Souls at Sea (1937)

I never really found Gary Cooper to be the most invigorating of actors, but he delivers well here in this tale of maritime treachery. We start at a trial where he ("Nuggin") is being indicted for the killing of survivors from a seaborne disaster in the mid 1800s. It's while the evidence is being given that we are taken back on a retrospective of just how this honourable seaman found himself caught up, with his friend "Powdah" (George Raft) in the evil machinations of "Tarryton" (Henry Wilcoxon). When the boat he was travelling on manages to hit an iceberg, he is left to take charge. As usual there aren't enough spaces on the life boats so panic ensues, and a fairly "survival of the fittest" one at that, the results of which result in his current predicament. How to prove his innocence? Well that might lie in the hands of "Woodley" (George Zucco) who is working for the British Government on a mission to finally eradicate slavery, and who knows a thing or two about the real character of "Nuggin". It's a tautly directed adventure for the first half with plenty of duplicity going on, but when his relationship with "Margaret" (Frances Dee) starts to take a more prominent role in the story, we head into a rather disappointing form of 1930s soapdom. Raft tries his best and in many ways reminded me of Robert Newton but his loyal and decent character is sadly underused whilst the more interesting and perilous anti-slavery storyline becomes a little too subsumed amidst the lace and umbrellas. It's still a film that's well paced for the most part and one that makes you realise that the abolition of slavery in itself didn't actually halt this odious practice in the United States. There were still plenty of officials complicit in this lucrative activity.