Le corsaire de l'Atlantique

John Ford's early talkie is not completely satisfying as drama, due to inadequate acting from the juvenile lead and the leading lady, but it is fairly adventurous film-making: much of it is staged on a real boat which is really at sea. This causes problems for the sound recording and the lighting, but gives it an exhilirating, seat-of-the-pants quality. The high point is a surprisingly intense tango sequence in a Canary Islands cantina, almost as memorable as Rita Hayworth and Anthony Quinn's tango in BLOOD AND SAND. All the action sequences are enjoyably handled and George O'Brien agreeably plays the suave captain as a take-charge guy.

John Ford had little good to say about this movie decades after the fact, and I think he simply hadn't seen it or even thought of it for years. His experience was colored by one particular and unprofessional actress that was forced upon him, and he couldn't see anything else. I'll grant him that the actress in question (Marion Lessing) is quite simply not very good on screen (I, of course, can't comment on her professionalism on set), but there so much more around her within the film that's worthwhile. There's a visual sophistication, narrative completeness, and thematic interest that comes together to make a surprisingly good film.

It's The Great War and the American navy has developed a plan to counter the dangerous German U-boat off the Spanish coast, U-172 captained by the notorious commander Baron Ernst von Steuben (Henry Victor). The navy sends a three-master schooner with an American submarine alongside to act as bait for the German sub. Captained by Commander Bob Kingsley (George O'Brien), they have a hidden series of guns on ship, and they're off to attract some attention.

They arrive in port in Spain, a port well-known as a haven for U-172, and dock. With instructions to avoid hard liquor and fraternizing with women, Bob sends his men out to make themselves known. He quickly meets Anna Marie (Lessing), and he begins to fall for her. She has a secret, though. She's German by birth and engaged to a German naval lieutenant, sent to investigate the Americans as a spy. She's also sister to Ernst von Steuben. At the same time, the young officer Dick Cabot (Steve Pendleton) who had previously proved his mettle by saving the sailing master after he had fallen into the water, becomes enamored with another woman, Lolita (Mona Maris). She's also a spy (this time of Spanish origin, but working for the Germans), and she gets Cabot drunk in order to figure out who these Americans actually are. Time becomes a factor, and Bob needs to get the ship out of dock and back into the water, but Cabot is missing. With promises that he'll come back for Cabot, Bob heads out with the rest of his crew.

I've really gotten to know Ford for three major things. The first was his ability to build a sequence, the second was his affinity for interesting side characters, and the third was for his focus on communities of men. All end up playing out really well in this film's final half hour.

Cabot sneaks onto a German sailing ship that goes out to refuel the U-boat, sabotaging the sailing vessel as best he can, eventually causing enough damage to sink her. Anna Marie is on the vessel as well, and the Americans pick her up as well as Cabot's dead body floating in the water. The Americans, with grim dedication because of the loss of their compatriot, lay their trap and wait for the U-boat to surface and attempt to take the ship, creating a scene of chaos on deck as though they were just a merchant marine vessel, all setup for the final confrontation between the American submarine hiding and prepping for a torpedo strike on the unsuspecting U-boat.

It's one of Ford's better endings. There's a lot going on, though I feel like the submarine crew in general gets shortchanged. We see them really only once near the beginning, being more of a MacGuffin than another crew. Still, the focus is on the men facing danger in the service together on Bob's ship, and the camaraderie is strongly presented. Bob is like a father figure over the men, looking up to him and his leadership with complete trust. The men feel real loss at the news of Cabot's death and sacrifice, and they face battle together as men, as a group of individuals all fighting for the same cause.

On top of the narrative strengths, there are surprisingly strong visual elements. There's a great shot that introduces the large gun hidden on the deck of the ship near the beginning. The façade of a shed falls down, revealing the large gun, and the men crowd around it, automatically beginning to paw at it. The camera remains stationary as one turns the gun with the wheel, eventually getting the gun to point directly, and in focus, at the camera. There are also a couple of shots done by cameras tied down to the hulls of submarines as they raise out of the water. The limitations on sound design of the early talkie era were still evident, but editing and sound on set created a much more cohesive sound scape across scenes.

In terms of performances, O'Brien carries the film. An old hat of John Ford productions, having starred in several including The Iron Horse, Ford's first real epic film, he's confident and strong. He delivers a naturalistic performance that avoids any kind of fake posturing. However, it's very true that Marion Lessing is pretty bad. Her German sounds good, but ultimately she's stilted and simply outclassed by the actual actors around her. She may have been pretty, but it's no real surprise that her career ended up going nowhere.

This is a strong film, a story of men at war and their loyalty to each other. Ford uses his established working relationship with O'Brien to come up with a solid emotional anchor point while finding ways to make the interesting side characters help in good support instead of stealing the spotlight. The lack of focus on the submarine crew and the unfortunate performance by Lessing drag it down a bit, but not enough to completely undermine the film.

I suspect that the poster from Oklahoma hasn't seen many other films from the early talkie era, because the pace and acting aren't bad for the times. What's most striking about this early Ford talkie is the location (shipboard) filming-- few films from the studio era make such a point of actually filming at sea instead of on a set in front of a sky backdrop. The vivid realism of these scenes is the most striking thing about the film today.

In the oeuvre of John Ford his late silents are ahead of his early talkies in artistic aesthetics because of two important factors: actors and dialogue. While he is most known for his sagacious later period films like The Searchers or The Quiet Man (and many others) he has several excellent 20s films like 3 Bad Men and Four Sons (I still have not seen Iron Horse which I will have to rectify soon). Those silents work quite well on a visual level and have a surprising amount of movement sometimes analogous to a Murnau film. When sound became prominent many producers felt forced to exploit this aspect which slowed down movement, placed people in specific positions due to microphones and forced the focus to be more on verbal acting ability. The latter was the rub in Ford's early talkies.

The biggest strength of this film is the look and feel of the settings and several nice shots of the camera. One of the biggest surprises is that most of this film is shot on location. There are beautiful shots on ships, on the sea and even some quick underwater shots (the earliest in a film I can think of) which show a submarine breaking the surface of the sea. John had the American naval at his disposal and it really showed. Given there is a possible anachronism of some of the equipment since this movie was supposed to take place during WWI.

Then there is the rub. The sound is typical of early 30s with very little music, stifled acting with hammy delivery and a general slow plot.

During WWI, a navel command is sending out a three-masted schooner in Spanish waters as a decoy (with a big hidden gun) to lure a famous U-Boat out of the water so it can possibly be torpedoed by a hidden American sub. When the navy personnel go ashore as merchants the captain falls in love with a double agent, while another personnel gets Mickeyed (sleeping potion) and left behind when the personnel cannot find him. The plot is mostly straightforward and the ending is obvious though still exciting. The Germans are treated (like in Grand Illusion) as humans so I do not think this played much in the 1940s.

An interesting movie that will be fun for people who enjoy 1930s films as long as they can handle some of the flaws of plot and acting. John Ford's use of camera is quite evident but does not quite handle the plot and characters as well as in his later films.

This movie can be found in the huge Fox at Ford box set.

Seas Beneath (1931)

** (out of 4)

A U.S. "mystery ship" is sent out to destroy a German U-boat, which has been causing damage to Allied ships. Like many other early sound films, this one here suffers from non-stop talking, which is damaged because the dialogue is just downright stupid and bad. I guess studios would read screenplays and order additional dialogue because this film has so many subplots that I can't help but think they were added to boost up the dialogue. There's a love story between George O'Brien and Marion Lessing, which is just downright stupid and bad. I'm going to guess the relationship between the boat Commander and a possible German spy was meant to add suspense but it never does. Ford really seems bored with these various dialogue scenes because there's never an ounce of energy in them. What really works is the final twenty-minutes when the mystery ship goes up against the U-boat. There's a long sequence where the ship must fall under attack because the sub isn't in their range for a counter attack. This scene here is full of wonderful excitement and some real suspense. The action scenes are all very realistic and Ford really puts the viewer in a mind frame where it feels like you're actually on the ship. Outside of these scenes I'd have to say Ford's direction is pretty weak because it really seems like he's making a silent movie with dialogue. The scenes are really strange to look at and they never really feel like a director use to the sound technology.