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

Paul Guilfoyle Paul Vincent Guilfoyle () (born April 28, 1949) is an American character 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 returned for ...

, and starring Barton MacLane, Virginia Grey, and Leif Erickson.

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 called ...

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 () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

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 die ...

. 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. The term often refers to a professional, skilled worker, or student from an affluent country. However, it may also refer to retirees, artists and ...

Sam Wilton who has overstayed his welcome as a

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

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 several radio and television shows from the 1930s to the early 1980s. She was romantically involved with Clark Gable for several years, a ...

as Elsa Yeager * Leif Erickson 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 Rudol ...

as Dr. Yeager * Howard Wendell as Fred Dilts, passenger *

Isabel Randolph Isabel Randolph (born Isabelle Elfreda Mair; 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 ...

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 (genre), Western series: ''The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp'', ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', and '' ...

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 wh ...

as Manuel, tavern keeper *

John Mylong John Mylong (born Adolf Heinrich Münz; September 27, 1892 – September 8, 1975), also known as Jack Mylong-Münz, was an Austrian actor, who later settled in the United States. Biography Mylong was born Adolf Heinrich Münz, to Jewish paren ...

as Kroll, Soviet

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Captain Scarface 1953 films 1950s thriller films American thriller 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 English-language action films English-language romantic drama films English-language thriller films