The Sea Ghost (1931)

It’s not often that I’ve seen Alan Hale in a leading role and he does ok in this murky maritime mystery. “Winters” had a promising career in the US Navy that had been brought to an abrupt ending after he stopped to rescue some sailors during the Great War rather than pursuing the vessel that sank them in the first place. He ends up in the salvage business and that’s when he encounters the bar-owning “Evelyn” (Laura La Plante) who is having some difficulty with a nefarious solicitor “Wilson” (Henry Sykes) who is trying to divert her from from her substantial fortune. Meantime, the enigmatic “Ludwig” (Peter Erkelenz) also appears on the scene with an offer of an engagement for the erstwhile captain that turns his professional life full circle. There is some interesting naval archive contained in this brief drama and given it can’t have had much of a budget, it moves along quite quickly before a denouement that isn’t quite as predicable as you might have expected. No, you will never remember it afterwards, but it kills an hour if you like your adventure salty.