Review of Souls at Sea

I've never seen a bad movie by Henry Hathaway.It was the third time Gary Cooper had worked with this director after two classics "Lives of a Bengal lancer" and "Peter Ibbetson" ."Souls at sea' is perhaps not in the same league but it's an absorbing movie from start to finish.A long flashback,during a long trial,it casts George Raft against type as a romantic sailor who finds redemption by sacrificing himself.Cooper ,when he first appears is not as nice as in his other movies:working on a slave ship where the unfortunate prisoners are whipped to keep them from singing.But further acquaintance shows this:Cooper portrays an educated sailor who quotes Shakespeare ("to be or not to be" isn't it the question the slaves ask themselves?)and who remembers Homer ("beware of Greek presents" ).Can such a man be a slave trader? And can he sacrifice the others' life in order to save his own life during a wreck?;yes the movie includes a "Titanic" in miniature in which the violin plays on.Like in "Bengal lancer",Htahaway does not seem interested in the female character who is decorative,no more,no less.