The Second Mate

Gordon Harker is the skipper of a barge boat on which his elderly relatives lounge as he travels up and down the Thames. Graham Moffatt is the first mate and young David Hannaford, the grandson of an old friend of Harker's, is the second mate.

Harker is playing a closed game, however. There have been jewel robberies at some of the Great Houses along the river, and the thieves have not been gentle. The police have not been able to figure out who has been doing the jobs, because they have recruited Harker to transport the loot ... who is working with the other barge owners to turn them over to the police.

It's a fine little family second feature from John Baxter, with a nice mix of thrills and humor, and some very nice camera work. The shots of London and the upper reaches of the Thames from the middle of the river are quite good, and the pacing of the movie seems quite leisurely. Alas, the print I saw was not as good as one might wish, and the night scenes were printed too dark to be outstanding.

Harker was slowing down in his movie involvement by this stage in his career, but he was in his middle sixties. He would only make half a dozen more movies by 1959, and then give up the big screen. Moffatt himself would semi-retire to run a pub, although he would return to acting occasionally until his early death at the age of 45 in 1965.