Mutiny Ahead

Neil Hamilton has gone through all the money he inherited and then some; the guy who runs the gambling place he's deep in debt to gives him 36 hours to come up with a big chunk of it. His friends are not forthcoming, but coincidentally, a fence offers him the money he needs and more to takes some pearls off an old lady's neck. He's on his way to deliver them... or maybe not.... when a sailor steals them from him. Chasing him lands him on the yacht of Kathleen Burke, who's the niece of the old lady, as she sets sail to look for sunken treasure.

It's largely a decent States Rights B movie -- except for the part where Hamilton fights a giant octopus -- mostly due to the sort of good actors available to the cheapest of Gower Gulch producers at the time: down-on-their-heels actors (Hamilton), actors who hadn't risen out o the bottom ranks yet (Paul Fix, Leon Ames) and actors who never got the role that got them noticed by the public and major producers (Miss Burke). The writer was Stuart Anthony, who would wind up writing for Paramount and Republic. The director, Thomas Atkins, was mostly an uncredited Assistant Director for RKO and its Film Booking Office predecessor; he directed three three movies at this time, and then his credits vanish. He lived until 1968, a month shy of his 81st birthday. Given the large numbers of Tommy Atkins, in the British Army and elsewhere, it's hard to tell anything about his life. It seems unlikely he's also the actor who appeared in MANIAC COP in 1988.

In the late 1920s and early 30s, Neil Hamilton was a handsome actor with quite a few nice pictures to his credit--including several big D.W. Griffith and Paramount films (such as "The Patriot"). Now, by the mid-1930s, he was no longer an A-list star but was working very steady with so-called 'Poverty Row' studios like Majestic. It's a shame, as he was a good actor--and still quite handsome. Only in the 1960s would his career get a big boost when he played Commissioner Gordon on TV's "Batman". Now this is NOT to say his films of the mid-30s on were bad--they just weren't prestige pictures like he'd made earlier in his career.

Kent (Hamilton) is an upper class guy who is in serious financial straits. Because of this, he's willing to accept an offer to help some thugs steal some pearls and replace them with fakes at a big society party. But, after the pearls are stolen, Kent tries to get them back, as he's had a change of heart. His change of heart, however, ends up getting him on board a ship in search of sunken gold...and the niece of the lady whose pearls were stolen is in charge of the expedition! Will this give Kent a chance to make good? The plot, though contrived, it pretty enjoyable. While most of the acting and productions are pretty poor, Hamilton is, as usual, quite good. But, the quality of him as a leading man is not enough to keep this turkey afloat--mostly because the film is incredibly racist. You really have to see the characters of Sassafrass and the maid--they are nearly every negative black stereotype personified! In nearly every moment of the film, Sassafrass (nice name for a human being, huh?!) is shooting dice and acting like Stepin Fetchit's slightly more ambitious brother! It's really sad and degrading--but it's also really stupid and poorly written as well. I sure hope folks today don't enjoy this film too much--though it is worth seeing as a historical curio.