Review: The Wreck of the Mary Deare

Charlton Heston is a salvage boat captain who boards the supposedly derelict ship during one helluva storm. After some searching he comes across a weathered and distressed-looking man, who claims to be first officer Gideon Patch (Gary Cooper). Apparently the captain of the ship died, and the rest of the crew have long abandoned ship. Patch is sketchy on the details and claims he’ll tell all at a court of inquiry, but in the meantime Heston will just have to trust him. This is especially so when Heston struggles to get back aboard his own vessel and must instead travel aboard the Mary Deare with a possibly unstable Patch. Richard Harris plays the antagonistic second mate on the Mary Deare, who will testify against Patch, Ben Wright is Heston’s first mate, Alexander Knox is the insurance investigator, Peter Illing is the untrustworthy owner of the ship, whilst Cecil Parker, Michael Redgrave, and Emlyn Williams play the various judicial figures in the second half. Virginia McKenna has a small role as the daughter of the dead captain, whom Patch goes to in order to help clear his name.

Although it’s definitely a film of two very different halves, this 1959 film from director Michael Anderson (“Around the World in 80 Days”, “Operation Crossbow”, “The Quiller Memorandum”) and screenwriter Eric Ambler (“The Magic Box”, “Lease of Life”, “A Night to Remember”) never fails to entertain. It may be lumpy, and the music score by George Duning (“From Here to Eternity”, “3:10 to Yuma”) is overly insistent, but it’s well-acted across the board, and not remotely dull. Charlton Heston is ideally cast, and Gary Cooper has one of his best-ever acting showcases as the troubled sea captain. Ill at the time, he looks appropriately weathered and haunted. Heston’s role is the obviously less complicated one and more action-oriented (though far more of a lead role than Cooper’s), but that’s his strongest suit as an actor anyway. Richard Harris isn’t remotely subtle, but he steals his every scene, and Alexander Knox, Emlyn Williams, and Cecil Parker do what they do best filling out their minor character parts with class. Poor Ben Wright has no idea what accent he’s attempting as Heston’s First Mate. It wavers from France to Ireland to its presumably intended Scottish. Whoops. Virginia McKenna performs her thankless role ably, but this is a man’s picture through and through.

It’s an interestingly dark, dank-looking film in the first half, with pretty decent stormy seas action, I bet it wasn’t a fun shoot. The sweaty, steamy interiors of the ship’s underbelly are all pretty convincing. In fact, everything convinces- the interiors, the rough seas, the personal drama etc. Well, maybe not the projection work, but that’s minimal.

There’s nothing seamless about the film’s narrative, but I enjoyed both halves of this film. I mean, how can you complain about a film that gives you Gary Cooper and Chuck Heston in the first half, and Cecil Parker and a white-haired Emlyn Williams joining them in the second half? It’s well-acted, pretty convincing and rather underrated I believe. Maybe it’s time for a re-appraisal here.

Rating: B-