Waterfront *** (1944, John Carradine, J Carrol Naish, Maris Wrixon) – Classic Movie Review 13,112

The 1944 low-budget PRC Poverty Row thriller film Waterfront stars John Carradine, J Carrol Naish and Maris Wrixon, and tells a lurid tale of Nazi agents, death and extortion on San Francisco’s waterfront, during World War Two.

‘SHOCKING EXPOSE OF ENEMY SABOTEURS Along America’s WATERFRONT’

Director Steve Sekely’s 1944 black and white Poverty Row studio PRC Pictures American thriller film Waterfront stars John Carradine as Victor Marlow, J Carrol Naish, and Maris Wrixon, and tells a lurid tale of Nazi agents, enemy saboteurs, death and extortion on San Francisco’s waterfront, during World War Two.

A cheap and cheerful wartime spy yarn of killing and blackmail is greatly enlivened by Carradine and Naish’s exuberantly villainous turns as Nazis battling other agents for power – and a code book.

Naish plays Dr Carl Decker, a San Francisco Nazi spy leader working undercover as an optometrist. His decoder book is stolen on the San Francisco waterfront at night, so when Victor Marlow (John Carradine) arrives, the message for his next assignment is undecipherable. Decker and Marlow then have to race Oscar Zimmerman (John Bleifer) and Max Kramer (Edwin Maxwell) to recover the code book.

Steve Sekely’s directorial flair and a hectic pace disguise an interestingly plotted script’s muddles and illogicalities in this sometimes bewildering, but always intriguing drama. The cheap sets only add to the simple fun to be had from this entertaining low-budget filler thriller, running only 68 minutes.

Release date: June 10, 1944.

The cast are John Carradine as Victor Marlow, J Carrol Naish as Dr Carl Decker, Maris Wrixon as Freda Hauser, Edwin Maxwell as Max Kramer, Terry Frost as Jerry Donovan, John Bleifer as Oscar Zimmerman, Marten Lamont as Mike Gorman, Olga Fabian as Mrs Emma Hauser, Claire Rochelle as Maisie, and Billy Nelson as Butch.

Waterfront is directed by Steve Sekely, runs 68 minutes, is made by Alexander-Stern Productions, is released by Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC) (US) and Pathé Pictures (UK), is written by Martin Mooney (story and screenplay) and Irwin R Franklyn ((screenplay)), is shot in black and white by Robert E Cline, is produced by Arthur Alexander and Alfred Stern, and is scored by Lee Zahler (musical director), with Art Direction by Paul Palmentola.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,112

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