South Sea Sinner [East of Java] ** (1950, Macdonald Carey, Shelley Winters, Luther Adler, Helena Carter, Frank Lovejoy) – Classic Movie Review 11,894

Shelley Winters and Frank Lovejoy in a scene from 1950 film noir South Sea Sinner.

Director H Bruce Humberstone’s irresistibly titled 1950 Universal Pictures black and white romantic adventure film noir drama South Sea Sinner [East of Java] stars Macdonald Carey, Shelley Winters, Luther Adler, Helena Carter and Frank Lovejoy.

Macdonald Carey plays sick crewman ‘Jake’ Davis, a simple anti-hero on the run, who escapes to a South Sea Pacific island where he is put under great pressure by slimy café/ saloon/ restaurant owner Cognac (Luther Adler) when he falls for his sex siren singer, Coral (Shelley Winters). Jake is wanted for wartime collaboration with the Japanese but he wants to clear his name. Coral is about to be ejected from the island because ‘men like her too much’, but Cognac gets her a reprieve so she can learn Jake’s secret, and Cognac then plays a dangerous game of blackmail with the fugitive from justice.

This undemanding South Seas movie is nothing special at all, and at times is snooze inducing as the lack of fire in Carey’s performance matches the laid-back story and handling.

But this far-too-slack reworking of Seven Sinners (1940) is brightened by the irrepressible Winters as the sexy, sleazy chantoose, Frank Lovejoy as Doc and the unusual presence of Liberace (in his debut) as the Maestro who plays piano for Winters.

Also in the cast are Art Smith, John Ridgely, James Flavin and Molly Lamont.

Filming took place in July 1949.

The screenplay by Joel Malone and Oscar Brodney is based on the boringly titled East of Java by László Vadnay [Laslo Vadnay] and Ladislas Fodor.

Winters performs (dubbed) I’M THE LONESOMEST GAL IN TOWN (written by Albert von Tilzer and Lew Brown), BLUE LAGOON (written by Arnold Schwarzwald, lyrics Frederick Herbert), ONE MAN WOMAN (doing a Mae West impression) (written by Milton Schwarzwald, lyrics Jack Brooks) and IT HAD TO BE YOU (written by Gus Kahn and Isham Jones). Liberace performs VALSE (written by Frédéric Chopin) and PIANO CONCERTO (written by Franz Liszt).

There was trouble on set with a fiery, unhappy Winters, who allegedly had a number of outbursts, including a clash with Helena Carter. Winters said she was ‘nervous and tired’ after making three films in five months and said she was unused to Humberstone’s ‘close direction during song and dance scenes.’ She said she had to perform ‘a suggestive dance’ when exhibitors and their families visited the set. She was upset when an eight-year-old boy filmed her and asked for him to be taken away.

Winters can also be seen in The Great Gatsby, Frenchie and Take One False Step. Liberace can be seen in Sincerely Yours.

The cast are Macdonald Carey as ‘Jake’ Davis, Shelley Winters as Coral, Luther Adler as Cognac, Frank Lovejoy as Doc, Helena Carter as Margaret Landis, Art Smith as Grayson, Liberace as Maestro, John Ridgely, James Flavin and Molly Lamont.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 11,894

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