Not produced by Sam Katzman but it was done at Columbia and is typical of Katzman product - a B adventure picture starring Jon Hall. This has him in Alan Ladd mode, gambling in the "far East" on the backlot (cue yellowface... including Ernest Borgnine as a Chinese).
Second male lead is Ron Randell who must've looked at Hall and gone "why aren't I playing the lead I'm a better actor" but then Randell never had a hit like the Montez films or The Hurricane.
Lisa Ferraday is the female lead, a Chinese who is engaged to Britisher Randell. She's a complete bad ass - a former pirate with a do gooder uncle who wants to sell some jewels to Randell to make money for the poor or something. Randell double crosses the uncle and kills him. Ferraday goes back to piracy, catches up to Randell and Ferraday's female sidekick (called "Lotus") kills him (half way through the film! Poor Randell). Really Ferraday should have done this but it's still pretty cool.
At this stage Jon Hall hasn't done much in the movie except been a bystander on the boat, but he recognises Ferraday and wants her to pay him money because she was responsible for him losing it at a gambling den. He sort of tags along as a support payer until Ernest Borgnine double crosses Ferraday leading to a shoot out on the high seas.
So it's about modern day pirates, some of whom are female, which is interesting.
This was a little cracker of a film.
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