''Sea Wife'' is a 1957 British
CinemaScope drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...
thriller war film
War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...
photographed in
DeLuxe Color
DeLuxe Color or Deluxe color or Color by DeLuxe is Deluxe Laboratories brand of color process for motion pictures. DeLuxe Color is Eastmancolor-based, with certain adaptations for improved compositing for printing (similar to Technicolor's "sel ...
, based on the 1955
James Maurice Scott
James Maurice Scott (13 December 1906 – 12 March 1986) was a British explorer and writer. He was born in Egypt where his father was an English judge in the mixed courts. After he graduated from Cambridge University in 1928 he joined an explori ...
novel ''Sea-Wyf and Biscuit''. Shot in
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
, the film follows a group of survivors from a torpedoed British refugee ship.
Plot
Michael Cannon (
Richard Burton
Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable pe ...
) returns to London after the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
and places advertisements in the personal columns of various newspapers in an effort to re-unite with "Sea Wife", a lost acquaintance. Eventually Cannon, who publishes his adverts under the name "Biscuit", receives a letter summoning him to the Ely Retreat and Mental Home. There he meets an ill man nicknamed "Bulldog" (
Basil Sydney
Basil Sydney (23 April 1894 – 10 January 1968) was an English stage and screen actor.
Career
Sydney made his name in 1915 in the London stage hit ''Romance'' by Edward Sheldon, with Broadway star Doris Keane, and he costarred with Keane in t ...
), who tries to persuade Biscuit to give up the search. A flashback reveals the backstory.
In 1942, people crowd aboard a ship, the ''San Felix'', to escape
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
before it
falls to the Japanese Army. Biscuit is brusquely shouldered aside by a determined older man, "Bulldog", who insists the ship's black purser, later to be nicknamed "Number Four" (
Cy Grant
Cyril Ewart Lionel "Cy" Grant (8 November 1919 – 13 February 2010) was a Guyanese actor, musician, writer, and poet. In the 1950s, he became the first black person to be featured regularly on television in Britain,Kurt Barling '' The Inde ...
), evict the people from the cabin he has reserved. However, when he sees that it is occupied by hungry children and nuns, he reluctantly changes his mind. The nun with her back to him is the beautiful young Sister Therese, later nicknamed "Sea Wife" (
Joan Collins
Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. Collins is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primeti ...
). Later, the ''San Felix'' is torpedoed by a submarine. Biscuit, Sea Wife, Bulldog, and Number Four survive by going into the water and occupying a small
life-raft. Only Number Four knows that Sea Wife is a nun; she asks him to keep that a secret.
It soon becomes evident that Bulldog is a racist who does not trust Number Four. Later, they encounter a Japanese submarine whose captain at first refuses to offer them aid, but gives them food and water when Number Four negotiates with him in Japanese, though what he has said is kept a secret between himself and Sea Wife. Eventually, the quartet land on a deserted island. Number Four finds a
machete
Older machete from Latin America
Gerber machete/saw combo
Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas, Oaxaca">San_Agustín_de_las_Juntas.html" ;"title="Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas">Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San ...
, with which he builds a sturdier raft, made of tropical timber. After completion of the project, Number Four insists on keeping the machete to himself, which heightens Bulldog's distrust. Meanwhile, Biscuit falls in love with Sea Wife; she is tempted, but rejects his romantic advances without telling him the reason.
Finally, the four are ready to set sail. Bulldog tricks Number Four into going in search of his missing machete, then casts off without him. When Biscuit tries to stop him, Bulldog knocks him unconscious with an oar. Number Four tries to swim to the raft, but is killed by a shark. Days later, the 3 survivors are picked up by ship, and Biscuit is taken to a hospital for a long recovery. By the time he is discharged, Sea Wife has gone. Here, the flashback ends, and the narrative returns to "Bulldog's" hospital room in London, where he informs Biscuit that Sea Wife died on the rescue ship. Heartbroken, Biscuit leaves the grounds and walks past two nuns without noticing that Sea Wife is one of them. She watches him leave in silence.
Production
Richard Burton accepted this acting assignment only because, at the time,
Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He was one of the most prominent directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing to the movement with films such ...
had been slotted by the Fox studio as the film's director. However, before actual shooting began in Jamaica, Rossellini, whose script would have invited censorship problems, bowed out of the production and was replaced by Bob McNaught.
Sensing early during shooting that the film would wind up a dud, Burton concentrated his energies on two objectives: Joan Collins, who rejected his advances, and drinking, to fight insomnia. Yet despite waking every morning at 5 am with a terrible hangover, he was still able to contribute a full day's work.
During initial exhibition of ''Sea Wife'', ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' distributed miniaturized copies of the personal ads placed by "Biscuit" as a means of promoting itself as well as the film.
The deserted-island scenes for this movie were photographed at the same
Ocho Rios, Jamaica
Ocho Rios (Spanish for "Eight Rivers") is a town in the parish of Saint Ann on the north coast of Jamaica, and is more widely referred to as ''Ochi'' by locals. Beginning as a sleepy fishing village, Ocho Rios has seen explosive growth in the ...
, location that had previously been used in such pictures as ''
Island of Desire'' (1953) and ''
All the Brothers Were Valiant'' (1953). The city of
Kingston stood in for Singapore during early scenes of the film; and before the episode involving the torpedoed ship was shot, Richard Burton participated in a cricket match with some of the actors and extras who were about to be used for that scene.
As noted by the ''New York Times'', the opening credits for ''Sea Wife'' state that the film was "adapted from the novel 'Sea-Wyf' by J. M. Scott"—but the person or persons who did the adaptation is/are not identified.
"The Screen: 'Sea Wife'; Thrill is Gone from Scott's Thriller." ''New York Times''. (Dec. 5, 1957).
/ref>
Cast
* Joan Collins
Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. Collins is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primeti ...
as Sea Wife
* Richard Burton
Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable pe ...
as Biscuit
* Basil Sydney
Basil Sydney (23 April 1894 – 10 January 1968) was an English stage and screen actor.
Career
Sydney made his name in 1915 in the London stage hit ''Romance'' by Edward Sheldon, with Broadway star Doris Keane, and he costarred with Keane in t ...
as Bulldog
* Cy Grant
Cyril Ewart Lionel "Cy" Grant (8 November 1919 – 13 February 2010) was a Guyanese actor, musician, writer, and poet. In the 1950s, he became the first black person to be featured regularly on television in Britain,Kurt Barling '' The Inde ...
as Number Four
* Ronald Squire
Ronald Launcelot Squire (25 March 1886 – 16 November 1958) was an English character actor.
Biography
Born in Tiverton, Devon, England, the son of an army officer, Lt.-Col. Frederick Squirl and his Irish-born wife Mary (Ronald's surname 'Sq ...
as Clubman
* Harold Goodwin as Daily Telegraph Clerk
* Roddy Hughes
Rhodri Henry Hughes (19 June 1891 – 22 February 1970) was a Welsh theatre, film and television actor, who appeared in over 80 films between 1932 and 1961.
Selected filmography
* ''Mr. Bill the Conqueror'' (1932)
* '' Reunion'' (1932)
* '' Say ...
as Club Barman
* Gibb McLaughlin
George McLoughlin (19 July 1879 – 30 June 1961), known professionally as Gibb McLaughlin, was an English film and stage actor.
Early days
McLaughlin was born in Sunderland, County Durham, England in 1879. For about 10 years he was a sales ...
as Club Porter
* Lloyd Lamble
Lloyd Nelson Lamble (8 February 1914 – 17 March 2008) was an Australian actor who worked in theatre, television, radio and film. He lived and worked for most of his life in the United Kingdom.
Biography Personal life
Lloyd Lamble was born in M ...
as Captain 'San Felix'
* Ronald Adam
General Sir Ronald Forbes Adam, 2nd Baronet, (30 October 1885 – 26 December 1982) was a senior British Army officer. He had an important influence on the conduct of the British Army during the Second World War as a result of his long tenure ...
as Army Padre
* Nicholas Hannen as Elderly Passenger
* Beatrice Varley
Beatrice Evelyn Varley (11 July 1896 – 4 July 1964) was an English actress who appeared in television and film roles between 1936 and 1964. She made her screen debut in the 1936 film ''Tomorrow We Live'' and began to portray a variety of ch ...
as Elderly Nun
References
External links
*
*
*
* {{AFI film, id=52357, title=Sea Wife
1957 films
1957 romantic drama films
British romantic drama films
Films shot at Elstree Studios
Films about survivors of seafaring accidents or incidents
Films based on British novels
Films set on uninhabited islands
World War II naval films
Films with screenplays by Nigel Balchin
1950s English-language films
1950s British films