Seven Were Saved

There is absolutely nothing fancy about this. It's a simple story with a simple set. While escorting an accused Japanese war criminal to his trial in Manila, an American air force plane crashes in the South China Sea, and the passengers and crew (including the Japanese war criminal) have to find a way to work together to survive until they're rescued. Along the way they face the sorts of things you would expect in the circumstances - a lack of food and water, injuries from the crash, tension around the presence of Colonel Yamura, shark attacks, etc. Almost the entire movie is set on the life raft, so the composite cast had to work together pretty well in order to make this interesting - and for the most part they succeeded. Catherine Craig and Richard Denning had the most significant parts as the two on the raft who seemed to be the most in control, and they did well with their parts. The basic bit of suspense in the movie is which seven are going to survive. The title tells us that there will be seven, but there are eight survivors of the crash, so it's a bit of a guessing game as to which one isn't going to make it.

This seems to be a bit of a tribute to American air and sea rescue forces, and it's interesting enough to see how they handle the rescue once the raft is discovered. It's a definite B-Movie, but it's not a bad one. (6/10)

A Japanese colonel being transported to face war crimes charges in the Philippines causes his transport plane to crash in the middle of the South China Sea and the survivors must battle each other and the elements whilst the air sea rescue service try to find them. At times there is a little jeopardy as they gradually run out of supplies and mishaps begin to befall their party, and tensions mount too as the pilot "Capt. Danton" (Richard Denning) insists that they share their meagre rations with their enemy but oddly enough the film is just too short to do the plot justice and the ending is really rather flat.

Apart from Richard Denning, of whom I have not seen very much anyway, I know nobody in this obviously amateurish cast orchestrated by Mr Pine, a complete unknown as a director who, on the strength of this work, really should consider some other profession for a living.

Two Hitchcock films come to mind as the film opens: FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (1940) and LIFEBOAT (1944). Of course, unless you mistake the forest for the tree, Mr Pine is unable to even slightly imitate the plane crash into the ocean in FOREIGN, and he certainly cannot keep dialogue flowing in the lifeboat, besides a sad inbility to extract decent acting from the players.

With cinematography typical of C, at best a B production, it is the script that really sends this film down the chutes: a Japanese Army colonel is being taken WITHOUT so much as handcuffs clapped on him to a trial for war crimes in Manila, the Philippines. Needless to say, the Japanese officer is no dimwit and has nothing to lose, so he grabs his watcher's gun, takes over the aircraft and forces it to change course until brave Denning dives into the sea with his arms around his head for protection.

Before that, we learn of the completely unnecessary presence of an amnesiac. That amnesia is recognized by his wife (small world and even smaller lifeboat!) and he leaves a written message which somehow survives the lifeboat's capsizing. Most curious of all, Catherine Craig leaves her hubby-to-be on land and starts having the hots for Captain Denning, who first gets a bandage over his left eye, then is blinded by sun glare in his right eye, but somehow knows the course thanks to the stars. Craig French-kisses him when they are back on land, under the watchful eye of hubby-to-be. Her explanation: she wants kids with the cuckold.

I caught myself wondering about such trivial things as how did the lifeboat occupants get rid of their excretions? Back in WWII, it was poor form for women to do it in public.

It was commendable that the Japanese colonel was kept alive but he just disappears from the narrative when the rescue happens, and whether or not he reached Manila and paid for his evil doings we will never know. And, frankly, I could not care.

Total waste of 71 minutes in one's life. 3/10.

Coming after Hitchcock's "lifeboat" and before Richard Sale's "seven waves away" aka "abandon ship" , "seven were saved" suffers by comparison ; it has neither the suspense of the former nor the cruel realistic strength of the latter.

The title is stupid ,for it spoils most of the interest ; okay ,it's not the person one thinks the wreck will cost him his life but that's it .Made on a shoestring budget , the movie makes the best of it ,even though it has not much to offer.

A plane bound for Manilla is skyjacked by Richard Loo and crashes several hundred miles off course. While the survivors squabble and struggle in a life raft, the Sea Air Rescue Service searches for them.

If that half-sounds like Hitchcock's LIFEBOAT with Catherine Craig sitting in for Tallulah Bankhead, that's how it struck me. It's produced by William Pine and William Thomas, and the Dollar Bills never saw a plot they didn't like -- even if the Hitchcock original was one of his few financial failures. Add in the rescue effort, and have William Pine make one of his occasional directorial appearance, and profits would flow. A few Hero Poses of Richard Denning -- doing a Joel McCrea impersonation -- with Miss Craig looking up at him adoringly, and Bob's your uncle.

Any subtext is buried way down, and the bravura composition work that Hitch and his crew accomplished is missing, but the Dollar Bills knew how to get a bang for their buck. It doesn't aspire to be a great picture, but it accomplishes its modest goals of filling 75 minutes entertainingly.