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IMDbPro

Slave Ship

  • 19371937
  • PassedPassed
  • 1h 32m
IMDb RATING
6.3/10
208
YOUR RATING
Wallace Beery, Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Allan, and Warner Baxter in Slave Ship (1937)
AdventureDrama
Captain Lovett ordered his first mate Thompson to get rid of his slave-trading crew and get a more respectable bunch for standard shipping, but when he brings his new bride Nancy aboard he f... Read allCaptain Lovett ordered his first mate Thompson to get rid of his slave-trading crew and get a more respectable bunch for standard shipping, but when he brings his new bride Nancy aboard he finds the same old setup, including slave trade.Captain Lovett ordered his first mate Thompson to get rid of his slave-trading crew and get a more respectable bunch for standard shipping, but when he brings his new bride Nancy aboard he finds the same old setup, including slave trade.
IMDb RATING
6.3/10
208
YOUR RATING
    • Tay Garnett
  • Writers
    • Sam Hellman(screen play)
    • Lamar Trotti(screen play)
    • Gladys Lehman(screen play)
  • Stars
    • Warner Baxter
    • Wallace Beery
    • Elizabeth Allan
    • Tay Garnett
  • Writers
    • Sam Hellman(screen play)
    • Lamar Trotti(screen play)
    • Gladys Lehman(screen play)
  • Stars
    • Warner Baxter
    • Wallace Beery
    • Elizabeth Allan
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 8User reviews
    • 7Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos15

    Elizabeth Allan and Warner Baxter in Slave Ship (1937)
    Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Allan, and Warner Baxter in Slave Ship (1937)
    Wallace Beery, Elizabeth Allan, and Warner Baxter in Slave Ship (1937)
    Wallace Beery, Mickey Rooney, and Warner Baxter in Slave Ship (1937)
    Elizabeth Allan and Warner Baxter in Slave Ship (1937)
    Wallace Beery, Mickey Rooney, George Sanders, Elizabeth Allan, Warner Baxter, Roy Glenn, and Arthur Hohl in Slave Ship (1937)
    Wallace Beery, Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Allan, and Warner Baxter in Slave Ship (1937)
    Wallace Beery, Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Allan, and Warner Baxter in Slave Ship (1937)
    Wallace Beery, Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Allan, and Warner Baxter in Slave Ship (1937)
    Wallace Beery, Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Allan, and Warner Baxter in Slave Ship (1937)
    Wallace Beery, Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Allan, and Warner Baxter in Slave Ship (1937)
    Slave Ship (1937)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Warner Baxter
    Warner Baxter
    • Jim Lovett
    Wallace Beery
    Wallace Beery
    • Jack Thompson
    Elizabeth Allan
    Elizabeth Allan
    • Nancy Marlowe
    Mickey Rooney
    Mickey Rooney
    • Swifty
    George Sanders
    George Sanders
    • Lefty
    Jane Darwell
    Jane Darwell
    • Mrs. Marlowe
    Joseph Schildkraut
    Joseph Schildkraut
    • Danelo
    Miles Mander
    Miles Mander
    • Corey
    Arthur Hohl
    Arthur Hohl
    • Grimes
    Douglas Scott
    Douglas Scott
    • Boy
    Minna Gombell
    Minna Gombell
    • Mabel
    Billy Bevan
    Billy Bevan
    • Atkins
    Francis Ford
    Francis Ford
    • Scraps
    J. Farrell MacDonald
    J. Farrell MacDonald
    • Proprietor
    J.P. McGowan
    J.P. McGowan
    • Helmsman
    DeWitt Jennings
    DeWitt Jennings
    • Snodgrass
    Paul Hurst
    Paul Hurst
    • Drunk
    Jane Jones
    • Ma Belcher
      • Tay Garnett
    • Writers
      • Sam Hellman(screen play)
      • Lamar Trotti(screen play)
      • Gladys Lehman(screen play)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      Wallace Beery was notoriously abusive to the juvenile performers he worked with. For one scene in this film he had to slap his 16-year-old co-star Mickey Rooney in the face. Beery didn't fake the action and, without warning, slapped Rooney so hard he was knocked to the floor, spoiling the take and causing outrage among the crew. Director Tay Garnett took Beery aside and told him that everyone on the set loved Rooney, and that it would be most unfortunate if some lighting equipment were to "accidentally" fall on Beery's head. Beery got the message and behaved himself for the rest of the shoot. Interestingly, Rooney was one of the very few actors to work with Beery who later expressed no resentment towards him. He said, "Not everyone loved him the way I did."
    • Goofs
      When asked what color his sweetheart's hair is, Captain Lovett says that it is golden. But her hair is dark.
    • Connections
      Referenced in 20th Century Fox Promotional Film (1936)
    • Soundtracks
      Columbia, The Gem of the Ocean
      (c. 1843) (uncredited)

      Music attributed to David T. Shaw

      Originally arranged by Thomas A. Beckett

      Arranged for the soundtrack by Edward B. Powell

    User reviews8

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    Warner Baxter commands the last slaver
    1937's "Slave Ship" looks today as gritty as it must have been shocking to audiences 80 years ago, a script concocted by several writers, including William Faulkner, who admitted that he merely doctored certain scenes that hadn't come off. George S. King's 1933 novel "The Last Slaver" was the basis for a story that remarkably pulled no punches in depicting the odyssey of the newly launched ship Wanderer, tasting blood on the runway as Lon Chaney delivers a stinging unbilled cameo as a doomed laborer unable to escape its path. Three years, and as many names later, the rechristened Albatross is now commanded by Jim Lovett (Warner Baxter) and first mate Jack Thompson (Wallace Beery), with cabin boy Swifty (Mickey Rooney) willing to fight anyone for what he believes in. The slave trade had fallen on hard times by 1860, officially a hanging offense, so after their most recent trip back from Africa, Lovett meets and marries young beauty Nancy Marlowe (Elizabeth Allan), deciding to start over with a new crew and sail to Jamaica in the business of trading goods instead of lives. This does not sit well with the crew, willing to continue their trafficking on human suffering despite the risks involved, forcibly taking control of the ship after a successful mutiny. Unable to prevent the six week voyage back to Africa, Lovett reveals all to his wife, who finds that she still loves him and is willing to forget about his past and work out their future. What they don't know is that Thompson plots to leave his captain behind while the fully loaded ship returns to America, only for the intended victim to turn the tables on his captors, producing a climax as rich in excitement as it is unpredictable. If not for the poorly done romantic scenes involving the little dog it might have been an enduring classic, but it's still a real find, quite unexpected for 1930s Hollywood. MGM's "Souls at Sea" may have earned all the accolades but Darryl Zanuck's pluck produced the better picture, under the assured guidance of director Tay Garnett, both John Ford and Howard Hawks proving unavailable. Beery actually plays the villain, George Sanders in support, Mickey Rooney the true standout.
    helpful•1
    0
    • kevinolzak
    • Sep 22, 2017

    Details

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    • Release date
      • August 16, 1937 (Sweden)
      • United States
      • English
    • Also known as
      • 20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Twentieth Century Fox
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 32 minutes
      • Black and White

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    Wallace Beery, Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Allan, and Warner Baxter in Slave Ship (1937)
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