One of the rare Australian films of the 1950s this holds up pretty well, helped considerably by some stunning location filming at Thursday Island - even now, an under-filmed part of Australia.
The plot is perfectly serviceable - a dead body is plucked out of the ocean by pearler Chips Rafferty, who goes on to investigate a people smuggling racket. Really, Rafferty should have had more of a connection to the dead man -he could've been someone that Rafferty knew, or had fired. Or he should have been suspected of the man's death - so he had a stake in the investigation. As it is, the local authorities ask him to help out and he does... which didn't feel right. I mean, Rafferty does have a business to run.
There's lots of good ideas which aren't developed. Charles Tingwell is the playboy owner of the company run by Rafferty - that's good conflict, as is Rafferty's underling Rod Taylor (playing an American) instinctively not liking him, and giving Rafferty a good looking daughter (Ilma Adey). You're set to watch a love triangle between Adey, Taylor and Tingwell but it never happens. You're also set to watch Taylor turn out to be a baddy but that doesn't happen either.
In actual fact, Taylor is wasted in the film - you could cut him out and nothing would change. Indeed the film would be better because Tingwell and Adey would have more to do. Nothing wrong with Rod Taylor's performance, he totally suits the world of the film - rugged, tough, drinking beer and punching out Lloyd Berrell. It's just his character is superfluous - they should have made him a baddy or at least a rival for Adey.
The cast is strong. Rafferty's role is ideal for him and Tingwell and Taylor are a handsome pair of louts, while Adey is gorgeous. Adey and Tingwell make a cute couple - frequently running around in their swimmers. Lloyd Berrell is excellent in support. Adey is inexperienced but is a relaxed presence.
The visuals are the main attraction - native dances, jettys, beautiful seas, luggers, turtles, swamps, pearls, old houses. The photography is beautiful. I loved old style Aussie things like the way Rafferty smoked a cigarette.
The scene where Rafferty is trapped underwater and rescued by Tingwell isn't that exciting - sequences under water often aren't. But I did like Rafferty and Tingwell rescuing Adey and spearing baddies.
It has the racial sensitivity of the time - the baddies are foreign whites or half castes; there's a native girl who is meant to clean Tingwell's house who "always has her boyfriends around" (she has a crisis of conscience at church like a good noble savage).
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