The Wreck of the Hesperus

It is a very interesting story. Captain Macready loses his ship in a storm, foiled by false decoy fires to the rocks, which makes a very dramatic opening of the drama. He can't get another command and thus has to earn his living by other methods and turns into a wrecker, saving goods from stranded ships. What he doesn't know is that his business partner is leading the business of wrecking ships. When his own brother becomes a casualty in the shipwreck of the "Hesperus", he decides to change sides completely and joins the party of villagers by the sea who want to build a lighthouse. This goes against the interest of his employer, and so there is a bitter and deadly conflict with an intrigue thickening to some severe eruption.

Such a story could have been made so much more of than this brief film of less than 80 minutes, although the drama is tremendous, the acting is professional, and the cinematography is impressing with all those storms and shipwrecks, so all the suspense ingredients of a great film are here, but they are not used at all. Instead you have a straightforward account of the events, leaving no space for any dynamics. It's great entertainment as a fascinating story, but you miss the competence to take the opportunity of such epic and tremendous resources.