Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

moonspinner55 Gary Cooper plays first officer of the steamship the Mary Deare, found drifting at sea by Charlton Heston, the skipper of a salvage vessel; Cooper says the crew abandoned ship after intentionally sabotaging the Mary Deare to collect insurance on her cargo, while the crew later claims Cooper ordered them off and was a negligent captain. Poor opening (wherein Cooper acts like a raving lunatic) and limp conclusion are redeemed somewhat by court of inquiry midsection, which at least provides for some good maritime melodramatics. The crew (hissable villains, a smug Richard Harris among them) are no match for a stubborn-but-honest merchant marine, so there's no surprise at the outcome, but the performances help carry the load. Square screenplay by Eric Ambler, based on the book by Hammond Innes, isn't the potboiler you may end up hoping it'll be. Handsomely shot by cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg. Michael Anderson directed, without flair. **1/2 from ****

blanche-2 Gary Cooper and Charlton Heston star in "The Wreck of the Mary Deare," along with an incredible supporting cast including Richard Harris, Michael Redgrave, Alexander Knox, and Emlyn Williams. The reason for such a cast? The original director was to be Alfred Hitchcock.Heston plays John Sands, captain of a small rescue ship, who finds the freighter Mary Deare drifting. The crew seems to have abandoned the ship, but there's one person left, the first officer Gideon Patch. What happened on board isn't certain, but Patch begs Sands not to say anything about the ship until there is an official investigation and the ship is examined by an objective third party. Sands goes along, though this means not telling anyone that ship hasn't sunk, as people are led to believe, but that it is on the Minquiries Islands.Very good drama, with a screenplay by suspense writer Eric Ambler. The shipboard atmosphere and storm sequences are great, and the performances are strong. Despite filming shutdowns due to Gary Cooper being ill, you wouldn't know it from his fiery portrayal of Patch, whose reputation and career are on the line. Heston does very well opposite him.This is really the best of Gary Cooper's last few films. He only made one film after this, The Naked Edge, released in 1961 after his death, and that was a bomb. By that point, he had to stop filming frequently to get oxygen. He was ill while making "Mary Deare," but probably didn't realize that he had cancer. Amazing that he worked to the very end. He deservedly died the huge star that he had been for 30-plus years.Very good movie, suspenseful, with great performances, atmosphere, and effects.

Panamint The night scenes are filmed very well but you must see them in wide-screen format or letter-boxed. For example, close scenes inside the ship at night are well filmed and staged, but literally won't make sense if not viewed letter-boxed. The outdoor sea scenes (almost all dark) are awesome, probably better than if they had been computer-generated. But again, the movements of the ships will not make sense if viewed other than letterbox. The story is largely told through movement- of ships, or of men moving around in the dark. I mention this to help any potential viewer.Cooper gives a compelling, desperate performance that makes you really want to watch what happens to his character, Capt. Patch. Also, this is probably the most believable performance by Heston as an ordinary, non-historical, non sci-fi character. I was pleasantly surprised by both Cooper's and Heston's performances. Both performances are essentially very modern-style screen acting, and are not dated after these many years.The supporting roles are undeveloped and one-dimensional, including the role so forcefully played by the young Richard Harris. Its a shame the great Virginia McKenna is so underused here. She could have made the film appeal to a broader-based audience. The other supporting actors (Alexander Knox at his most wooden) don't add to the film. Even if you don't like seafaring stories, watch this for the acting by the two stars, and for the marvelous night cinematography. Film students and buffs should look carefully at the night scenes inside the ship and on the docks. You will see true night cinema work, with perfectly set light meters and minimalist lighting. In other words: nighttime lighting and camera artistry, not gimmicks.

Robert J. Maxwell Sometimes you can't help wondering why certain occupations produce so many accomplished writers -- pilots, seamen, and doctors, for instance. Maybe pilots tell good stories that are made into films because -- let's face facts -- what goes up must come down, one way or another. Doctors also can tell gripping stories about life and death decisions, and there's always blood involved. When was the last time a popular novel was written by a dermatologist? Seamen have the toughest time. They're not going to cash in on the audience's fear of flying, and they don't make decisions that, gone wrong, may fatally nick the subclavian artery.For sailors, they must heave the story up out of its marine context into psychology (eg., Conrad) or intrigue (eg., "The Wreck of the Mary Deare"). Storms at sea are fine, but you can hardly have a whole movie about a storm. "The Perfect Storm" was padded out with fiction. I guess "Typhoon" is all about a storm but to my knowledge it's never been filmed.Sorry. Kind of a tedious introduction, I know."The Wreck of the Mary Deare" takes place basically in three acts. (1) Charlton Heston's salvage boat almost runs into a derelict freighter in the middle of a storm off the French coast. He boards her and finds Gary Cooper, the sole occupant, hostile and suspicious. They manage to beach her amid some mean-looking rocks. (2) There is a formal investigation of the wreck by the insurance company and a court of inquiry, amounting to a courtroom drama. Cooper unfortunately is cast as the kind of defendant who wants to shout out "the truth" but is constantly being told to shut up and sit down and stop interrupting the proceedings. (3) The only way Cooper's curious behavior can be justified is by examining the cargo in Hold Three. He and Heston don wet suits, swim into the hold, prove their point, and successfully fight it out with the owner's henchmen on board.Innes' novel has a harrowing opening act. Like Nicholas Monserrat he has an eye for capturing the dramatic detail. The film doesn't get it. Heston, climbing a line to board the heavily rolling Mary Deare, SHOULD BE swung back and forth like a weight at the end of a pendulum, slammed against the cold iron hull every few seconds. In the film it looks like he's climbing a rope in a high school gymnasium. Still, we get a good impression of what a hostile and unsteady environment a cold deck can be, filthy and dark, wallowing and sloshing. You can almost smell the rust.My memory of the novel is fuzzy after so many years but the film's middle act isn't bad. I did, though, miss John Williams as Sir Wilfred, the prosecutor or barrister or chief inquisitor or whatever he is. John Williams has played so many investigators and detectives I've lost track -- "Dial M for Murder," "Witness for the Prosecution," "The Paradine Case," "To Catch a Thief." It was a criminal act to give the role to somebody named Emlyn Something. Pardon me while I call my solicitor.The novel did not end with an underwater fight. That's a kind of a cop out. SCUBA diving was becoming a popular sport in the 1950s, replacing snorkeling, which was for wimps. And wet suits were still something of a novelty on screen. (Cf., "Thunderball.") I believe, though, that a good argument could be made in favor of women in skimpy bathing suits SCUBA diving, rather than bulky men in full wet suits. Women look slick and phocine under water, as if built for it. Men may look better while running, but women look better while swimming. (These silly generalizations are exhilarating. Everybody should make one a day. We'd all be happy campers. No more wars in the Middle East. No more atonal music. No more, "Will Jessica Leave Brad"?)See it if it's on. Fine special effects and miniatures for the period. And note the best performance in the movie, by Richard Harris as a smiling and snide villain.