Gregory Mason é um marinheiro de salvados que mantém um romance com a esposa do seu sócio. Após o assassinato dele, ele é obrigado a embarcar em busca de um tesouro nas Filipinas. Porém, nin... Ler tudoGregory Mason é um marinheiro de salvados que mantém um romance com a esposa do seu sócio. Após o assassinato dele, ele é obrigado a embarcar em busca de um tesouro nas Filipinas. Porém, ninguém confia realmente em ninguém nesta viagem.Gregory Mason é um marinheiro de salvados que mantém um romance com a esposa do seu sócio. Após o assassinato dele, ele é obrigado a embarcar em busca de um tesouro nas Filipinas. Porém, ninguém confia realmente em ninguém nesta viagem.
- Direção
- Roteiristas
- Artistas
- Ortega
- (as George Renavent)
- Policeman #1
- (não creditado)
- Fortuno, Benedict's Bodyguard
- (não creditado)
- Larry
- (não creditado)
- Native Man in Island Bar
- (não creditado)
- Motor Cop #2
- (não creditado)
- Policeman #2
- (não creditado)
- First Mate
- (não creditado)
- Capt. Van Hoten
- (não creditado)
- Minor Role
- (não creditado)
Avaliações em destaque
This is a decent noir-like film. My only gripes are that it enjoyable but should have been more enjoyable given the plot. And, the ending to me felt like a movie ending...but not necessarily a believable one. Worth seeing but easy to miss as well.
In plot it's similar to a Glenn Ford film The Green Glove where another war veteran is searching for an object that's both valuable in monetary terms and has great religious significance. In tone Mara Maru looks like something that might have been meant for another Bogey and Bacall teaming.
Flynn plays a part of a World War II veteran who is a charter boat captain out of the Phillipines who knows the location of a jeweled cross taken from a church with the coming of the Japanese and sunk somewhere in the seas off Luzon. So does his partner Richard Webb who talks a little too much in a Manila bar and winds up dead.
Which doesn't concern Webb's wife Ruth Roman who is doing a Lauren Bacall knockoff of a performance. She's got a thing for Flynn in any event. Of course master villain Raymond Burr is behind a whole lot of things that befall Flynn until Flynn uses his boat to take him to the lost cross. It's an uneasy type alliance as you can gather. In the mix is Paul Picerni playing a Peter Lorre type part. Picerni is a man of very shifting loyalties and his part is terribly underwritten.
Some underwater sequences could have used some color to appreciate them better, something Jack Warner wasn't about to splurge for in this potboiler. Mara Maru is not a bad film, but it's certainly nothing that any of Errol Flynn's fans would put at the top five for him.
I'm certainly not the best person to assess the reasons why "Mara Maru" fell by the wayside and became an obscure film in the lives of everyone involved. What I do know, and I can say, is that Errol Flynn was already in clear degradation due to his problems with alcohol and that, during the film, I felt the actor was quite uncommitted to the role. Another problem is the story of the film, with a far-fetched script where, in the wake of a crime that is never quite clarified (although the film, between the lines, indicates the murderer), everyone sets off on a brief treasure hunt that turns out not to be the focus of action. What really makes the film work is the dramatic relationship between characters, in addition to the protagonist's struggle with himself, torn between good and evil.
In fact, Flynn plays a frankly unsympathetic character in this film, we could even consider him an antihero, in part. He is a rude man, who is not necessarily mean, but he often acts in the worst possible way. A division that helps to understand why he became the lover of the friend's wife with whom he had a business partnership, and that explains the greed with which he craves treasure and his difficulty in giving up gain, after a certain point. The actor is good, but I've seen him in better shape in other works. Raymond Burr, Richard Webb and Paul Picerni make a very pleasant contribution, each in his own way. Ruth Roman stands out less... the actress is good and does what she can, but she was given very poor material and the character's character is unpleasant, indecisive to the point of seeming bipolar and quite one-dimensional.
Gordon Douglas does a decent job of directing, although at times I feel that the film lacks the resolution of some loose ends. The film is not always happy with the construction and handling of suspense, and there is some predictability in the action scenes, but these are flaws that I felt were of little relevance. The cinematography is quite satisfying, and the scenes at sea or underwater are particularly well done. The sets and costumes are good, and the whole Manila environment looks good enough, albeit with perhaps few visible references to the eastern universe. The soundtrack, signed by Max Steiner, is quite good.
Although this is not Flynn's best performance I would argue with those who have written demeaning his work. There are definitely moments throughout the movie where you see the sparkle of Robin Hood coming through.
It is always challenging to determine whether to blame the directing or the acting when actors look stiff or over exaggerate. Mara Maru has examples of both.
All that being said, I found myself following the intrigue, attempting to predict what would happen next, and actually enjoying a Sunday afternoon movie in the air conditioning.
I read one review that mentioned it would have been a much better movie in color and I would agree because the sea scenes in black and white just can't carry the same quality as a color film.
So, If you are looking to hunt down a treasure like the characters in this movie please understand that this is not a diamond in the rough but perhaps it's a gemstone that will make your day.
Good time passer but a long way from the stars glory days.
Você sabia?
- CuriosidadesEvery day during filming, Errol Flynn would drive on the Warner Bros. lot wearing a windbreaker with no shirt, slacks with no underwear and shoes with no socks. The wardrobe people would provide him with a shirt, underwear and socks, and at the end of the day's filming he would wear them home. The next day he would arrive on the lot, again with no shirt, underwear or socks, and again he would be supplied those items by wardrobe. Co-star Paul Picerni noticed it after several days, and asked Flynn what he did with all the shirts, socks and underwear he'd accumulated after several weeks of filming. Flynn replied that he threw them in a closet when he got home. Picerni asked, "But what do you do with them?" Flynn replied, "Nothing. It just gives me pleasure to steal from [Jack L. Warner].
- Erros de gravaçãoAt the 12:30 mark when Andy hits Mason and knocks Mason to the floor by the camera the camera is visibly jolted.
- Citações
Gregory Mason: You know what happens to boys who smoke?
Perol: Sure. Don't grow high. I'm gonna grow up to be a midget.
- ConexõesReferenced in When the Applause Died (1990)
Principais escolhas
- How long is Mara Maru?Fornecido pela Alexa
Detalhes
- Tempo de duração1 hora 38 minutos
- Cor
- Proporção
- 1.37 : 1