Sea Racketeers
Cast & Crew
Hamilton Macfadden
Weldon Heyburn
Jeanne Madden
Warren Hymer
Dorothy Mcnulty
J. Carroll Naish
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Coast Guardsmen Jim Wilson and his friend, Spud Logan, try to stop a shipment of smuggled furs from reaching the shore, but smuggler Harry Durant distracts them by stranding his fence, fur dealer Maxwell Gordon, and one of his singers, Florence "Toots" Riley, in a speedboat that runs out of gas. The furs reach their destination, but along the way, Durant's thug Weasel kills lighthouse keeper Sam Collins, an old pal of Jim and Spud's. Jim and Spud take in Collins' daughter Patricia, now a grown woman whom they have not seen in years, while Coast Guard Inspector L. McGrath begins investigating Durant's gambling ship, the Fortune , from which he suspects Durant runs his smuggling operation. The unsuspecting Pat takes a job as a singer on Durant's ship, and Durant gives her a fur coat to take back to shore on the pretext that a wealthy, drunken patron left it. Jim intercepts Pat and takes the coat to the designated apartment. When Durant receives the coat, Jim, thinking that it was a lure to get Pat into his clutches, socks him. Believing that she has lost her job, Pat becomes upset, and things get even worse when Spud jealously reveals that Jim is using the same romantic techniques on her that he used on Spud's former girl friend Blondie. The angry Pat declares that she never wants to see Jim again and leaves, after which Jim and Spud end their friendship as well. Soon after, Pat is working aboard the Fortune on the night of Gordon's latest fur show, which is to feature furs that Durant will smuggle ashore after the show. Durant is cleverly having the ship guarded by the Coast Guard in order to allay their suspicions, and Toots tries to bring about a reconciliation between Pat and Jim, and Jim and Spud. While Jim is stubbornly refusing to talk to Spud, Durant finds McGrath's body in the storeroom, in which he was accidentally locked during his investigation. After Spud, sneaking onto the Fortune to see Toots, also finds McGrath's body, he is locked in the storeroom, where he is in danger of being killed by the mothball chemicals, as was McGrath. Lew, one of Durant's men, finds a note revealing the gang's operations written by McGrath and hidden in one of the fur coats to be shown. While the models don the coats, the gang desperately searches them for more notes. Pat finds one of the notes, after which Durant grabs her. Jim is aboard looking for Spud, who is not at his post, and he becomes suspicious when he can find neither Spud or Pat. Durant attempts to distract Jim by injuring one of his own henchmen, but Jim finds the watch he gave to Spud in the man's pocket. Durant tries to escape, using Spud and Pat as hostages, but Jim foils his plans and the smugglers are arrested. Jim and Spud are reconciled and soon go on a date with Pat and Toots.
Director
Hamilton Macfadden
Cast
Weldon Heyburn
Jeanne Madden
Warren Hymer
Dorothy Mcnulty
J. Carroll Naish
Joyce Compton
Charles Trowbridge
Syd Saylor
Lane Chandler
Benny Burt
Ralph Sanford
Don Rowan
Bryant Washburn
Skippy
Anthony Pawley
Bobby Hale
Sam Flint
Robert Brister
Christine Mcintyre
Paul Renay
Lew Harvey
Lester Dorr
Sam Ash
Henry Roquemore
Crew
Alberto Colombo
Eloise
Tommy Flood
Lou Handman
Walter Hirsch
Terry Kellum
Raoul Kraushaar
William Lava
Dorrell Mcgowan
Stuart Mcgowan
Ernest Miller
William Morgan
N. Teitelbaum Co., Hollywood
Armand Schaefer
Murray Seldeen
Sam H. Stept
Ned Washington
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
According to Hollywood Reporter news items and information contained in the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library, the working titles of this film were Michael O'Halloran, Ever Since Adam and Love Ahoy. Republic, which owned the rights to the novel Michael O'Halloran by Gene Stratton-Porter (New York, 1915), submitted a synopsis of Michael O'Halloran to the PCA in June 1936, which detailed the relationship between an orphaned boy and a Coast Guardsman, although the latter character plays no part in the novel. The writers of this synopsis have not been determined. An August 1936 Hollywood Reporter news item noted that John Auer was to direct the film, which was to star Donald Cook and to have Lieutenant Franklyn Moore of the Coast Guard as a technical advisor. The studio apparently decided at this point to make two separate films, one based on the novel, and a second using some of the Coast Guard story earlier developed. Republic then submitted another script, entitled Ever Since Adam, to the PCA, and it went into production on January 11, 1937. A December 10, 1936 Variety news item noted that Clarence Marks had worked on the screenplay, but according to Hollywood Reporter production charts, Raymond Schrock wrote the "original screenplay." Ever Since Adam starred Nat Pendleton, Patricia Ellis and Lyle Talbot, and was directed by William Nigh. Filming was either completed or halted within two weeks, and approximately two and a half months later, Republic submitted the script for Love Ahoy to the PCA. Republic informed the PCA that Love Ahoy was "a temporary title for our story previously registered with you under the title of Ever Since Adam." The title was then changed to Sea Racketeers in mid-July 1937. The contribution of Ever Since Adam's writers, Marks and Schrock, to Sea Racketeers has not been confirmed. According to Hollywood Reporter news items, Ralph Staub was set to direct Love Ahoy, but declined the assignment after reading the script. Michael O'Halloran, the film based on the novel of the same name, was released by Republic on May 15, 1937.
