''Crosswinds'' is a 1951 American
Technicolor
Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades.
Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...
adventure film
The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...
directed by
Lewis R. Foster and starring
Rhonda Fleming
Rhonda Fleming (born Marilyn Louis, August 10, 1923 – October 14, 2020) was an American film and television actress and singer. She acted in more than 40 films, mostly in the 1940s and 1950s, and became renowned as one of the most glamor ...
,
John Payne and
Forrest Tucker
Forrest Meredith Tucker (February 12, 1919 – October 25, 1986) was an American actor in movies and television who appeared in nearly a hundred films. Tucker worked in vaudeville as a straight man at the age of fifteen. While he was on a trip ...
. It made by
Pine-Thomas Productions Pine-Thomas Productions was a prolific B-picture unit of Paramount Pictures from 1940–1957, producing 81 films. Co-producers William H. Pine (February 15, 1896 – April 29, 1955) and William C. Thomas (August 11, 1903 – April 2, 1984) were kno ...
for distribution by
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...
. It was Payne's sixth film for Pine-Thomas.
The film was rereleased in 1962 by Citation Films Inc. as Jungle Attack in a double bill with ''
Untamed West''.
Plot
One day in New Guinea, two men, "Jumbo" Johnson and seaplane pilot Nick Brandon, are discussing a possible gold heist. They have a drink with Katherine Shelley, an attractive widow who's obviously drinking away her sorrows.
A magnificent schooner called ''The Seeker'' docks in port, captained by Steve Singleton. As he proposes a pearl-diving expedition to Jumbo, he sees Brandon and, without explanation, punches him.
Katherine wants to go along, but Steve sets sail without her as soon as Jumbo arranges the necessary documents in town. Two weeks later, still without a pearl, Steve is boarded by Australian naval authorities who examine his papers and declare them forgeries. Steve is arrested and the boat impounded. While in jail, he learns Jumbo has bought the boat at auction.
Another vessel, ''The Susan'', arrives with two Englishmen on board, Cecil Daubrey and "Mousey" Sykes. In need of a captain because theirs died mysteriously at sea, they watch Steve fix their engine and offer him a job as skipper.
Katherine and Brandon have disappeared. They left on his plane and never returned. Cecil and Mousey believe at least $10 million in gold was aboard Brandon's craft and intend to search for the plane, which is presumed to have crashed. They depart port with Steve at the helm, and ultimately find Brandon's dead body near an island where Katherine has been captured by native headhunters.
Jumbo joins forces with Steve, who explains that Brandon betrayed him during the war. They find the plane, only to be double-crossed by the Englishmen, who drop a net over them. Steve cuts them out with a knife and saves Jumbo's life. Plans backfire for Cecil, who is killed by headhunters' spears, and Mousey, who is thrown to the crocodiles. Steve gets back to port safely, and he and Katherine sail away together.
Cast
*
John Payne as Steve Singleton
*
Rhonda Fleming
Rhonda Fleming (born Marilyn Louis, August 10, 1923 – October 14, 2020) was an American film and television actress and singer. She acted in more than 40 films, mostly in the 1940s and 1950s, and became renowned as one of the most glamor ...
as Katherine Shelley
*
Forrest Tucker
Forrest Meredith Tucker (February 12, 1919 – October 25, 1986) was an American actor in movies and television who appeared in nearly a hundred films. Tucker worked in vaudeville as a straight man at the age of fifteen. While he was on a trip ...
as Jumbo Johnson
*
Robert Lowery as Nick Brandon
*
Alan Mowbray
Alan Mowbray MM (born Alfred Ernest Allen; 18 August 1896 – 25 March 1969) was an English stage and film actor who found success in Hollywood.
Early life
Mowbray was born in London, England. He served with distinction in the British Army ...
as Sir Cecil Daubrey
*
John Abbott
Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott (March 12, 1821 – October 30, 1893) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the third prime minister of Canada from 1891 to 1892. He held office as the leader of the Conservative Party.
Abbo ...
as Algernon "Mousey" Sykes
References
External links
*
{{Lewis R. Foster
1951 films
1951 adventure films
American adventure films
1950s English-language films
Films directed by Lewis R. Foster
Films set in Indonesia
Paramount Pictures films
Seafaring films
Films about treasure hunting
Underwater action films
1950s American films
Films scored by Lucien Cailliet
English-language adventure films