''Slave Ship'' is a 1937 American

historical History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

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

Tay Garnett William Taylor "Tay" Garnett (June 13, 1894 – October 3, 1977) was an American film director, writer, and producer. He made nearly 50 films in various genres during his 55-year career, ''The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946 film), The Postman ...

and starring

Warner Baxter Warner Leroy Baxter (March 29, 1889 – May 7, 1951) was an American film actor from the 1910s to the 1940s. Baxter is known for his role as the Cisco Kid in the 1928 film ''In Old Arizona'', for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor at ...

Wallace Beery Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in '' Min and Bill'' (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in '' Grand Hotel'' (1 ...

and Elizabeth Allan. The supporting cast features

Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney (born Ninnian Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nearly nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last survivi ...

George Sanders George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous charac ...

Jane Darwell Jane Darwell (born Patti Woodard; October 15, 1879 – August 13, 1967) was an American actress of stage, film, and television. With appearances in more than 100 major movies spanning half a century, Darwell is perhaps best remembered for her p ...

, and

Joseph Schildkraut Joseph Schildkraut (22 March 1896 – 21 January 1964) was an Austrian-American actor. He won an Oscar for his performance as Captain Alfred Dreyfus in the film '' The Life of Emile Zola'' (1937). He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his per ...

. It is one of very few films out of the forty-eight that Beery made during the

sound era A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed befo ...

for which he did not receive top billing.

Plot

Captain Jim Lovett (Baxter), back from a slave run, meets and marries Nancy Marlowe (Allen). He determines to quit the slave trade and buy a plantation in Jamaica. He orders his crew discharged, but his first mate, Jack Thompson (Beery) disobeys and takes the ship to sea on another expedition with Lovett, Allen, and the slave crew aboard without Lovett's knowledge. Once at sea the crew takes the ship from Lovett, and forces him to sail to Africa by threats to his wife. In Africa they load a cargo of slaves and leave Lovett ashore, but he makes it back to the ship and captures the wheel, chart house, and guns. He makes for the British island of

St. Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

, where he is arrested as a slaver. Thompson attempts to trick Lovett using Swifty (Rooney), but he remains loyal. The climax ends with the ship burning, Thompson and most of the crew dead, and the slaves freed. Lovett is tried, but is freed after an appeal by his wife. In the end the couple and Swifty arrive in Jamaica to begin life at the plantation.

Cast

Reception

Writing for '' Night and Day'' in 1937,

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a re ...

gave the film a mixed review, finding fault with the "slow-motion emotions" of Warner Baxter's acting and the plot's "slowness and inevitability" whereas real life is replete with "unexpected encounter . Nevertheless, Greene opined that " 'Slave-Ship''isn't a bad film, ndit has excellent moments". Chief amongst these moments, Greene praised the knife-throwing scenes and the general acting of Wallace Beery. (reprinted in: ) ''Motion Picture Daily writes'' "To young ickeyRooney must go performance honors, since he comes close to stealing the picture. It may be considered unfortunate the he is made to appear such a young ruffian."

References

External links

* * * 1937 films 1937 adventure films 1930s historical films 1937 drama films American historical films American adventure drama films 1930s English-language films Films based on American novels Films directed by Tay Garnett 20th Century Fox films Films set in the 1850s Films set in the 1860s Seafaring films Films about slavery Films produced by Darryl F. Zanuck Films with screenplays by Lamar Trotti American black-and-white films 1930s American films English-language historical films English-language adventure films Films scored by Alfred Newman {{1930s-adventure-film-stub