Souls at Sea **** (1937, Gary Cooper, George Raft, Frances Dee) – Classic Movie Review 9182

‘Men Against The Sea! Stark Drama No Fiction Can Equal!’

Producer-director Henry Hathaway’s 1937 Souls at Sea is a popular Gary Cooper high seas action adventure about the American navy battling slave traders in the 19th century. It was nominated for three Oscars: Best Art Direction (Hans Dreier and Roland Anderson), Best Assistant Director (Hal Walker) and Best Music, Score (W Franke Harling, Milan Roder and Boris Morros).

Cooper stars as Michael ‘Nuggin’ Taylor, an intelligence man who faces a multitude of trials, a couple of the court kind, and others of the seafaring kind – brigands and shipwrecks. At his right-hand as Powdah, is George Raft, enjoying the change from gangster movies. Nuggin and Powdah save lives in a shipwreck sea tragedy.

Souls at Sea (1937) has a lot going for it: the star performances, a good story (by Ted Lesser), a busy script (by Grover Jones, Dale Van Every and Richard Talmadge), a fast pace (thanks in part to a lot of plot and themes crammed in to the short running time of 92 minutes), the Paramount production and lots of showy character turns.

Also in the cast are Frances Dee, Henry Wilcoxon, Harry Carey, Olympe Bradna, Robert Cummings, Porter Hall, George Zucco, Virginia Weidler, Joseph Schildkraut, Gilbert Emery, Lucien Littlefield, Paul Fix, Tully Marshall, Monte Blue, Stanley Fields, Fay Holden, Clyde Cook, Rollo Lloyd, Wilson Benge, Rolfe Sedan, Eugene Borden, Lee Shumway and Forbes Murray.

Souls at Sea is directed by Henry Hathaway, runs 92 minutes, is made and released by Paramount Pictures, is written by Grover Jones, Dale Van Every and Richard Talmadge, based on a story by Ted Lesser, is shot in black and white by Merritt B Gerstad and Charles Lang Jr, is produced by Henry Hathaway, is shot by Grover Jones, is scored by W Franke Harling, Milan Roder, Bernard Kaun (orchestrator), John Leipold (orchestrator) and Boris Morros (musical director), and is designed by Hans Dreier and Roland Anderson, with Costume Design by Edith Head, Special Effects by Barney Wolff, Stunts by Jack Montgomery and Visual Effects by Gordon Jennings.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9182

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