Mara Maru

Sometimes I like a film and I'll even have a hard time really being able to explain why.

One example is this 1952 programmer from Warner Brothers. It was clearly a come down for star Errol Flynn who was being shoved off by the studio into a bit of a cheapie black and white production as a fulfillment of their contract with him. It would be, in fact, Flynn's last studio made film on his Warners contract.

While there are no particular surprises in the story line of this tale about sunken treasure, it is smoothly and efficiently directed by Gordon Douglas, who seemed to get saddled with a lot of the films with lesser scripts. Make it work, Gordon, they seemed to say and he did. The Curtiz and Walsh rejects seemed to go to Douglas.

Ruth Roman is Errol's leading lady this time out. No real sparks between them. Raymond Burr in his early heavy days (heavy as in villain, as well as weight) is the two faced opponent whose duplicity is pretty obvious right from his first appearance in the film.

Flynn goes through the motions in his role for the most part but even when Errol isn't really trying, his understated performances still tend to satisfy me. Then, suddenly as the film approaches the end, Flynn starts to do some real acting. It happens in a scene in which he angrily slaps his Filipino assistant across the face and then shows remorse for his behaviour. It reminded me once again of what a good actor he could be when he put his mind to it. Recommended for watching talent in front of and behind the camera wrestle with and prevail with a so-so story.

Mara Maru came in Errol Flynn's career at a time when Warner Brothers and the rest of Hollywood for the most part was trying to divest itself of its big name stars and the salaries they commanded. It's the kind of a film that studios were giving stars to satisfy whatever commitments were still under contract. They did not think this was worth going to the Phillipines to shoot even.

In plot it's similar to a Glenn Ford film The Green Glove where another war veteran is searching for an object that's both valuable in monetary terms and has great religious significance. In tone Mara Maru looks like something that might have been meant for another Bogey and Bacall teaming.

Flynn plays a part of a World War II veteran who is a charter boat captain out of the Phillipines who knows the location of a jeweled cross taken from a church with the coming of the Japanese and sunk somewhere in the seas off Luzon. So does his partner Richard Webb who talks a little too much in a Manila bar and winds up dead.

Which doesn't concern Webb's wife Ruth Roman who is doing a Lauren Bacall knockoff of a performance. She's got a thing for Flynn in any event. Of course master villain Raymond Burr is behind a whole lot of things that befall Flynn until Flynn uses his boat to take him to the lost cross. It's an uneasy type alliance as you can gather. In the mix is Paul Picerni playing a Peter Lorre type part. Picerni is a man of very shifting loyalties and his part is terribly underwritten.

Some underwater sequences could have used some color to appreciate them better, something Jack Warner wasn't about to splurge for in this potboiler. Mara Maru is not a bad film, but it's certainly nothing that any of Errol Flynn's fans would put at the top five for him.

There are some movies that simply qualify as afternoon entertainment. Mara Maru fits the bill as an adventurous romp with a cast led by Erroll Flynn and Raymond Burr.

Although this is not Flynn's best performance I would argue with those who have written demeaning his work. There are definitely moments throughout the movie where you see the sparkle of Robin Hood coming through.

It is always challenging to determine whether to blame the directing or the acting when actors look stiff or over exaggerate. Mara Maru has examples of both.

All that being said, I found myself following the intrigue, attempting to predict what would happen next, and actually enjoying a Sunday afternoon movie in the air conditioning.

I read one review that mentioned it would have been a much better movie in color and I would agree because the sea scenes in black and white just can't carry the same quality as a color film.

So, If you are looking to hunt down a treasure like the characters in this movie please understand that this is not a diamond in the rough but perhaps it's a gemstone that will make your day.

I don't know if I can call myself an admirer of Errol Flynn's work, but it would be a mistake not to recognize his merit as one of the most remarkable and outstanding actors of his time. As the heartthrob of several adventure films, he continues to mark the collective memory as a pirate, adventurer and heartbreaker. It is still easy to find, on specialty TV channels, several of his films such as "Captain Blood", "Against All Flags", "Robin Hood" or "Don Juan"..., but this is not one of those iconic films that almost every we've already seen... quite the opposite.

I'm certainly not the best person to assess the reasons why "Mara Maru" fell by the wayside and became an obscure film in the lives of everyone involved. What I do know, and I can say, is that Errol Flynn was already in clear degradation due to his problems with alcohol and that, during the film, I felt the actor was quite uncommitted to the role. Another problem is the story of the film, with a far-fetched script where, in the wake of a crime that is never quite clarified (although the film, between the lines, indicates the murderer), everyone sets off on a brief treasure hunt that turns out not to be the focus of action. What really makes the film work is the dramatic relationship between characters, in addition to the protagonist's struggle with himself, torn between good and evil.

In fact, Flynn plays a frankly unsympathetic character in this film, we could even consider him an antihero, in part. He is a rude man, who is not necessarily mean, but he often acts in the worst possible way. A division that helps to understand why he became the lover of the friend's wife with whom he had a business partnership, and that explains the greed with which he craves treasure and his difficulty in giving up gain, after a certain point. The actor is good, but I've seen him in better shape in other works. Raymond Burr, Richard Webb and Paul Picerni make a very pleasant contribution, each in his own way. Ruth Roman stands out less... the actress is good and does what she can, but she was given very poor material and the character's character is unpleasant, indecisive to the point of seeming bipolar and quite one-dimensional.

Gordon Douglas does a decent job of directing, although at times I feel that the film lacks the resolution of some loose ends. The film is not always happy with the construction and handling of suspense, and there is some predictability in the action scenes, but these are flaws that I felt were of little relevance. The cinematography is quite satisfying, and the scenes at sea or underwater are particularly well done. The sets and costumes are good, and the whole Manila environment looks good enough, albeit with perhaps few visible references to the eastern universe. The soundtrack, signed by Max Steiner, is quite good.

In 1952, Errol Flynn still looked passably good. He was one of the handsomest men in the movies, after all, and though he was an alcoholic, his face hadn't been completely destroyed yet. And he was trim. In the earlier "Cry Wolf" he was quite bloated.

The story concerns a salvage diver working in the Philippines, Gregory Mason, who finds his partner Callahan (Richard Webb) drunk in a bar and talking about treasure. Later he's found dead, and Mason is accused.

A private detective is able to clear him of the murder. Mason is hired by a man named Brock Benedict (Raymond Burr) to find a briefcase lost during a voyage. It supposedly contains diamonds. The late Callahan knew where the ship went down.

Mason takes the job, but is warned by another salvager not to work with Benedict, but with him instead. Mason ignores him. To his surprise, Callahan's widow Stella (Ruth Roman) who is in love with Mason, and vice versa, is on the salvage voyage as well.

Stella is certain that Benedict, once he gets the briefcase, is going to kill Mason. She urges him to end the voyage by saying a typhoon is coming and it can't be risked. Mason refuses and says he can take care of himself.

Mason is later faced with a moral dilemma.

Some exciting scenes. One rather annoying thing was that Flynn wore this helmet-like thing over his head, and he looked out at the ocean through a window built into it. Well, they used the same shot of him looking into the sea through the window over and over, and it was obviously the same shot. I don't know much about deep sea diving, but what he was wearing looked like a heavy suit of armor. I would think that would work against you.

All the actors were up to the task, Burr always playing an effective villain in those days; and Flynn gives a strong performance, as does Ruth Roman.

Ben Mankiewicz described Flynn as one of the most popular stars in the world, which is true, but he wasn't there as long as many of his contemporaries. By the late '40s Warners was giving him lower budget, black and white films, with the exception of That Forsyte Woman. He had a good ten years.

TCM, in an effort to make it seem as if the stars at MGM, RKO, and Warners were the true stars and the people at 20th Century Fox, etc. did some acting on the side, won't tell you that Flynn does not appear in the top 200 box office stars of all time. Still, it was a wonderful career for a handsome, athletic actor of great charm.

Maru Maru is entertaining and pretty good.