Paramount Pictures
Not part of a collection.
Souls at Sea
Men Against The Sea! Stark Drama No Fiction Can Equal!
Michael 'Nuggin' Taylor and Powdah save lives during a sea tragedy in this story about the slave trade on the high seas during 1842.
- Original title
- Souls at Sea
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- —
- Revenue
- —
CinemaSerf
Jan 12, 2025 · via TMDB
I never really found Gary Cooper to be the most invigorating of actors, but he delivers well here in this tale of maritime treachery. We start at a trial where he ("Nuggin") is being indicted for the killing of survivors from a seaborne disaster in the mid 1800s. It's while the evidence is being given that we are taken back on a retrospective of just how this honourable seaman found himself caught up, with his friend "Powdah" (George Raft) in the evil machinations of "Tarryton" (Henry Wilcoxon). When the boat he was travelling on manages to hit an iceberg, he is left to take charge. As usual there aren't enough spaces on the life boats so panic ensues, and a fairly "survival of the fittest" one at that, the results of which result in his current predicament. How to prove his innocence? Well that might lie in the hands of "Woodley" (George Zucco) who is working for the British Government on a mission to finally eradicate slavery, and who knows a thing or two about the real character of "Nuggin". It's a tautly directed adventure for the first half with plenty of duplicity going on, but when his relationship with "Margaret" (Frances Dee) starts to take a more prominent role in the story, we head into a rather disappointing form of 1930s soapdom. Raft tries his best and in many ways reminded me of Robert Newton but his loyal and decent character is sadly underused whilst the more interesting and perilous anti-slavery storyline becomes a little too subsumed amidst the lace and umbrellas. It's still a film that's well paced for the most part and one that makes you realise that the abolition of slavery in itself didn't actually halt this odious practice in the United States. There were still plenty of officials complicit in this lucrative activity.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
Gary Cooper
Michael 'Nuggin' Taylor
George Raft
Powdah
Frances Dee
Margaret Tarryton
Henry Wilcoxon
Lieutenant Stanley Tarryton
Harry Carey
Captain of the William Brown
Olympe Bradna
Babsie
Robert Cummings
George Martin
Porter Hall
Court Prosecutor
George Zucco
Woodley
Virginia Weidler
Tina
Joseph Schildkraut
Gaston de Bastonet
Gilbert Emery
Capt. Martisel
Lucien Littlefield
Toymaker
Paul Fix
Violinist
Tully Marshall
Pecora
Monte Blue
Mate
Stanley Fields
Granley
Baby Peggy
Bit Role (uncredited)
Robert Barrat
The Reverend (uncredited)
Lina Basquette
Brunette in Saloon (uncredited)
Forrester Harvey
Pub Proprietor (uncredited)
Fay Holden
Mrs. Martin (uncredited)
Olaf Hytten
Proprietor (uncredited)
Alan Ladd
Sailor (uncredited)
Ben Taggart
Ship's Officer (uncredited)
Colin Tapley
Donaldson (uncredited)
Jameson Thomas
Pelton (uncredited)
Robert Warwick
Vice Admiral (uncredited)
Blue Washington
Ship Slave (uncredited)
Ward Bond
Bit Part (uncredited)
Charles Lang
Director of Photography
Edith Head
Costume Design
Hal Walker
Assistant Director
Henry Hathaway
Director
Grover Jones
Producer
Grover Jones
Screenplay
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Sep 3, 1937
