Edgar G. Ulmer had a deserved reputation for making something out of nothing--the best example being the terrific "Detour"--but there was so much "nothing" in this film it was impossible to make "something" out of it. As noted in other reviews, Carradine and Fenton are professional divers/adventurers in the South Seas who plot to steal a sunken treasure chest out from under the noses of the men who scuttled the ship it was on. Not a bad premise, actually, but what's done with it can't all be blamed entirely on the lousy script by longtime B-picture hack Raymond L. Schrock, since Ulmer himself had a hand in it. The fact is that this isn't one of Ulmer's better-directed films; it's pretty much by-the-numbers hackwork that could have been done by Elmer Clifton, Sam Newfield or any of PRC's stable of schlock directors, although there are a few Ulmer "touches", notably his use of classical music throughout the picture. PRC's cheapness shows through in every frame, from the laughably chintzy "special effects" to the tinny score to the murky photography to some of the worst-staged fight scenes--and an especially pathetic gun battle--you're likely to see. In true PRC fashion, no thought was given to try to make the stuntmen resemble the actors they were doubling even a little bit--Carradine's stuntman is much shorter, quite a bit heavier and has much darker hair than he does.
The upside to the picture is that the bargirls who figure in the story are pretty and spend most of the picture strolling around in sarongs, which is a pleasant diversion from the cheesiness going on around them. Carradine actually does a good job--another reviewer said he "phoned in" his part, which really isn't true--and Gale Sondergaard seems to be having a good time, but Sidney Toler apparently forgot this isn't a Charlie Chan movie and keeps his eyes squinted and his delivery in that Chan "singsong" voice throughout the picture; he isn't even remotely convincing as a villain. Frank Fenton as Carradine's partner isn't particularly good, but Rick Vallin--a decent enough actor who unfortunately spent most of his career toiling away at the bottom end of the Hollywood food chain, as he is here--isn't too bad as Toler's "partner", although he doesn't really have all that much to do. Veda Ann Borg is always a welcome sight but just doesn't cut it playing a monosyllabic native girl who talks like an Indian in a '30s Z-grade western ("Me see you talk him!").
Overall it's pretty low-rent, as would be expected from PRC, and definitely not one of the better ones Edgar G. Ulmer made for that studio. Worth a one-time look, but not more than that.
The upside to the picture is that the bargirls who figure in the story are pretty and spend most of the picture strolling around in sarongs, which is a pleasant diversion from the cheesiness going on around them. Carradine actually does a good job--another reviewer said he "phoned in" his part, which really isn't true--and Gale Sondergaard seems to be having a good time, but Sidney Toler apparently forgot this isn't a Charlie Chan movie and keeps his eyes squinted and his delivery in that Chan "singsong" voice throughout the picture; he isn't even remotely convincing as a villain. Frank Fenton as Carradine's partner isn't particularly good, but Rick Vallin--a decent enough actor who unfortunately spent most of his career toiling away at the bottom end of the Hollywood food chain, as he is here--isn't too bad as Toler's "partner", although he doesn't really have all that much to do. Veda Ann Borg is always a welcome sight but just doesn't cut it playing a monosyllabic native girl who talks like an Indian in a '30s Z-grade western ("Me see you talk him!").
Overall it's pretty low-rent, as would be expected from PRC, and definitely not one of the better ones Edgar G. Ulmer made for that studio. Worth a one-time look, but not more than that.