Seven Were Saved

This movie takes place a year after World War II and features a United States air-sea rescue pilot by the name of "Captain Jim Willis" (Russell Hayden) who is stationed on an island in the South China Sea and flies a PBY in search of survivors who might be shipwrecked in that area. His fiancé, "Lieutenant Susan Briscoe" (Catherine Craig) is a nurse who also works in that area and is eager for the both of them to return to the United States where they can get married and start a family. Unfortunately, a quarrel breaks out between them when Jim decides to extend his tour of duty and as a result Susan decides to leave not long afterward in order to escort a sick patient to Manila and from there to the United States. Another key passenger just happens to be a Japanese prisoner by the name of "Colonel Yamura" (Richard Loo) who is about to be tried for war crimes. As luck would have it, Colonel Yamura manages to temporarily skyjack the plane which then results in it crashing into the ocean. Eight passengers manage to survive in a life raft but with limited rations the question soon becomes whether any of them will be able to survive the rough seas of the shark-infested waters long enough to be rescued. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this turned out to be an okay film which suffered from a lack of suspense and a rather predictable ending. Part of the problem for that was the title which clearly disclosed how many passengers would eventually be saved. Additionally, it also had a grade-B quality to it from start-to-finish. In any case, while this movie clearly wasn't great by any means, it still managed to keep my attention for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Apart from Richard Denning, of whom I have not seen very much anyway, I know nobody in this obviously amateurish cast orchestrated by Mr Pine, a complete unknown as a director who, on the strength of this work, really should consider some other profession for a living.

Two Hitchcock films come to mind as the film opens: FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (1940) and LIFEBOAT (1944). Of course, unless you mistake the forest for the tree, Mr Pine is unable to even slightly imitate the plane crash into the ocean in FOREIGN, and he certainly cannot keep dialogue flowing in the lifeboat, besides a sad inbility to extract decent acting from the players.

With cinematography typical of C, at best a B production, it is the script that really sends this film down the chutes: a Japanese Army colonel is being taken WITHOUT so much as handcuffs clapped on him to a trial for war crimes in Manila, the Philippines. Needless to say, the Japanese officer is no dimwit and has nothing to lose, so he grabs his watcher's gun, takes over the aircraft and forces it to change course until brave Denning dives into the sea with his arms around his head for protection.

Before that, we learn of the completely unnecessary presence of an amnesiac. That amnesia is recognized by his wife (small world and even smaller lifeboat!) and he leaves a written message which somehow survives the lifeboat's capsizing. Most curious of all, Catherine Craig leaves her hubby-to-be on land and starts having the hots for Captain Denning, who first gets a bandage over his left eye, then is blinded by sun glare in his right eye, but somehow knows the course thanks to the stars. Craig French-kisses him when they are back on land, under the watchful eye of hubby-to-be. Her explanation: she wants kids with the cuckold.

I caught myself wondering about such trivial things as how did the lifeboat occupants get rid of their excretions? Back in WWII, it was poor form for women to do it in public.

It was commendable that the Japanese colonel was kept alive but he just disappears from the narrative when the rescue happens, and whether or not he reached Manila and paid for his evil doings we will never know. And, frankly, I could not care.

Total waste of 71 minutes in one's life. 3/10.

This film is a bad combination of Lifeboat and a hundred other films. The acting is pretty bad, and the cinematography reminded me of Stan and Ollie in the French Foreign Legion in Flying Deuces. Other than that the film is almost watchable. Actually, its not watchable; don't waste your time.

A Japanese colonel being transported to face war crimes charges in the Philippines causes his transport plane to crash in the middle of the South China Sea and the survivors must battle each other and the elements whilst the air sea rescue service try to find them. At times there is a little jeopardy as they gradually run out of supplies and mishaps begin to befall their party, and tensions mount too as the pilot "Capt. Danton" (Richard Denning) insists that they share their meagre rations with their enemy but oddly enough the film is just too short to do the plot justice and the ending is really rather flat.

Coming after Hitchcock's "lifeboat" and before Richard Sale's "seven waves away" aka "abandon ship" , "seven were saved" suffers by comparison ; it has neither the suspense of the former nor the cruel realistic strength of the latter.

The title is stupid ,for it spoils most of the interest ; okay ,it's not the person one thinks the wreck will cost him his life but that's it .Made on a shoestring budget , the movie makes the best of it ,even though it has not much to offer.