...because he felt very baited and switched seeing he had left the stage to do DeMille's first talkie, "Dynamite", which was a good and innovative film for its 1929 pedigree. Then, other than "Anna Christie", he got stuck into some real B minus MGM efforts such as this one.
The plot is unbelievable, the acting is bad in general, and according to Bickford's biography, even the director knew this one was a stinker. The leading lady is Raquel Torres, who started out in the late silent era and was completely out of feature roles in motion pictures by 1933, washed up at age 25. She got a few roles in the early sound era, mainly because her sultry voice actually went with her looks - that counted for something at the dawn of sound.
Raquel plays Nina, who is extremely close to her brother, Carl (Nils Asther), a sponge diver on the Caribbean island on which they live. Nils was on his way out at MGM, and they gave him this brief part in a bad property to partly justify them not picking up his option later that year. Well, while sponge diving, Carl is killed by the "Sea Bat", a large manta ray who seems to have the disposition of a great white. Actually they are gentle creatures and you would be more likely to be attacked by a goldfish. That's silly plot point number one. Silly plot point number two is that for all her ranting about the evil sea bat, Nina seems to quickly forget about Carl. She offers herself to any man who kills the sea bat, then goes off for some recreational voodoo dancing with the natives. Meanwhile Bickford arrives on the island dressed as a preacher, when all the while he is an escapee from devil's island. Unfortunately for him, Juan (John Miljan), who wants Nina for himself, recognizes him and figures he can kill two birds with one stone by putting Bickford back in the slammer AND collecting the reward for his capture.
Meanwhile Bickford's character, after seeing all of Nina's erratic wildcat behavior is suddenly falling for her...Why??? As for Nina, who was that Carl fellow who has been dead for all of two days? George F. Marion plays the law on the island who has lost all control of the entire population - natives, seafarers, and his daughter Nina included. He's hoping this new preacher can help restore order for his own sake as much as anything.
Bickford is really good here. He's the only reason this film gets two of its four stars from me. From the minute he enters the scene he does a great job of showing that he is not a preacher by showing his discomfort and awkwardness when trying to act "holy" with just glances, posture, and tone of voice. The audience should totally get what is going on without being told anything.
There are some good sea action scenes that almost got too good. The engineering team did a bad job and actually sank a boat in which Bickford was supposed to be tied up. But Bickford could see the problem before it happened and made sure that it just appeared he was tied up. Then when the boat sank he saved himself from drowning, as well as the cameraman who fell into the drink, but the camera was lost. Unfortunately, the film survived.
Bickford had nothing good to say about this one in his autobiography other than complimenting the work of fellow actors George F. Marion and John Miljan. It didn't help matters that he had to point out to the crew that some of the native extras appeared to have leprosy - they did. And the re-shooting of much of the film back in Hollywood led to a shouting match between Bickford and the vindictive mogul Louis Mayer that eventually led to several years in the wilderness for Bickford's career.
I'd say watch it for Bickford, and for the wonder that MGM could make such dreck and still stay in business.
The plot is unbelievable, the acting is bad in general, and according to Bickford's biography, even the director knew this one was a stinker. The leading lady is Raquel Torres, who started out in the late silent era and was completely out of feature roles in motion pictures by 1933, washed up at age 25. She got a few roles in the early sound era, mainly because her sultry voice actually went with her looks - that counted for something at the dawn of sound.
Raquel plays Nina, who is extremely close to her brother, Carl (Nils Asther), a sponge diver on the Caribbean island on which they live. Nils was on his way out at MGM, and they gave him this brief part in a bad property to partly justify them not picking up his option later that year. Well, while sponge diving, Carl is killed by the "Sea Bat", a large manta ray who seems to have the disposition of a great white. Actually they are gentle creatures and you would be more likely to be attacked by a goldfish. That's silly plot point number one. Silly plot point number two is that for all her ranting about the evil sea bat, Nina seems to quickly forget about Carl. She offers herself to any man who kills the sea bat, then goes off for some recreational voodoo dancing with the natives. Meanwhile Bickford arrives on the island dressed as a preacher, when all the while he is an escapee from devil's island. Unfortunately for him, Juan (John Miljan), who wants Nina for himself, recognizes him and figures he can kill two birds with one stone by putting Bickford back in the slammer AND collecting the reward for his capture.
Meanwhile Bickford's character, after seeing all of Nina's erratic wildcat behavior is suddenly falling for her...Why??? As for Nina, who was that Carl fellow who has been dead for all of two days? George F. Marion plays the law on the island who has lost all control of the entire population - natives, seafarers, and his daughter Nina included. He's hoping this new preacher can help restore order for his own sake as much as anything.
Bickford is really good here. He's the only reason this film gets two of its four stars from me. From the minute he enters the scene he does a great job of showing that he is not a preacher by showing his discomfort and awkwardness when trying to act "holy" with just glances, posture, and tone of voice. The audience should totally get what is going on without being told anything.
There are some good sea action scenes that almost got too good. The engineering team did a bad job and actually sank a boat in which Bickford was supposed to be tied up. But Bickford could see the problem before it happened and made sure that it just appeared he was tied up. Then when the boat sank he saved himself from drowning, as well as the cameraman who fell into the drink, but the camera was lost. Unfortunately, the film survived.
Bickford had nothing good to say about this one in his autobiography other than complimenting the work of fellow actors George F. Marion and John Miljan. It didn't help matters that he had to point out to the crew that some of the native extras appeared to have leprosy - they did. And the re-shooting of much of the film back in Hollywood led to a shouting match between Bickford and the vindictive mogul Louis Mayer that eventually led to several years in the wilderness for Bickford's career.
I'd say watch it for Bickford, and for the wonder that MGM could make such dreck and still stay in business.