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The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959)
Director: Michael Anderson
Writers: Eric Ambler (screenplay), Hammond Innes (novel)
Cast: Gary Cooper, Charlton Heston, Michael Redgrave, Richard Harris
Genre: Adventure, Crime, Drama
A small time, ship salvage operator (Charlton Heston) comes across a derelict ship, on fire and adrift at sea. He braves the storm and boards the ship so to lay a claim to salvage rights. There he finds a seemingly deranged man (Gary Cooper) who is intent on sinking his own ship as he believes the former crew and captain sabotage their own ship for insurance money. CR
The Wreck of the Mary Deare is a 1959 MGM, wide screen CinemaScope color film, that was a collaboration between British and American film makers. This is the film that Alfred Hitchcock was going to make along with his screen writer Ernest Lehman. Hitch went as far as finding a ship to film, when his screen writer told him he couldn't come up with a story. So the two made North By Northwest, instead.
One might wonder how different this might have been as a Hitch film. Though I thought it was great just as it was. It works as a mystery with the strange, seemingly abandoned freighter, the Mary Deare, smoldering and adrift on the high sea. The mystery deepens when Gary Cooper a Merchant seaman with a checkered past enters the picture. Where did the crew go? Who started the fire? And who dynamited the side of the sinking ship?
It works as an action film as Charlton Heston is dangling by a rope from the side of the ship and the waves bash him nearly unconscious. The entire first part of the film is an exciting ship rescue, well done too!
And it works as a tense drama with the later court room scenes that are reminiscent of another Gary Cooper film, The Trail of Billy Mitchell.
Gary Cooper and Charlton Heston are in top acting form here. They make a good pairing too. And look out for an evil lout played by Richard Harris....Ohhhh he's so evil!
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The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959)
Director: Michael Anderson
Writers: Eric Ambler (screenplay), Hammond Innes (novel)
Cast: Gary Cooper, Charlton Heston, Michael Redgrave, Richard Harris
Genre: Adventure, Crime, Drama
A small time, ship salvage operator (Charlton Heston) comes across a derelict ship, on fire and adrift at sea. He braves the storm and boards the ship so to lay a claim to salvage rights. There he finds a seemingly deranged man (Gary Cooper) who is intent on sinking his own ship as he believes the former crew and captain sabotage their own ship for insurance money. CR
The Wreck of the Mary Deare is a 1959 MGM, wide screen CinemaScope color film, that was a collaboration between British and American film makers. This is the film that Alfred Hitchcock was going to make along with his screen writer Ernest Lehman. Hitch went as far as finding a ship to film, when his screen writer told him he couldn't come up with a story. So the two made North By Northwest, instead.
One might wonder how different this might have been as a Hitch film. Though I thought it was great just as it was. It works as a mystery with the strange, seemingly abandoned freighter, the Mary Deare, smoldering and adrift on the high sea. The mystery deepens when Gary Cooper a Merchant seaman with a checkered past enters the picture. Where did the crew go? Who started the fire? And who dynamited the side of the sinking ship?
It works as an action film as Charlton Heston is dangling by a rope from the side of the ship and the waves bash him nearly unconscious. The entire first part of the film is an exciting ship rescue, well done too!
And it works as a tense drama with the later court room scenes that are reminiscent of another Gary Cooper film, The Trail of Billy Mitchell.
Gary Cooper and Charlton Heston are in top acting form here. They make a good pairing too. And look out for an evil lout played by Richard Harris....Ohhhh he's so evil!
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