''Captain Scarface'' is a 1953 American thriller film directed by

Paul Guilfoyle Paul Vincent Guilfoyle () (born April 28, 1949) is an American television and film actor. He was a regular cast member of the CBS crime drama '' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', on which he played Captain Jim Brass from 2000 to 2014. He ret ...

Plot

In the waters off South America, the Soviets torpedo the

tramp steamer A boat or ship engaged in the tramp trade is one which does not have a fixed schedule, itinerary nor published ports of call, and trades on the spot market as opposed to freight liners. A steamship engaged in the tramp trade is sometimes call ...

and

banana boat Banana Boat is a Polish a cappella sextet, authoring and performing original songs representing the genre of neo-shanties. Being one of the pioneers of the new genre, the group retains its simultaneous focus on contemporary interpretations of ...

SS ''Baños'' and murder the survivors with the cooperation of the ship's radioman, Clegg who escapes with his life and a promise of $5000. The Soviets have mocked up their own ship as the SS ''Baños'' that contains an atomic device with the goal of sailing the ''Baños'' to the locks of the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a Channel ( ...

where they will detonate their ship on an atomic

suicide mission A suicide mission is a task which is so dangerous for the people involved that they are not expected to survive. The term is sometimes extended to include suicide attacks such as kamikaze and suicide bombings, whose perpetrators actively commit s ...

. To avoid suspicion the new crew of the mocked up ''Baños'' takes the contingent of passengers scheduled to sail on the original ''Baños''. One last minute addition is American

expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...

Sam Wilton who has overstayed his welcome as a

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Th ...

overseer by making love to the plantation owner's wife. As a result, Sam and his lover's husband are both wounded in a gunfight. Sam needs to escape to the United States without his passport that is still at the plantation. At the Los Rios Hotel in the port city of San Brejo that is also Sam's watering hole, Sam asks his friend Manuel the owner to get him a passport in a false name to escape the vengeance of the plantation owner and the sympathetic local authorities. As Sam waits and drinks he observes the passengers of the SS ''Baños'' in the hotel; an older American couple Fred and Kate Dilts, American Everett Crofton, the mysterious Mr Kroll, and two Germans, Dr Yeager and his daughter Elsa. The new Captain of the ''Baños'', "Captain Scarface" sends Clegg to meet Kroll at the Los Rios Hotel for his just reward. When the passengers are taken to the ''Baños'', Kroll, Clegg and Sam remain behind at the hotel. In the interest of economy and security, Kroll attempts to murder Clegg, but Clegg kills Kroll first. Escaping with the money, Clegg shoots at Manuel and Sam, who responds by shooting Clegg. Never wasting an opportunity, Sam splits the $5000 with Manuel and modifies the late Mr Kroll's passport with own photograph, and takes Kroll's boarding pass to the ''Baños''. Boarding the ship, Sam as Kroll delays meeting Captain Scarface in order to interview Elsa to find out the lay of the land. He pieces together that Dr. Yeager is a German atomic scientist allowed to escape from the Soviet Union in order to work the atomic device in exchange for the safety of his daughter, and Kroll was a Soviet agent assigned to bring in the Yeagers and kill Clegg. Also on the ship is a venomous fer-de-lance snake concealed in a cargo of bananas.

Cast

Barton MacLane Barton MacLane (December 25, 1902 – January 1, 1969) was an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. He appeared in many classic films from the 1930s through the 1960s, including his role as General Martin Peterson on the 1960s NBC ...

as Capt. 'Scarface' Trednor *

Virginia Grey Virginia Grey (March 22, 1917 – July 31, 2004) was an American actress who appeared in over 100 films and a number of radio and television shows from the 1930s to the early 1980s. Biography Grey was born on March 22, 1917, in Edendale, Calif ...

as Elsa Yeager *

Leif Erickson Leif Erikson, Leiv Eiriksson, or Leif Ericson, ; Modern Icelandic: ; Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''Leiv Eiriksson'' also known as Leif the Lucky (), was a Norsemen, Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to have s ...

as Sam Wilton *Peter Coe as Perro, Trednor's Mate *

Rudolph Anders Rudolph Anders (December 17, 1895 – March 27, 1987) was a German character actor who came to the United States after the rise of Hitler, and appeared in numerous American films in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Biography He was born Rudo ...

as Dr. Yeager *

Howard Wendell Howard David Wendell (January 25, 1908 – August 11, 1975) was an American actor. Wendell's Broadway credits include ''Make a Wish'' (1951), ''The Curious Savage'' (1950), ''Arms and the Man'' (1950), ''The Show Off'' (1950), and ''The Great ...

as Fred Dilts, passenger *

Isabel Randolph Isabel Randolph (December 4, 1889 – January 11, 1973) was an American character actress in radio and film from the 1940s through the 1960s and in television from the early 1950s to the middle 1960s. Early life She was born in 1889 in Ch ...

as Kate Dilts, passenger *

Paul Brinegar Paul Alden Brinegar Jr. (December 19, 1917 – March 27, 1995) was an American character actor best known for his roles in three Western series: ''The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp'', '' Rawhide'', and ''Lancer''. Early years Brinegar was b ...

as Clegg, saboteur *

Don Dillaway Donald Provost Dillaway (March 17, 1903 – November 18, 1982) was an American stage and film actor. Early years Dillaway's mother, billed as Nettie Gordon, sang in vaudeville. Because she and his father insisted on a professional career for h ...

as Everett Crofton, passenger *

Martin Garralaga Martín Garralaga (10 November 1894 – 12 June 1981) was a Spanish actor who worked in Hollywood from the 1930s through the 1960s. He was married to opera singer and actress Rosa Rey. Biography Garralaga first came to the United States whe ...

as Manuel, tavern keeper *

John Mylong John Mylong (September 27, 1892 – September 8, 1975), also known as Jack Mylong-Münz, born Adolf Heinrich Münz, was an Austrian actor who later settled in the United States. Selected filmography * ''Der heilige Hass, 1. Teil'' (1921) - Rabo ...

as Kroll, Soviet

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Captain Scarface 1953 films 1950s thriller drama films American thriller drama films 1950s English-language films American black-and-white films Cold War espionage Cold War spy films American anti-communist propaganda films Films about nuclear war and weapons 1950s action films 1953 romantic drama films 1953 directorial debut films Films directed by Paul Guilfoyle 1950s American films