Grant Means Movies
This unusual, dreamlike John Wayne vehicle is set in the East Indies. The focus of the film is the deadly rivalry between two men of the sea. Ship's captain Rails (John Wayne) nurses a long-standing grudge against shipping magnate Van Schreeven (Luther Adler). The reason for the animosity: Van Schreeven stole away Rails' love, Angelique (Gail Russell). Revenge has warped Rails to point that sometimes he seems to be the heavy of the picture. Complications involving valuable pearls ensue before the offbeat climax, which finds Rails scuttling his own vessel, the Red Witch, as means of getting even. The film's resolution is one of the strangest ever concocted for a Wayne picture. Wake of the Red Witch represented the second screen teaming of John Wayne and Gail Russell; the film must also have held some special significance for Wayne, since he named his own production company, Batjac, after the shipping firm depicted in the picture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Gail Russell, (more)
- 1948
16 Fathoms Deep was a curious choice as the first effort from Arthur Lake Productions. Heretofore known best as Dagwood Bumstead in Columbia's Blondie series, Arthur Lake not only elected to produce this remake of the 1934 melodrama of the same name but also to play the film's comedy-relief character, a camera-crazy tourist named Pete. The story concerns a former Navy frogman who takes a job as a sponge fisherman in the Gulf of Mexico. The job proves more hazardous than expected, due to the dirty tactics perpetrated by a rival sponge dealer. Lloyd Bridges, still eight years away from TV's Sea Hunt, stars as the frogman-turned-fisherman, while Lon Chaney Jr., who played the hero in the 1934 version of 16 Fathoms Deep, is here cast as the villain. Filmed in Anscocolor, the 1948 16 Fathoms Deep paid its way, but wasn't successful enough to allow Arthur Lake to quit his day job as Dagwood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lon Chaney, Jr., Arthur Lake, (more)
- 1948
The history of a family feud is chronicled in this drama that begins with two men who hate each other. After the fathers die, their sons inherit the fight. It all began when one of the fathers becomes captain of a whaling ship. He abducts the other and forces him to work aboard the ship where he physically abuses him for many years until the battered man can escape. Their mutual hatred does not abate over time. They teach their sons to carry on the feud which culminates in one murdering the other. Much of the story was filmed on location in Alaska. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Bromfield, James B. Cardwell, (more)
