''South Sea Sinner'' is a 1950 American
adventure film
An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, an ...
directed by
H. Bruce Humberstone
H. Bruce "Lucky" Humberstone (November 18, 1901 – October 11, 1984) was an American film director. He was previously a movie actor (as a child), a script clerk, and an assistant director, working with directors such as King Vidor, Edmund Gould ...
and starring
Macdonald Carey
Edward Macdonald Carey (March 15, 1913 – March 21, 1994) was an American actor, best known for his role as the patriarch Dr. Tom Horton on NBC's soap opera ''Days of Our Lives''. For almost three decades, he was the show's central cast member.
...
and
Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters (born Shirley Schrift; August 18, 1920 – January 14, 2006) was an American actress whose career spanned seven decades. She appeared in numerous films. She won Academy Awards for ''The Diary of Anne Frank'' (1959) and ''A Patch o ...
. It is a remake of ''
Seven Sinners'' (1940).
Liberace
Władziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987) was an American pianist, singer, and actor. A child prodigy born in Wisconsin to parents of Italian and Polish origin, he enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordi ...
has a small role.
Plot
A cafe owner on a South Sea island plays a dangerous game of blackmail with a fugitive from justice.
Cast
*
Macdonald Carey
Edward Macdonald Carey (March 15, 1913 – March 21, 1994) was an American actor, best known for his role as the patriarch Dr. Tom Horton on NBC's soap opera ''Days of Our Lives''. For almost three decades, he was the show's central cast member.
...
as 'Jake' Davis
*
Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters (born Shirley Schrift; August 18, 1920 – January 14, 2006) was an American actress whose career spanned seven decades. She appeared in numerous films. She won Academy Awards for ''The Diary of Anne Frank'' (1959) and ''A Patch o ...
as Coral
*
Luther Adler
Luther Adler (born Lutha Adler; May 4, 1903 – December 8, 1984) was an American actor best known for his work in theatre, but who also worked in film and television. He also directed plays on Broadway.
Early life and career
Adler was born on ...
as Cognac
*
Frank Lovejoy
Frank Andrew Lovejoy Jr. (March 28, 1912 – October 2, 1962) was an American actor in radio, film, and television. He is perhaps best remembered for appearing in the film noir '' The Hitch-Hiker'' and for starring in the radio drama '' Night Beat ...
as Doc
*
Helena Carter
Helena Carter (born Helen Jean Ruckert; August 24, 1923
– January 11, 2000) was an American film actress in the 1940s and 1950s who is best known for her work in the film '' Invaders from Mars'' as Dr. Patricia Blake. From 1947 to 1953 she ...
as Margaret Landis
*
Art Smith as Grayson
*
Liberace
Władziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987) was an American pianist, singer, and actor. A child prodigy born in Wisconsin to parents of Italian and Polish origin, he enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordi ...
as Maestro
Production
''South Sea Sinner'' was known as ''East of Java'' during filming.
Helena Carter
Helena Carter (born Helen Jean Ruckert; August 24, 1923
– January 11, 2000) was an American film actress in the 1940s and 1950s who is best known for her work in the film '' Invaders from Mars'' as Dr. Patricia Blake. From 1947 to 1953 she ...
replaced
Dorothy Hart
Dorothy Hart (April 4, 1922 – July 11, 2004) was an American actress, mostly in supporting roles. She portrayed Howard Duff's fiancée in the film ''The Naked City'' (1948).
Early life
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Hart was the daughter of insura ...
. Star Macdonald Carey was borrowed from Paramount.
Filming took place in July 1949. Winters was accused of having a number of temperamental outbursts on set including a clash with
Helena Carter
Helena Carter (born Helen Jean Ruckert; August 24, 1923
– January 11, 2000) was an American film actress in the 1940s and 1950s who is best known for her work in the film '' Invaders from Mars'' as Dr. Patricia Blake. From 1947 to 1953 she ...
. Winters admitted to being "nervous and tired" after making three films in five months and was "unused" to Humbersome's "close direction during song and dance scenes." She said she had to perform "a suggestive dance" when some exhibitors and their families visit the set and she was upset when an eight-year-old boy filmed her; she asked that he be removed to where she couldn't see him.
Reception
The ''New York Times'' called it a "ridiculously romance-soggy film which has about as much South Seas flavour as a roadside papaya bar."
''Filmink'' called it "an okay film, not as good as the one it was remaking... most notable for giving a small role to Liberace. Winters gets all the sympathy here... but it is nice to see several scenes where Carter and Winters are friendly to each other...Carter doesn’t seem particularly enthusiastic in this one."
References
External links
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*
1950 films
Films directed by H. Bruce Humberstone
Films scored by Walter Scharf
Films set in Oceania
Remakes of American films
Universal Pictures films
American adventure films
1950 adventure films
American black-and-white films
1950s English-language films
1950s American films
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