In the 1950s Joan Collins made two films in which she played a survivor of a shipwreck; in both she is marooned on a deserted island along with three men. The first was that fatuous "comedy" "Our girl Friday", aka "The Adventures of Sadie" from 1953. "Sea Wife" from four years later is essentially an attempt to make a serious drama out of a similar scenario.
The film opens in London during the years immediately following the end of the Second World War. A young man signing himself "Biscuit" places advertisements in the personal column of various in which he asks a woman referred to as "Sea Wife" to get in touch with him. He never, however, receives a reply from her, and their story is told in flashback. The scene shifts to Singapore in 1942. The young man, whose name is Michael Cannon, is one of a group of British refugees trying to flee before the city falls to the Japanese Army. His ship is torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and he finds himself on a life-raft with two other men and a young woman. After a number of adventures the four survivors end up on a deserted island.
The four are known to one another by nicknames; Cannon, whose nickname is "Biscuit", is the only one to reveal his true identity to the others. The woman is "Sea Wife", from an archaic word for "mermaid". The two other men are "Bulldog", a middle-aged British colonial, and "Number Four", the ship's black purser. On the island there are two developments. A powerful dislike grows up between the bigoted racist Bulldog and Number Four, and Biscuit falls in love with the beautiful Sea Wife, although she rejects his advances.
Some reviewers on this board have expressed surprise that Sea Wife does not reveal her secret, namely that she is really a nun. (Her real name, or at least her "name in religion", is Sister Therese). This secret is already known to Number Four but not to the others. It is fairly obvious why she does not to reveal this to Bulldog, an atheist who is just as bigoted about religion as he is about race. (She has already upset him by trying to discuss her Christian faith with him). What is less clear is why she does not reveal it to Biscuit; perhaps she does not trust him not to reveal it to Bulldog. She contents herself with telling him that she is "promised to another". This is not an outright lie, because by the "other" Sea Wife means God, but Biscuit understands- as she clearly intends him to- that there is another man in her life.
Some have also expressed surprise at the idea of Joan Collins playing a nun, but this is only an example of miscasting when seen in retrospect. Today we tend to think of Collins in terms of the sort of sultry villainesses she played in the seventies and eighties such as Fontaine Khaled in "The Bitch" and "The Stud" or Alexis in "Dynasty", ladies one could never imagine taking the veil. Earlier in her career, however, she had a much wider range, and could equally well turn her hand to virtuous young heroines. Indeed, she played such a character in a film as late in her career as "Quest for Love" in the early seventies. In 1957, therefore, there was no reason why she should not have played a nun.
Of the two strands in the plot, the Biscuit/ Sea Wife story is perhaps the less interesting to modern audiences. It might have been better had Biscuit known of her profession or had there been any indication that she was torn by a genuine conflict between her emotions and her religious vows. The characters are played by the film's two big-name stars, Collins and Richard Burton, who by all accounts did not get on with one another. It is said that Collins, when asked what she thought might have happened had she rather than Elizabeth Taylor been cast as the lead in "Cleopatra", replied "Well, I certainly wouldn't have run off with Richard Burton!" It is therefore perhaps unsurprising that there is little chemistry between them.
Of perhaps more interest to us today is the Bulldog/Number Four relationship. Their nicknames are both significant. The bulldog has long been a symbol of British patriotism, and this Bulldog is a patriot of a particularly snarling, aggressive breed. Number Four's nickname suggests that because of his race he ranks fourth and last in this society of four people, even though he is intelligent, resourceful and does his best to assist the others, perhaps even saving their lives. Bulldog, however, finds it impossible to accept him as an equal and becomes obsessed (without any evidence) by the idea that Number Four intends to rape Sea Wife. It is this obsession which leads to the final tragedy. Such a frank analysis of racism is perhaps unusual in a British film from this period; even when the cinema took on the subject of colonialism it was rare to make a white character a racist villain in this way. For me it was this aspect of the film which added some interest to what could otherwise have been a rather dull melodrama. 6/10
The film opens in London during the years immediately following the end of the Second World War. A young man signing himself "Biscuit" places advertisements in the personal column of various in which he asks a woman referred to as "Sea Wife" to get in touch with him. He never, however, receives a reply from her, and their story is told in flashback. The scene shifts to Singapore in 1942. The young man, whose name is Michael Cannon, is one of a group of British refugees trying to flee before the city falls to the Japanese Army. His ship is torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and he finds himself on a life-raft with two other men and a young woman. After a number of adventures the four survivors end up on a deserted island.
The four are known to one another by nicknames; Cannon, whose nickname is "Biscuit", is the only one to reveal his true identity to the others. The woman is "Sea Wife", from an archaic word for "mermaid". The two other men are "Bulldog", a middle-aged British colonial, and "Number Four", the ship's black purser. On the island there are two developments. A powerful dislike grows up between the bigoted racist Bulldog and Number Four, and Biscuit falls in love with the beautiful Sea Wife, although she rejects his advances.
Some reviewers on this board have expressed surprise that Sea Wife does not reveal her secret, namely that she is really a nun. (Her real name, or at least her "name in religion", is Sister Therese). This secret is already known to Number Four but not to the others. It is fairly obvious why she does not to reveal this to Bulldog, an atheist who is just as bigoted about religion as he is about race. (She has already upset him by trying to discuss her Christian faith with him). What is less clear is why she does not reveal it to Biscuit; perhaps she does not trust him not to reveal it to Bulldog. She contents herself with telling him that she is "promised to another". This is not an outright lie, because by the "other" Sea Wife means God, but Biscuit understands- as she clearly intends him to- that there is another man in her life.
Some have also expressed surprise at the idea of Joan Collins playing a nun, but this is only an example of miscasting when seen in retrospect. Today we tend to think of Collins in terms of the sort of sultry villainesses she played in the seventies and eighties such as Fontaine Khaled in "The Bitch" and "The Stud" or Alexis in "Dynasty", ladies one could never imagine taking the veil. Earlier in her career, however, she had a much wider range, and could equally well turn her hand to virtuous young heroines. Indeed, she played such a character in a film as late in her career as "Quest for Love" in the early seventies. In 1957, therefore, there was no reason why she should not have played a nun.
Of the two strands in the plot, the Biscuit/ Sea Wife story is perhaps the less interesting to modern audiences. It might have been better had Biscuit known of her profession or had there been any indication that she was torn by a genuine conflict between her emotions and her religious vows. The characters are played by the film's two big-name stars, Collins and Richard Burton, who by all accounts did not get on with one another. It is said that Collins, when asked what she thought might have happened had she rather than Elizabeth Taylor been cast as the lead in "Cleopatra", replied "Well, I certainly wouldn't have run off with Richard Burton!" It is therefore perhaps unsurprising that there is little chemistry between them.
Of perhaps more interest to us today is the Bulldog/Number Four relationship. Their nicknames are both significant. The bulldog has long been a symbol of British patriotism, and this Bulldog is a patriot of a particularly snarling, aggressive breed. Number Four's nickname suggests that because of his race he ranks fourth and last in this society of four people, even though he is intelligent, resourceful and does his best to assist the others, perhaps even saving their lives. Bulldog, however, finds it impossible to accept him as an equal and becomes obsessed (without any evidence) by the idea that Number Four intends to rape Sea Wife. It is this obsession which leads to the final tragedy. Such a frank analysis of racism is perhaps unusual in a British film from this period; even when the cinema took on the subject of colonialism it was rare to make a white character a racist villain in this way. For me it was this aspect of the film which added some interest to what could otherwise have been a rather dull melodrama. 6/10
