King of the Coral Sea (1954) Poster

(1954)

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7/10
Nothing fancy but entertaining
BruceCorneil27 January 2003
Straightforward but solid "B" programmer about coastal smugglers who use a pearl diving operation to sneak aliens into Australia.

This was the second feature produced by Southern International - a company formed by Chips Rafferty and director Lee Robinson. Shot on location around northern Queensland.

Crude but fast paced and made effective use of its exotic locales.

Returned a healthy profit both locally and overseas.

Now primarily of historical interest as it showcased the talents of future Hollywood star Rod Taylor in his first big screen appearance.

Nothing fancy but entertaining.
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8/10
Location, location, location
tomsview18 May 2022
Warning: Spoilers
"King of the Coral Sea" starring Chips Rafferty and Rod Taylor was shot entirely on location at the top end of Australia and has an open-air, robust quality. From the opening shot of Chips controlling the rudder of the pearling schooner with a couple of ropes, like driving Ben Hur's chariot, the film is full of fascinating detail.

Ted King (Chips) and his crew are in the pearl shell business on Thursday Island. When they discover a floating body, the authorities ask them to investigate a people smuggling racket. This triggers the plot and is the catalyst for the action at the end as Chips takes out the smugglers "Deliverance" style with a speargun.

The underwater scenes featured a special diving helmet used by the pearl shell divers, which filled with water if you fell or leaned too far forward; it was more dangerous than wrestling a giant squid.

As Stephen Vagg observed in his biography of Rod Taylor, Chips at 6'5" towered over 5'7" Rod who plays American Jake Janeiro. But look at the shoulders on Rod, he was actually wider than Chips and looked tough and cocky. He was billed after Charles Tingwell who is cool and smooth as the playboy owner of the pearling business, but you sense Rod's self-assurance, he was on his way, even if his American accent wasn't quite cooked yet.

Beautiful Ilma Adey who plays Chip's daughter is intriguing. According to IMDb, it was her first film, her only other credits were for an episode of "Home and Away" and a documentary about Australian films. There's little about her online except a piece about her as a showgirl at the Celebrity Club in Sydney around 1950. How did she escape films?

Reg Lye as Grundy mugs and leers like an old-time music-hall villain. A touch of subtlety could have made a better performance.

Chips and director Lee Robinson didn't bother with studios, they planted their camera and actors right where they wanted to tell their story. Anyone who enjoyed this outing should catch "Walk into Paradise", where they went even further north to New Guinea.
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10/10
I enjoyed this film after waiting over 40 years to see it!
thethumbthing13 June 2012
Chips Rafferty and Lee Robinson were partners for many years and this is one of the earlier feature collaborations they worked on.

Making films in Australia back in the 1950's was not easy, it was considered a " Non Essential Industry" due to the financial constraints put upon the country after WWII. This film had a budget of 25 thousand pounds, this is all the Government would give to assist film makers during this dry period. Its impressive to see a film of this caliber being made on such a small budget considering the locations involved.

Robinson had a theory in those days, he couldn't make an Aussie film as the fear was that an international audience would not be interested in this island of once convicts. The idea Robinson and Rafferty had was to make a film with fantastic locations which would in its own right be eye candy and write a script which would encapsulate these beautiful locations. The visual aspect of this film in some scenes is stunning, this was Robinson's idea from the start, he knew he needed to incorporate stunning visuals all tied up in a story which actually makes sense, the fact is, human smuggling is still being done to this day.

The underwater scenes were real, I was told that Robinson sat on the bottom of the ocean wearing a bell helmet and sitting in his Directors chair, what a class act for 1954!!

This film is an Aussie gem, really deserves a place in the history of Australian Cinema. Robinson and Rafferty changed the rules with this emerging industry, having audience with the Prime Minister on numerous occasions to discuss changes which were necessary to help the Australian film Industry evolve into what it is today.

The Australian Film Industry has a lot the thank Lee Robinson for, he was true pioneer.

I salute you Lee Robinson an unforgotten Hero!
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About making of King of the Coral Sea
bjk4-211 June 2006
This Movie was made on Thursday Island with a few scenes being shot in my Family's Pearling Business Store. I was 6 at the time, and interrupted a scene where Rod Taylor was being hit on the head as I thought he was being hurt. Some of it was filmed on Friday Island, my Father played a Policeman in it this was the only acting he did in his life being a local he was used as an extra.. Our boats and a lot of other stuff was used in the Movie. We have managed to get a copy from the Museum and is lovely to look back on. I don't really have a good memory of it only what I have been told by my Mother, we lived on top of the Pearling Store where they shot the Movie.
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10/10
Chips with the lot!
girvsjoint27 September 2017
I give King of the Coral Sea a ten score because the love and passion by all concerned in the making of this little gem shows through on the screen. 25,000 pounds was a minuscule budget for a film even by 1953 standards, certainly Hollywood would spend that on the trailer alone. Chips Rafferty produced this film, and put nearly all of his own money into it, in fact most of what he earned he invested back into the Australian film industry in the days when no one else was much interested in it, he never became a rich man, but he did become an Australian icon of the screen, Hedda Hopper once called him, Australia's Gary Cooper, the laconic 6'5" Chips was always a commanding presence on screen. King of The Coral Sea may not have the flashy Hollywood production values of a huge budget, but it does have an endearing charm that has only increased as time goes by. Noted also as the screen debut of 23 year old Rod Taylor, ironically playing a phony yank, that he would later parlay into a big Hollywood career, Charles Tingwell was also offered a Hollywood contract that he turned down in favour of going to England where he forged a successful career, returning to Australia for good in the 1970's, he once proudly showed me a ledger listing the profits that King of the Coral Sea made, a film everybody involved with was justly proud, beautifully filmed on Queensland's Thursday Island, and underwater scenes at Green Island off the coast of Cairns. A nice crisp print of this film on DVD is available from Australia's National Film and Sound Archive shop online at http://shop.nfsa.gov.au/
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