The Seas Beneath

In the oeuvre of John Ford his late silents are ahead of his early talkies in artistic aesthetics because of two important factors: actors and dialogue. While he is most known for his sagacious later period films like The Searchers or The Quiet Man (and many others) he has several excellent 20s films like 3 Bad Men and Four Sons (I still have not seen Iron Horse which I will have to rectify soon). Those silents work quite well on a visual level and have a surprising amount of movement sometimes analogous to a Murnau film. When sound became prominent many producers felt forced to exploit this aspect which slowed down movement, placed people in specific positions due to microphones and forced the focus to be more on verbal acting ability. The latter was the rub in Ford's early talkies.

The biggest strength of this film is the look and feel of the settings and several nice shots of the camera. One of the biggest surprises is that most of this film is shot on location. There are beautiful shots on ships, on the sea and even some quick underwater shots (the earliest in a film I can think of) which show a submarine breaking the surface of the sea. John had the American naval at his disposal and it really showed. Given there is a possible anachronism of some of the equipment since this movie was supposed to take place during WWI.

Then there is the rub. The sound is typical of early 30s with very little music, stifled acting with hammy delivery and a general slow plot.

During WWI, a navel command is sending out a three-masted schooner in Spanish waters as a decoy (with a big hidden gun) to lure a famous U-Boat out of the water so it can possibly be torpedoed by a hidden American sub. When the navy personnel go ashore as merchants the captain falls in love with a double agent, while another personnel gets Mickeyed (sleeping potion) and left behind when the personnel cannot find him. The plot is mostly straightforward and the ending is obvious though still exciting. The Germans are treated (like in Grand Illusion) as humans so I do not think this played much in the 1940s.

An interesting movie that will be fun for people who enjoy 1930s films as long as they can handle some of the flaws of plot and acting. John Ford's use of camera is quite evident but does not quite handle the plot and characters as well as in his later films.

This movie can be found in the huge Fox at Ford box set.

John Ford's early talkie is not completely satisfying as drama, due to inadequate acting from the juvenile lead and the leading lady, but it is fairly adventurous film-making: much of it is staged on a real boat which is really at sea. This causes problems for the sound recording and the lighting, but gives it an exhilirating, seat-of-the-pants quality. The high point is a surprisingly intense tango sequence in a Canary Islands cantina, almost as memorable as Rita Hayworth and Anthony Quinn's tango in BLOOD AND SAND. All the action sequences are enjoyably handled and George O'Brien agreeably plays the suave captain as a take-charge guy.

Rarely have I seen such stilted, hammy, and just plain bad acting. There didn't appear to be a professional performer in the whole picture. And the dialogue! Gad! The skipper of the allied vessel came off more like a cheerleader than a leader of men. I still enjoyed the film; even with all the cornball humor from the brainless naval crew. If their collective brains could be rendered into gasoline, there wouldn't be enough to run a termite's chainsaw. Fairly good action yarn for such an old picture.

Seas Beneath (1931)

** (out of 4)

A U.S. "mystery ship" is sent out to destroy a German U-boat, which has been causing damage to Allied ships. Like many other early sound films, this one here suffers from non-stop talking, which is damaged because the dialogue is just downright stupid and bad. I guess studios would read screenplays and order additional dialogue because this film has so many subplots that I can't help but think they were added to boost up the dialogue. There's a love story between George O'Brien and Marion Lessing, which is just downright stupid and bad. I'm going to guess the relationship between the boat Commander and a possible German spy was meant to add suspense but it never does. Ford really seems bored with these various dialogue scenes because there's never an ounce of energy in them. What really works is the final twenty-minutes when the mystery ship goes up against the U-boat. There's a long sequence where the ship must fall under attack because the sub isn't in their range for a counter attack. This scene here is full of wonderful excitement and some real suspense. The action scenes are all very realistic and Ford really puts the viewer in a mind frame where it feels like you're actually on the ship. Outside of these scenes I'd have to say Ford's direction is pretty weak because it really seems like he's making a silent movie with dialogue. The scenes are really strange to look at and they never really feel like a director use to the sound technology.

From the beginning of the sound era until he won his Oscar for The Informer John Ford turned in an interesting body of work. Some of his films are good, others less so. It seemed to me it took him a bit longer than some of his peers to master the technique of sound on film.

Case in point is this World War I naval story Seas Beneath. An interesting and fine war film, it's hampered a great deal by a rather unrealistic romance between the sister of a U-Boat commander Marion Lessing and George O'Brien the American captain of the mystery ship.

O'Brien is in command of the so-called mystery ship which has a pair of big guns camouflaged on board. The object is to look like a harmless American schooner and play decoy until the U-Boat comes in range and then cut loose. When the schooner puts into the Canary Islands for provisioning and to pick up any loose information, the Germans have the same thing in mind. In fact a female spy played by Mona Maris seduces young officer Steve Pendleton and finds out he's a lieutenant. Pendleton redeems himself in a most spectacular incident.

The battles at sea are staged very well. Surprising that other than star George O'Brien none of the known regulars from the Ford stock company are here. Walter C. Kelly plays the CPO of the ship and he's kind of a poor man's Victor McLaglen.

John Ford completists will like the film and it's all right, but nothing more.