The Secret of the Purple Reef

Extremely slight non-adventure from Fox. The beauty of the Caribbean islands is no match for this waterlogged script, adapted from Dorothy Cottrell's magazine serial, about a captain who went down with his ship, and his two brothers who want answers as to why. Begins with a funeral scene so unrelievedly solemn, it sets the movie on Snooze and forgets to wake the audience up. Then-unknowns Richard Chamberlain and Peter Falk (miscast as the heavy) take a backseat to a handsome block of wood named Jeff Richards, who never varies his stern expression. Humorless B-flick with irritating faux-calypso music by Buddy Bregman and absolutely no imagination behind the camera. NO STARS from ****