The Sea Ghost (1931)

Redundant and unnecessary.

Excellent but underrated film

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Interesting.. on the opening title screen, this has "copyright 1939".. which must be the RE-release date. Was originally released in 1931 or so. I've never been let down by an Alan Hale film. He made over 200 films ... probably the hardest working guy in show-biz. Could do anything. Even though it's rated pretty so-so on imdb, it's pretty good. Appears to be a mix of footage of a real ship sinking, combined with filmed studio shots. As we open, the Alatania is sunk, and Captain Winters (Hale) a witness is being tried for neglect of duty. Later... Winter is back on board a salvage ship to find the sunken ship and bring up anything of value. Winters tries to convince Evelyn, the daughter, (Laura LaPlante) that he will help her get back her inheritance. Trickery, guns, back-stabbing, conniving all around. Lots of brawling. Viewers will probably recognize Clarence Wilson as the scheming Mr. Sykes. Because of his appearance, he probably played the underhanded, evil guy much more often than he played a good guy. This creeps along at a snail's pace towards the center, but picks up again right near the end. It's not so bad. Entertaining enough. Directed by William Nigh. He had directed a whole bunch of the Mr. Wong films.

There certainly was a fascination with submarine films between the wars! Even such distinguished actors as the great Charles Laughton made his U.S. film debut in one of them (THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP) opposite Tallulah Bankhead, Gary Cooper and Cary Grant set in one of those ubiquitous North African submarine bases! This effort with the great Laura LaPlante (here with a remarkably modern look - the basic hairstyle Angela Lansbury assumed for MAME - but probably best known for her role as "Magnolia" in the first film of SHOW BOAT in 1929) and Alan Hale (the spitting image of his son, the skipper of the Minnow wrecked on GILLIGAN'S ISLAND) is the somewhat silly tale of a crooked attorney in the old fashioned melodramatic mustache twirling villainous person of Clarence Wilson (you'll recognize him in dozens of films from THE PENGUIN POOL MURDER CASE to THE FRONT PAGE!) trying to either cheat Ms. LaPlante out of what may be her legitimate inheritance or marry her, but in a bid for a remarkably sophisticated approach for 1931, everyone including Ms. LaPlante is given a dark underside or at least more than a single motive or back-story! The director keeps the action swirling at a highly pleasant pace once the crew gets back to shore after retrieving the two conflicting wills which may or may not disinherit Ms. LaPlante, but getting there, with the only actual submarine involvement in the picture - early on the actual U-67 is shown in real life WWI footage (possibly added for the 1939 re-release?) and is supposed to have sunk the "Altania" on which the wills were - the going can be a bit slow.Also on board are another attorney - a British chap (Claude Allister, a refuge from BULLDOG DRUMMOND who hung around long enough to play the butler, Paul, in KISS ME KATE!) not representing anyone but somewhat strained comic relief, but handy to throw Mr. Hale a life line or two when he needs one - and the German u-boat commander who sank the Altania (Peter Erkelenz, who may actually give the best performance in the film) who turns out not to be the villain Hale expects. The film lays this on a bit thick - not being content to show him as a professional doing his wartime job, but adding yet one more final piece of irony to the film - but over all, whether screened as THE SEA GHOST or U67, this minor studio effort (Peerless Pictures - distributed by at least a dozen different companies including Astor Pictures for the 1939 re-release) tries to be more than your average "B" picture and occasionally succeeds.

IMDb lists the date for this as 1939. However, Netflix says 1931. Well, judging by the lady's hairstyle and clothes, 1931 looks to be about right and 1939 cannot possibly be the date. Perhaps the film was made in 1931 (or so) and sat on the shelf for most of the decade--only to be released in '39. Who knows? Regardless of the date, one thing that is hard to deny is that this is a cheap and pretty lame movie. It begins with a prologue that tells us that they're using a lot of crappy stock footage in the first portion of the film. Well, they didn't say 'crappy', but at least they acknowledged the film was original--and very grainy. It shows the sinking of an Allied ship by a German sub. And, because a ship's captain (Alan Hale) disobeyed orders and stopped to look for survivors, he got himself in HUGE trouble and was drummed out of the US Navy.Years pass. Now Hale is hired for a job, but there is LOTS of trickery and deceit going on--and it's hard to know exactly who's working for who. You know that Hale MUST be a good guy (it's the formula), the skinny skeletal guy is the villain and, here's the ridiculously unbelievable part, the captain of the sub who sank the boat at the beginning of the film is also aboard!! And, it all has to do with a silly plot involving cheating a lady out of her inheritance.None of "Phantom Submarine U67" makes a lot of sense, and the lady is a TERRIBLE actress. The film also is pretty talky and dull as well. As for the other merits of the film, the direction was static and the scene involving divers early in the film is hilariously bad! That's because it is VERY obvious that they superimposed the actors on an 'expensive underwater set'--which was, in reality, a cheap 10 gallon aquarium!! You can even see the tropical fish swimming about in this home aquarium!! Overall, dumb and silly from start to finish--but not quite bad enough to satisfy bad movie buffs!

Alan Hale (Father of the Skipper on Gilligan Island) stars as a Captain of a ship during WW1. When a sub sinks a passenger liner near him he pauses in his pursuit of the sub to check for survivors. A Naval board of inquiry finds he disobeyed orders and removes him from service. Years later as Captain of his own ship he is hired to recover a safe from the hold of the ship that was sunk and to allow the captain of the sub to be the man who dives. From there we have other complications involving a will, weaselly lawyers, fist fights and other nonsense. A very good very early sound film that makes one wonder why Hale never got more leading roles. A breezy and fast paced 62 minutes this movie is the sort of thing that Hollywood rarely made, especially after the production code was enforced (bare shoulders on a women, hints of lesbianism were among the no no's). I really liked this movie a great deal. Let me be honest its a not a great film, but it was perfect for a very cloudy Sunday afternoon when I was feeling under the weather. It was the perfect distraction from the world and my woes.