Power, who also helped finance the movie, which was written and directed by Richard Sale, starred as an officer from a sunken ship burdened with the care of an overloaded lifeboat after a luxury liner has been sunk. Among those clinging to the bark are Lloyd Nolan (who is so real it hurts as an injured member of the crew who sees his duty and does it, no matter what), a very young Stephen Boyd, Moira Lister, the always welcome Finlay Currie and Mai Zetterling (one of Ty's girlfriends around then, who wrote about their liaison in her fitfully interesting memoir, All Those Tomorrows).
While I've read that many viewers were appalled by Power's drawn and tired appearance in this movie, I suspect that may have been part of the actor's hope--to finally shed that too handsome veneer of his youth and to be noted for his acting, rather than his dazzling appearance. He'd tried to escape his fate as the prettiest man in the movies with his fine work in Nightmare Alley. His acting here, over a decade later, as the commander of the little boat, was really first rate and if he'd lived, I suspect that much better roles awaited him in later middle age. In that sense, I found this tough to watch, knowing how little time the man had left.
The movie always leaves me wondering: which would be worse, the physical or the ethical challenges in this harrowing situation. Perhaps others find this movie depressing, but it is the sort of thing that, when well done, as it is here, highlights the inner character of a cross section of people and the dilemma of having to make choices that seemed necessary at the time to help most, but not all, to survive.
Based on a couple of real life cases, from the period of WWII and with strong similarities to the real-life sinking of the American ship the William Brown in 1841, the following statement is heard over scenes of the passenger's rescue at the end of the movie: "This was a true story. In real life Alexander Holmes was tried for murder but sentenced to only six months because of the extraordinary circumstances."
I hope you'll share your opinion on the movie.
