Hell Ship Mutiny

If 1957's "Hell Ship Mutiny" looks like three TV pilots strung together (and with two directors listed) that's because that's exactly what it is, a 1955 unsold series titled KNIGHT OF THE SOUTH SEAS. Jon Hall, his acting career winding down (just two more features ahead), his recent TV series RAMAR OF THE JUNGLE now past, actually helped build up his father's acting career, as Swiss-born Felix Locher went on to do "Curse of the Faceless Man," "Frankenstein's Daughter," "House of the Damned," and STAR TREK's "The Deadly Years." Having opposed each other in "The Hurricane" and "The Invisible Man's Revenge," Hall and John Carradine are nearly the whole show in these poverty stricken circumstances, until Peter Lorre joins them in the third act, as a corrupt French commissioner whose interest in pearls almost equals Carradine's. Still looking fit and trim at 42, Jon Hall makes for a stolid hero, this vehicle designed to show off his underwater cinematography (his production company named after his grandmother Lovina), but its shipboard intrigues remain claustrophobically studio bound, the final battle beneath the sea rendered an unwatchable bore (the multi expensive James Bond film "Thunderball" encountered the same problem). Lorre as usual is underused but amusing, so it's up to the mustachioed Carradine to carry the perfunctory villainy; you can't be very effective if a tired Jon Hall can defeat you three times in the course of a 66 minute excuse for a feature. Carradine had previously crossed swords with Peter Coe in 1944's "House of Frankenstein," going back to the old contract days at 20th Century-Fox with Peter Lorre, equally memorable as hobos in "I'll Give a Million" (together again even in Lorre's last film, 1964's "The Patsy").

Jon Hall is Captain Jim Knight, a "white man with a touch of Polynesian". He gets along great with the natives, especially with the local chief, played by Hall's father, Swiss Felix Locher, and beautiful princess Roberta Haynes. Evil John Carradine steals his ship, tosses his crew and native overboard, and grabs the pearls, forcing Hall to sail him to New Zealand lest he kill the Princess, or allow his henchman Mike Mazurki to force her to drink with him.

It's a pilot for a new series after Hall's moderately successful RAMAR OF THE JUNGLE ceased production, and it's as corny as it sounds. It has the saving grace of some nice casting in the villainous department: not only Carradine and Mazurki, but Peter Lorre. Apparently the TV execituves were as unimpssed as I, so Hall -- who also produced the show -- released it to theaters.

Back in the early to mid 1940s, Jon Hall was a very handsome leading man who made some wonderful escapist films for Universal Studios, such as "Cobra Woman", "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" and "The Hurricane". However, by the 1950s, Hall was no longer much of a box office draw and contented himself to work for some third-rate studios. In this case, "Hell Ship Mutiny", he made it for the minuscule Lovina Productions!

When the film begins, Captain Knight (Hall) arrives on an island only to discover that all the locals have been taken prisoner and are being used as slaves to do some incredibly deep dives for pears. Many of the folks die as a result and the evil Malone (John Carradine) couldn't care less. Fortunately, the Captain is able to escape and ends up taking these jerks prisoner. What ISN'T so fortunate is that after taking them aboard the ship so that he can take them to prison, they break loose and commandeer the ship. Can the Captain break free once again and save himself and the crew from these thugs? And, if he does, will his problems be over or will a new one be waiting for him when he lands the boat?

You know a film isn't all it's cracked up to be when the Captain has a pet chimp named 'Salty'. Salty's adorable in his little sailor costume but really unnecessary and silly. But the rest of the film isn't terrible. It's not really good because the writer had the baddies escape THREE times...and I would have just thought the Captain would have killed them before this! Not terrible as a time- passer but not much more. And certainly NOTHING like Hall's films with Universal.

Jon Hall, who starred in several exotic adventure-romances with Dorothy Lamour and Maria Montez in the thirties and forties, seems to have had a dual purpose in making this rather retro sarong film. One was to promote his new underwater movie equipment rental business (the plot provides for lots of shots of Jon and friends diving for pearls, engaging in underwater tussles, looking at fishies, etc.) The other was to express a love that dared not speak its name, at least to Dorothy or Maria. The lumpish Polynesian princess that's Jon's nominal love interest appears to take second place in his affections to a puckish little brown boy in an abbreviated pareu, and there's a lot more buff male bodies on display on his island paradise than the expected female ones. As ever, however, the cutest item on display is Peter Lorre, in an all too brief comic turn as a visiting colonial circuit judge.

Hell Ship Mutiny (1957)

** (out of 4)

A Captain (Jon Hall) travels to a tropical island to see some friends when he learns that three bad men (led by John Carradine) are holding the natives hostage. Hall's team are able to take them over and on the boat back to the main land they escape and take Hall hostage. This here has been a film I've been meaning to watch for over fifteen years but could never locate it on video and I didn't even realize until a week ago that budget label Alpha had released it on DVD. This was a Republic film so it's doubtful the Alpha release is too official but at least it's finally out there. The movie wasn't as bad as I had heard and even though it's not that good I'd still recommend it to fans of Carradine and Peter Lorre who has a brief role at the end of the film. The production values are incredibly low and that takes away quite a bit. It appears very little thought went into anything and it's rather shocking to see Carradine and Lorre in the film. Both men certainly did low budget movies but this one here is pretty low and it was surprising that the producers got both of them. Perhaps their salaries ate away at the rest of the film? Either way, both men are a lot of fun and especially Carradine as the bad guy. Hall plays everything pretty much by the numbers but he isn't too bad. With a running time of 66-minutes there's really nothing too boring here as long as you know what you're getting into.