Hell Ship Mutiny


1h 6m 1957

Film Details

Genre
Adventure
Drama
Release Date
Dec 1957
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Lovina Prod., Inc.
Distribution Company
Republic Pictures Corp.
Country
United States

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 6m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Film Length
5,414ft

Synopsis

Capt. Jim Knight, an American who has succumbed to the lure of Polynesia, sails his schooner the Tahiti Star to a small island in the archipelago. King Parea, the chief on another Polynesian island, has asked Jim to take him there because the chief is concerned about his children Princess Mareva and Prince Terahi, who are living on the island. After Jim, his pet chimp Salty and his first mate Roxy drop anchor, they notice that the island seems unusually quiet. At the village, Mareva uneasily greets her father and asks him to leave the island at once. From inside a hut, Malone, a ruthless American who has enslaved the islanders, holds a gun on Terahi to insure that Mareva follows his directive to send Jim and Parea away. In defiance of Malone, Terahi runs out of the hut to alert Jim of the natives' peril. Malone shoots Terahi, wounding him in the arm, and takes the others prisoners. Terahi then explains that Malone and his henchmen, Ross and Pinky, have forced the able-bodied men on the island to dive into dangerously deep water in search of pearls. As a result, most of the young men have drowned while diving. The next day, Malone orders Jim to dive for pearls and ties a wire around his ankle to make sure that he cannot swim away. Pretending to lose the knife that Malone has given him, Jim resurfaces, and when Malone hands him another knife, he submerges, fashions shears from the two blades and cuts himself loose. When Jim fails to surface, Malone and his thugs assume that he has drowned and head back to land. Meanwhile, Jim swims ashore and frees his friends. Taking refuge in the jungle, Jim and the others attack Malone and his thugs when they come ashore. After exhausting his supply of bullets, Malone runs into the sea, but Jim swims after him, overpowering him. After imprisoning Malone and his men, Jim sets sail with Parea, Mareva and Terahi for the king's home island, and Parea entrusts Jim with the cache of pearls that Malone has amassed. As they near their destination, the thugs break loose from their chains and take Parea and Mareva hostage. After throwing Roxy and Terahi overboard, Malone seizes the pearls and orders Jim to take them to New Zealand. Feigning dizziness, Jim goes below deck for some medication, and once there, throws all their supplies overboard, rendering the voyage to New Zealand impossible. In punishment, Malone chains Jim to the ship's wheel for the day. As days pass, the thieves divvy up the pearls, then begin quarrelling and soon Ross finds a bottle of liquor and gets drunk. Jim then tells Salty to steal the pearls from Pinky's pocket, and as Pinky chases after the chimp, Jim swings the boom around, knocking Pinky overboard. When the drunken Ross attacks Mareva, Jim threatens to throw the compass overboard unless Malone intervenes. After Malone smashes Ross over the head with a bottle, the enraged Ross charges, prompting Malone to shoot and wound him. Upon sighting land, Jim surreptitiously throws a noose onto the deck, and when Malone steps into the noose, Jim tightens it, sending Malone sprawling. Unknown to Malone, Jim has circled the ship back to Parea's island where they are greeted by Roxy and Terahi. Once on the island, they await the imminent arrival of circuit court judge Lamoret, who will try the prisoners. The next day, when court convenes, Lamoret orders that Malone and Ross be taken to Tahiti to be tried. Lamoret then orders Jim to turn over the pearls to him, but Jim insists on holding onto them for Parea. Meanwhile, Tatoa, a young native boy intent on winning Jim's approval, dives for treasure to impress him. When Tatoa fails to return, Mareva, who has sent the boy diving so that she can spend more time alone with Jim, feels guilty and asks Jim to search for him. After Malone and Ross are jailed in a cell on Lamoret's boat, Tatoa climbs onboard, looking for Jim. When the boy drops a bag of treasure he has found on a wreck while diving, Lamoret forces him into revealing the location of the sunken ship. Jim, meanwhile, has found Tatoa's knife at the wreck and upon resurfacing, reads some old ship's logs that detail the years earlier sinking of a ship that was carrying treasure belonging to a Burmese king. Seeing Tatoa's treasure bag, Malone and Ross reach through the bars of their cell, seize Lamoret and, grabbing his keys, open their cell door and escape. As Jim dives once again in search of Tatoa, Tatoa runs above deck and calls to Mareva, who is aboard the Tahiti Star . After locking the boy in a cell with Lamoret, Malone and Ross don diving suits to search for the treasure. Observing that Malone and Ross are armed with spear guns, Mareva pulls on her own scuba gear and dives to warn Jim. In the watery depths below, as Malone and Ross fire spears at Jim, Mareva joins the fray and shoots Ross with her spear. Jim then wrests the spear gun from Malone and drags him to the surface. At a celebration on the island, Tatoa proudly opens the recovered treasure chest and presents a necklace to Jim and Mareva as a wedding gift.

Film Details

Genre
Adventure
Drama
Release Date
Dec 1957
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Lovina Prod., Inc.
Distribution Company
Republic Pictures Corp.
Country
United States

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 6m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Film Length
5,414ft

Quotes

Trivia

Notes

Although onscreen credits contain a copyright statement, the film was not listed in the copyright catalog. The offscreen voice of Jon Hall, as "Capt. Jim Knight," intermittently narrates throughout the film. Lovina Prod., Inc. was owned by Hall, who starred in and served as executive producer on Hell Ship Mutiny.

Miscellaneous Notes

Released in United States Winter December 1957

Released in United States Winter December 1957