The Caribbean Mystery

The setting is a remote Caribbean island. Governor McCracken (Roy Gordon) hires a famous American detective to find out why a number of an oil company explorers have gone missing. The head of policing, Colonel Lane (William Forrest), believes there is an uninhabitable area and the missing men were merely lost in the quick sand. The detective, Smith (James Dunn), arrives and he suggests the bullet hole in his hat means there is a real mystery here.

Smith's partner is murdered and now even Colonel Lane is willing to believe they have a mystery on their hands. Smith believes that someone in power on the island is behind it all. So he places his trust in McCracken's son (Edward Ryan), and the two probe the inner uninhabitable area of the island. They uncover a vast production company, that is searching the swamps for gold doubloons buried by pirates many years ago. They also come across a scattering of corpses which suggests the men excavating the swamp with do anything to keep the production secret.

Smith and McCracken's son are captured. Can the wily detective outwit his captors? Can Smith learn the mastermind behind it all? It's all pulled off in a very pleasing way. The sets are rather weak but the actors and the plot are pleasing. The film really benefits from Dunn's performance as the seemingly dopey but ultimate wise Brooklyn sleuth. A minor disappointment was the finale, where the mastermind is revealed. Ultimately a fun hour at the movies.