Carib Gold
Cast & Crew
Harold Young
Ethel Waters
Cecil Cunningham
Coley Wallace
Peter Dawson
Cicely Tyson
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
When Ryan, a sailor on a shrimp boat fishing off the Florida Keys, finds a sunken treasure of gold while diving to repair some nets, the demeanor of the boat's crew changes. One member of the crew kills the captain, then escapes with part of the treasure and is pursued through the Keys by the harbor police. After hijacking a car, the killer continues his escape, but when he hears a radio news broadcast report that a roadblock has been set up to prevent his going to the mainland, he returns to Key West. Ryan tracks the killer by searching the local bars. Ryan eventually finds the killer and turns him over to the police.
Director
Harold Young
Cast
Ethel Waters
Cecil Cunningham
Coley Wallace
Peter Dawson
Cicely Tyson
William T. Hill
George Renna
Diana Sands
Richard Ward
Ruth Sawyer
Henry Hayward
Geoffrey Holder
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Although a Hollywood Reporter news item noted that the world premiere of Carib Gold was to be held on September 30, 1956 in Key West, FL, where the film was shot, no national release date for the picture has been located. According to information in the NYSA, Carib Gold was approved for release in New York state in 1957, and the picture was playing in Los Angeles in June 1958, according to the LA Mirror-News review.
Carib Gold marked the final film of director Harold Young (1897-1970) and the feature-film debuts of actresses Cicely Tyson and Diana Sands. It also marked the feature debut of dancer-actor Geoffrey Holder. According to the LA Mirror-News review, Holder performed a voodoo dance in the film. According to reviews, the picture was the first release of the Splendora Film Corp. and included a primarily African-American cast.
According to documents in the Department of Defense [DOD] Collection in the Special Collections Department of Georgetown University Library, Splendora was a New York-based production company headed by Warren Coleman. The DOD documents include mid-November 1955 correspondence between Coleman and the DOD's Office of Public Information in which Coleman sought to obtain permission to copy and use within Carib Gold unclassified underwater footage shot at Silver Springs, FL in 1943 and 1944.
Documents indicate that the cameraman was a "Mr. Gossett," who was in the Navy during World War II and May have been working for Splendora at the time of the letters to the DOD. The correspondence reveals that the footage was shot by Gossett for the Navy Diving School in Washington, D.C. for "a series of navy productions concerning diving equipment and procedures." Permission was granted to Coleman to look at the requested footage and copy portions of it at his company's expense. Although reviews mention the inclusion of extensive underwater footage within Carib Gold, it has not been determined if those sequences consisted partially or exclusively of the Navy footage.
