The Wreck of the Mary Deare *** (1959, Gary Cooper, Charlton Heston, Michael Redgrave, Emlyn Williams, Richard Harris, Cecil Parker, Alexander Knox, Virginia McKenna) – Classic Movie Review 3,846

The 1959 film The Wreck of the Mary Deare is a solid adventure about mysterious nautical doings, mixing sea air with courtroom claustrophobia. Gary Cooper gives a trusty turn as the captain of a seemingly abandoned salvage vessel in the English Channel.

Michael Anderson’s 1959 movie The Wreck of the Mary Deare is a solid, respectable adventure about mysterious nautical doings, successfully mixing fresh sea air with courtroom claustrophobia. There’s quite a bit of suspense and tension in this old-style seafaring adventure yarn, based on a 1956 Hammond Innes novel, with a screenplay by Eric Ambler.

Gary Cooper gives a true and trusty performance as the captain of a seemingly abandoned salvage vessel in the English Channel. It is true that in his penultimate film, Cooper, as the SS Mary Deare ship’s first officer Gideon Patch, seems a bit too mature for underwater larks, but he keeps his authority and dignity.

The questions before a London court of enquiry where Cooper’s Gideon Patch character is accused of negligence are: what happened to his crew and what was the ship carrying?

Charlton Heston also convinces as the skipper of a salvage boat who becomes innocently involved in the mystery. Heston seems to rejoice in his role as John Sands, owner of the rescue tug Sea Witch, who finds the derelict and abandoned Mary Deare drifting in the English Channel with only Gideon Patch still aboard.

The problems are the rather creaky and static British production and the film’s sluggish middle section. But these are offset by the rugged performances of the two visiting American stars. Michael Redgrave as Mr Nyland and Emlyn Williams as Sir Wilfred Falcett are pillars of rectitude in court, while a young Richard Harris overplays the villain role of Higgins.

Though The Wreck of the Mary Deare is all a bit creaky and studio bound, it is nevertheless still fairly enjoyable.

Also in the cast are Cecil Parker, Alexander Knox, Virginia McKenna, Ben Wright, Peter Illing, Terrence De Marney, Ashley Cowan, Charles Davis, Paul Bryar, Noel Drayton, Charles Lamb, John Dearth, John le Mesurier and Louis Mercier.

It runs 104 minutes.

It was once an Alfred Hitchcock project, but he and writer Ernest Lehman could not make the script work, deciding it could only ever be ‘a boring courtroom drama’, and so they wisely decided to make North by Northwest instead.

There were long delays in filming because of Gary Cooper’s ill health, though he was not diagnosed with cancer until spring 1960.

It was released on November 6, 1959 (US).

On a budget of $2,596,000, it took $2,815,000 globally.

The cast are Gary Cooper as Gideon Patch, Charlton Heston as John Sands, Michael Redgrave as Mr Nyland, Emlyn Williams as Sir Wilfred Falcett, Cecil Parker as The Chairman, Alexander Knox as Petrie, Virginia McKenna as Janet Taggart, Richard Harris as Higgins, Ben Wright as Mike, Peter Illing as Gunderson, Terence De Marney as Frank, Charles Davis as Mary Deare Quartermaster Yules, Ashley Cowan as Burrows, Charles Davis, Paul Bryar, Noel Drayton, Charles Lamb, John Dearth, John le Mesurier and Louis Mercier.

http://derekwinnert.com/north-by-northwest-classic-film-review-4/

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3,846

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com