Three fishermen come across a yacht, abandoned except for a corpse. They're puzzled, but tow it back to port and put in for salvage. It's approved, but the police want to know what they're going to do with her. They reply there's a lot of money in the charter business. Surprisingly, the police have already put the charter notice in the papers. All they ask is that they be informed when someone wants the boat. It turns out to Dick Foote, with plenty of cash, working for a mysterious boss. The police are uncertain, so the owners set to sea with Foote: Chris Warfield, Chick Chandler, Wright King, and Warfield's fiancee, Sally Fraser, as cook.
It's a good story, competent if minor actors in place, Technicolor and Panavision, and some nice at-sea photography and off Catalina. So what is it that makes me consider it another poorly executed B movie? I concluded it's Peter Forster as the mysterious guy who pays for the charter comes on board in an absurdly unnecessary manner, and speaks in ripe, plummy tones at all times. It's also something about the pacing, mostly the odd pauses in the dialogue. Writer/director Robert Gottschalk seems to know what people say, but no clear idea of how they say it, or perhaps was simply trying to save money by avoiding extra takes.
