Although its title would lead one to expect a poor man's CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954), the uninitiated could not be blamed for refuting this film's claim as Horror; however, they only have to look at the source of the script – two tales by Edgar Allan Poe, namely "The Gold Bug" and "The Tell-Tale Heart"; it is a decidedly clever blending of, frankly, highly disparate narratives and one that – on paper, at least – works better than it ought to! The fact that the end result is not so great, then, reflects more on the film-makers' talent (or lack thereof) in putting the various elements together; one wonders just what the director's more famous brother, Billy, would have crafted out of it! The first storyline, dealing with the hunt for pirate treasure, is adequately delineated – accentuated by ample underwater footage that, rather squeamishly, involves the capture of large sea turtles (years before CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST {1980}!); the second – relegated to the last 10 minutes or so – picks up after the two main characters have a definite falling-out and one is haunted by the 'noisy' ripples in the water directly above the spot where the other lays buried! Would-be ladies' man John Bromfield makes for a thoroughly unsympathetic lead, while Victor Jory – growing progressively more intense – is suitably sinister as the loot-mad Professor; Lon Chaney Jr. as "Swede" competently recreates his famous Lennie persona from OF MICE AND MEN (1939), which he could practically do in his sleep by then, and he does come off as grating eventually – but he manages a hilarious moment when he forces his contemptuous captain to wipe a gob of spit with his own foot off the floor of the titular rickety vessel, which the burly and fading genre star venerates as if it were a woman! Though the Caribbean locale allows for adequate locale colour, this is over-emphasized throughout via a number of resistible exotic tunes – which, along with Bromfield's equally unappetizing romantic dallying – definitely proves the film's low point! By the way, though the end credits clearly state this to have been shot in the DeLuxe colour process, apparently all surviving copies are in black-and-white!
