper Canyon¨(50) , ¨Hondo¨ (53) with Wayne , ¨A bullet is waiting¨(54) ; Adventure : ¨Five come back¨(39) , ¨Two years before the mast¨(46) , ¨Botany Bay¨ (59) , ¨Back from eternity¨(56) ; Noir : ¨The Saint strikes back¨(39) , ¨The Criminal Court¨(46) , ¨The Big Clock¨(48) ; Crime drama : ¨Unholy wife¨(57) , ¨His kind of woman¨(51) , Historical : ¨John Paul Jones¨ (59) and Warfare : ¨Commandos strike at dawn¨(43) and this ¨Sea chase¨ (55) .

John Wayne is monumentally miscast as the captain of a German boat during World War 2. John Wayne pretty much plays the part as he plays all of his parts - simply as 'John Wayne'. He saunters through his role, not really acting but just being there; however, he does have a great screen presence. He's not a German, though, and his strong American accent does him no favours in the believability stakes, and the fact that all of the crew speak English make this a film that obviously doesn't care whether or not the audience will believe it. Of course, this is 1950's Hollywood, so we can't expect the crew speak German with subtitles or anything like that; but having a German crew speak fluent English doesn't really work.

Despite it's relative silliness, however, this film is decent throwaway entertainment. The plot follows the escapades of John Wayne...I mean Karl Ehrlich, a German freighter captain who must take his ship from Sydney, Australia to it's homeland of Germany. However, things are never that simple as hot on his heels are the British Navy, and as we all know; Britannia rules the waves, so John...I mean Karl has a job on his hands. A chase is always exciting to see in a film, and it is exciting here.... sometimes. The film never reaches the dizzy highs of other action adventure films, but it holds it's own in the entertainment department. There are several good sequences, such as a shark attack, several scenes of rough sea and a near mutiny among other things.

Lana Turner stars opposite John Wayne as the standard 'love interest'. Lana's performance isn't bad, and she looks nice; but the love part of the film seems very much like it was tacked on in order to get more people to go and see it. I know that this obviously isn't what happened, as all love interests in films like this are very much needed so that the story can progress and have nothing to do with getting more people into the cinema. Oh wait. Anyway, despite this needless element; The sea Chase is mostly well paced and it doesn't get boring often, and when it does it's not for long; so I recommend the film to anyone that just wants something mindless to watch for a couple of hours; like I did when I watched it.

1955 marked the last year of John Wayne's streak of being number one at the box office and it was films like The Sea Chase that helped bring about an end to his reign.

I cannot understand for the life of me why John Wayne, as American as they come was cast as a German. Right around the same time there were players like Curt Jurgens or the newly arrived in Hollywood Yul Brynner who would have been far better and believable in the role of freighter captain Karl Ehrlich. Brynner in fact later on did quite well in the film Morituri playing a German freighter captain. James Mason would have done well also. What was the Duke thinking.

Offhand I can only think of three films in which he played a non-American, this one, The Long Voyage Home, and The Conqueror. Of course The Conqueror was one of the biggest flops in film history with Wayne as Genghis Khan. He did all right in The Long Voyage Home, but it's a small part in an ensemble production. John Ford must have been very patient with him getting that proper Swedish accent there. Wayne did not have Robert Mitchum's ear for dialect. In fact Mitchum might have been able to play Karl Ehrlich.

The story starts in Sydney harbor right before the Nazis march into Poland. With war talk in the air, Captain David Farrar visits his old friend Wayne on his tramp steamer and he brings his new fiancé, Lana Turner. Wayne knows her to be an adventuress and probably an agent for the Nazis. He tells her to leave Farrar while the leaving is good, little dreaming he'd be asked by the German consul to transport Turner back to Germany.

Wayne sneaks his ship out of Sydney Harbor and the Royal Navy gives chase. While stopping at an island for supplies, second officer Lyle Bettger, a hardened Nazi, murders the survivors of a fishing vessel who were stranded there. Of course the atrocity redounds to Wayne's ship and gives the Royal Navy real reason to pursue.

David Farrar is a fine British sea captain in the best stiff upper lip tradition. Of course Lyle Bettger adds to that wonderful group psychotics he developed a patent on during the fifties. Lana Turner is well cast in her role as femme fatale.

A whole lot of young players are in the crew of Wayne's ship like James Arness, Tab Hunter, Richard Davalos, and Alan Hale, Jr. When the ship stops and makes some repairs and provisions, the crew is put to work cutting down trees. Lots of topless beefcake for the audience there.

In addition Richard Davalos has a very touching death scene, probably the acting highlight of the film.

It's not the worst film John Wayne ever did, but fans of the eternal Duke will find his playing a German incongruous to say the least.

This film is purely for entertainment and not of any historical background. Still, navy/sea warfare buffs will enjoy the story of the pursuit by a British destroyer of a German merchant ship across several oceans. The cast is so-so but with the "Duke" (John Wayne) in the lead role the story manages to limp along with some degree of success. The "destroyer" used in the film is in fact HMCS New Glasgow, a frigate then in service with the Royal Canadian Navy. I saw the movie shortly after it's release in 1955 while in my mid-teens; a number of years later I served on New Glasgow and recalled the part played by the ship and crew in the film. Shows how Hollywood will use any "prop" available to fill in scenes. The crew never did get any extra pay for their appearance (nor did the ship)but at least they have the satisfaction of knowing the true identity of the "destroyer." Despite all the above the film is good viewing and will be of interest to many.

John Wayne as the captain of a German ship during the early days of World War II? The same John Wayne who rode tall in the saddle, saved a doomed airliner, and led the Green Berets? All right, he does not support German policies, but, nevertheless, casting Wayne in the part of Captain Karl Ehrlich was a bizarre choice. The Duke does not even attempt a German accent, and he actually mispronounces the only German words that he utters, "Auf Wiedersehn." Perhaps the lure of starring opposite the luscious, if decidedly petite next to Wayne, Lana Turner was reason enough to ignore the mediocre script and listless direction by John Farrow.

Whatever Wayne's motives for appearing in "The Sea Chase," he plays John Wayne relatively well and outmaneuvers the pursuing British in the grand heroic style he pioneered. Of course, why the audience should be pulling for the Germans to escape the British during World War II is a moral dilemma with which to wrestle. However, somewhat akin to "Das Boot," only one dastardly German serves among the otherwise apolitical crew, and a Nazi flag only appears once and briefly.

As Ehrlich, Wayne sails from Sydney just after hostilities begin in Europe, and, with a British ship in pursuit, which is captained by an officer that Wayne managed to insult over a woman, the glowing Ms. Turner, Wayne maneuvers his ship through the South Pacific towards safety in Valparaiso. Just before leaving Sydney, the German counsel tells Captain Ehrlich that he will be carrying a passenger, a spy who also seeks refuge in Valparaiso. Of course, the increasingly stunning Lana Turner is the passenger, who has managed to escape Sydney with only one bag. And what a bag that must have been, because, throughout the voyage, she has endless changes from one glamorous costume to another. Her makeup is never less than perfect, and the hairspray alone to keep her immaculately coiffed must have weighed a ton. How she maintained the perfection of her platinum blonde hair without a dye specialist on board remains a mystery. Of course, "The Sea Chase" is pure Hollywood hokum, and such questions of logic should never be asked.

Unfortunately for the film and perhaps for Wayne, there appears to be little chemistry between the Duke and Turner. In the one kissing scene, Wayne seems to be biting Turner's jugular while holding his breath rather than exuding any passion. Turner does not turn up the heat either. In spite of her famous looks and figure, Lana exudes a chill towards most of the men in the film, although she tempts the sex-starved crew with tightly filled sweaters from her private deck. The decidedly non-Teutonic actors in the supposedly German crew include such familiar faces as James Arness, Tab Hunter, Claude Akins, Paul Fix, and Alan Hale, and each is decidedly superior to the lines they are forced to recite.

Although the film is a supposedly a chase, there is a shortage of action, and the film plods along with little suspense other than that provided by Turner's wardrobe changes. John Wayne fans likely will want to see "The Sea Chase," if only for the curiosity value. Others perhaps should steer clear unless it is a particularly rainy day with absolutely nothing else but reruns of "My Mother the Car" on the tube.