Sea Devils (1953)

I was a toiler on the sea.

Sea Devils is directed by Raoul Walsh and written by Borden Chase. It stars Rock Hudson, Yvonne De Carlo, Maxwell Reed, Denis O’Dea, Michael Goodlife and Bryan Forbes. Music is by Richard Addinsell and cinematography by Wilkie Cooper.

"Guernsey in the Channel Islands near the coast of France in the year 1800, where fishermen, prevented by war from following their usual livelihood, turned to other occupations..."

That occupation is of course smuggling, which lends one to think that Sea Devils is about to buckle our swash with a tale of derring do on the high seas. Unfortunately it doesn’t pan out that way, for the pic is essentially a spy adventure set partly at sea that involves Hudson and De Carlo going backwards and forwards between England and France. They bicker, they swoon, she looks sexy, he takes his shirt off, he makes dumb decisions (he’s no dashing hero type here) and she does her bit for King and Country as she hopes to stop Napoleon in his watery tracks. It’s nicely colourful, the costuming adequate and the cast are fun to watch. But Walsh lets the film meander at times and it never really amounts to being more than a dressed up time filler of a movie. 6/10

With war raging on the continent, Guernsey fisherman "Gilliatt" (Rock Hudson) likes to engage in a bit of petty smuggling with his pal "Willie" (Bryan Forbes) constantly keeping one step ahead of the excise men. Then he encounters the enigmatic "Droucette" (Yvonne De Carlo) whom we know is on a secret mission from "Lethierry" (Denis O'Dea) to travel back to France so she can garner as much information as she can on the plans for further European expansion by Napoleon (Gérard Oury). "Gilliatt" comes to believe that she is a collaborator and though he is keen on her, he isn't so enthusiastic about her politics. He has to rethink though when he discovers not only the truth, but that she is now in considerable peril. Meantime, he has to keep an eye on the duplicitous "Rantaine" (Maxwell Reed) who also deals in some illicit goods - and he has no loyalty save to his paymaster. Can she make it back safely? Everyone here is just a little wooden. There's not really any chemistry between Hudson and De Carlo and though the espionage element of the plot does engender a little sense of menace, the film has a disappointing predictability about it all.