Abolitionist Michael "Nuggin" Taylor (Gary Cooper) goes undercover to sabotage slave ships. Although the United States prohibited the importation of slaves in 1808, slaves are still being brought into the country illegally. Great Britain also prohibited the slave trade, putting the Royal Navy into action against slave traders, but Royal Navy Lieutenant Stanley Tarryton (Henry Wilcoxon) is acting for the slave traders. The conflict between Taylor and Tarryton is complicated by Tarryton's sister Margaret (Frances Dee), who is falling in love with Taylor.
The Taylor-Tarryton conflict becomes entangled with the loss of the ship William Brown. The William Brown is accidentally set on fire by a little girl, and must be abandoned. Taylor is a passenger on the ship, and he takes command of the evacuation when the Captain (Harry Carey) is injured.
Only one lifeboat is launched, which cannot carry all the survivors, many of whom are swimming in the ocean nearby. Taylor stops these desperate people from climbing into the lifeboat and swamping it, shooting some with a pistol. As a result, he is subsequently tried and convicted for murder; Barton Woodley (George Zucco) explains his actions, thus resulting in a new trial for Taylor. Margaret, seeing Taylor in this new light, lets him know she still loves him.
A 1937 American Black & White historical action adventure romantic drama film directed by Henry Hathaway, produced by Hathaway, Grover Jones and Adolph Zukor, screenplay by Grover Jones and Dale Van Every, story by Ted Lesser, cinematography by Charles Lang and Merritt B. Gerstad, starring Gary Cooper, George Raft, Frances Dee, Henry Wilcoxon, Harry Carey, Olympe Bradna, Porter Hall, Virginia Weidler, Joseph Schildkraut, Robert Cummings, George Zucco, Gilbert Emery, Lucien Littlefield, Paul Fix, Tully Marshall, Monte Blue, Stanley Fields, Arthur Blake, and Alan Ladd appears as Edward Van Sloan (uncredited). Screen debut appearance of Pauline Haddon. Final screen appearance of Erin La Bissoniere.
Hans Dreier and Roland Anderson were nominated for Best Art Direction; Hal Walker for Best Assistant Director (in the last year it was awarded); and Boris Morros, as head of the Paramount Studios Music Department, for Music (scoring) (score by W. Franke Harling and Milan Roder). The only non-Best Picture nominee that year to be also nominated for Best Assistant Director.
The film was made during the period of the studio system; when George Raft initially turned down his part, he was suspended. Lloyd Nolan and Anthony Quinn stood by to replace him. Raft agreed to play the role when it was rewritten to be more sympathetic.
In November 1936, silent film star John Bowers, who had not worked in films since the advent of sound crippled his career in 1931, heard that his old friend Henry Hathaway was directing Gary Cooper in Souls at Sea off the shore of Santa Catalina Island. On November 17, the 50-year-old actor rented a sixteen-foot sloop and sailed to the island, hoping to land a part in the picture, only to unfortunately learn that it had been cast. Bowers never returned to shore, and his drowned body washed up on the shore on the beach at Santa Monica, California. Bowers' life and apparent suicide was the inspiration for the character Norman Maine in the three versions of "A Star Is Born".
The sailing ship in this film is a type of ship known as a packet. Before the advent of ocean liners, packets were the fastest passenger ships sailing across the Atlantic and were very profitable carrying mail.
Loosely based on the real American ship William Brown which sank with loss of life on April 19, 1841, after hitting an iceberg 250 miles off Newfoundland.
The legal case United States vs. Holmes (in 1842) was the trial of the crewman who forced others off the lifeboat, acting similarly to Taylor's actions in this film. Seaman Alexander Holmes was the only crew-member to be found in Philadelphia. A grand jury refused to return a murder indictment, but he was tried and convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to six months in jail and fined $20. The trial enforced the dictum that sailors have a duty to their passengers that is above even their own lives.
When Nuggin and Powdah are in a tavern, the bartender immerses a hot iron into their beer mugs. A popular sailor's drink at the time, called a "flip", was made with beer, rum, sugar or molasses, and a spice like cinnamon or cloves. The hot poker caramelizes the sugar. The technique was also a quick way to warm beer in the winter.
The title of this interesting historical drama was spoofed in the Laurel and Hardy comedy film "Saps at Sea" (1940).
Soundtrack music:
"Susie Sapple" (1937) - Music by Ralph Rainger, Lyrics by Leo Robin
"Hang Boys Hang" (1937) - Music by Ralph Rainger, Lyrics by Leo Robin
"Polka Time" - Performed by Virginia Weidler
A proper tale of high adventure on the high seas with bold, brave and sweeping direction. An entertaining film well worth seeing.
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