Sea Devils

The only reason to see this film is for the nice special effects involving a yacht being pounded against a reef in a hurricane and the way the coast guard rescues its passengers. I also enjoyed their mission to explode an iceberg. But I could have done without the brawling of Victor McLaglen and Preston Foster, which propelled the silly plot and just served to kill time between the action. I never did understand why servicemen fight so much in films of the 30's. Seeing a young Ida Lupino was also delightful and the comedy provided by Billy Gilbert and McLaglen's relationship with saloon owner Helen Flint helped a bit.

The film is dedicated to the men of the coast guard, who often risk their lives to effect a rescue of distressed ships at sea.

Had Sea Devils been done over at Warner Brothers, this film would have found an honored place in the Cagney/O'Brien buddy films. As it was done at RKO we have the Victor McLaglen/Preston Foster combination doing parts that fit O'Brien and Cagney like a glove.

This was the kind of film that might have prospered better under John Ford. Ford had directed McLaglen and Foster in The Informer also for RKO, a film a lot more serious in subject matter.

McLaglen is playing cupid here. His daughter is Ida Lupino and he's a much decorated Chief Petty Officer in the Coast Guard. He's got both Preston Foster and Donald Woods courting her. Foster is cut a bit too much from the same cloth that produced McLaglen and he doesn't want to see Lupino end up with him. Vic much prefers Woods who is studying for officer candidate's school.

McLaglen abuses his rank to pick on Foster and finally Foster and he have it out. The only problem is that they tangle while on ice breaker duty and Woods is seriously injured while they're brawling. It results in court martial, but both get a chance to redeem themselves.

Sea Devils is not a bad film, but it feels like a bargain basement Cagney/O'Brien or John Ford service comedy, a combination of both to be sure.

It's a Frank Wead script, so there's Victor Maclaglen with his daughter Ida Lupino; Maclaglen wants earnest Donald Woods to marry her, but she prefers roving Preston Foster, so Maclaglen and Foster spend the movie fighting, while Woods is a nice guy. Well, we know he's not going to end the movie well.

It's an Edward Small production, so there are some spectacular sequences on it, particularly the big storm at sea that caps off the picture. Joe August shoots the sequence with a beautiful, multi-source lighting set-up, and plenty of smoke and blown spray. Absolutely gorgeous.

Oh, by the way, this time it's the Coast Guard.

This is a lively and straightforward action melodrama that stars Victor McLaglen as a Coast Guard skipper in conflict with new boy Preston Foster ,partly for professional and partly for personal reasons .He has a daughter (Ida Lupino ) who he wishes to see wed to seaman Donald Woods .The problem is that she and Foster are in love with each other ,leading to friction between father and daughter on one hand and between father and suitor on the other . The script is lively and rapidly paced .Ben Stoloff directs at a brisk pace and the monochrome photography of J Roy Hunt and Joseph August is crisp and good to look at.

Victor Mclaglen was an actor of very limited range and ability.He found fame in his role as Flagg with Edmund Lowe playing Quirt in a series of military comedy adventures that started in the twenties and went through to the 40s.It seems that if Lowe wasn't around they hired a similar actor,in this case Preston Foster,to fill the void.It has to be said that after 5 minutes you can guess the plot and anticipate what is going to happen.It becomes utterly tiresome.Was it supposed to be funny or dramatic because it is neither.It is just totally formulaic.One can only assume that they did not have much money for special effects as the shipwreck scenes seem as if they are filmed in someones bathtub.So if you don't like Victor Mclaglen then don't bother with this film.