Sea Devils
(1953/VCI DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C Extras: C- Film: C+
Raoul
Walsh was one of the great Hollywood directors
and one who was known for his tough, uncompromising approach to
filmmaking. As compared to his rawest
films, Sea Devils (1953) may not be
one of his darkest works, yet the adaptation of a Victor Hugo novel with Rock
Hudson and Yvonne De Carlo has some interestingly dark moments in what is a
British production.
Gilliatt
(Hudson) is a fisherman who is also a smuggler, but he encounters and becomes
involved with a woman named Droucette (De Carlo) who turns out to be a
spy. Borden Chase (Vera Cruz) delivers a competent screenplay adaptation with some fin
ins and outs to the story as dictated by the book, but the resulting film is
uneven and somewhat predictable. The
reason to watch are the stars, the color, the fine production value and Walsh’s
directing style. Even when it does not
work, it is always interesting to watch.
Michael Goodliffe and Bryan Forbes also star.
The 1.33
X 1 image was shot by the great Wilkie Cooper (Green For Danger, Jason & The Argonauts) in the three-strip
dye-transfer Technicolor format and the result is a great color film that even
looks good on this DVD. Clean and
consistent with a few good demo shots; VCI should consider making this one of
their first Blu-rays. The Dolby Digital
2.0 Mono is somewhat distorted throughout and shows its age more, so be careful
of playback levels and audio switching.
Richard Addinsell’s score deserves better. The only extras are trailers for two other
similar VCI DVD releases.
- Nicholas Sheffo
