Director: JACK CONWAY. Screenplay: Anne Morrison Chapin, Whitfield Cook, Cyril Hume. Based on the 1945 novel by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. Photography: Sidney Wagner. Film editor: Conrad A. Nervig. Music: Herbert Stothart. Art directors: Cedric Gibbons, Gabriel Scognamillo. Set decorators: Edwin B. Willis, Ralph S. Hurst. Costume supervisor: Irene. Special effects: A. Arnold Gillespie, Warren Newcombe. Technical adviser: Lieutenant John B. Muir, Jr. Assistant director: George Rheim. Sound supervisor: Douglas Shearer. Western Electric Sound System. Producer: Everett Riskin.
Copyright 6 March 1947 by Loew's Inc. An M-G-M picture. New York opening at the Capitol, supporting Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians, plus Jean Carroll, The Pitchmen and Lathrop & Lee: 5 June 1947. U.S. release: May 1947. U.K. release: 23 June 1947. Australian release: 22 May 1947. 8,294 feet. 92 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Adrift in the Pacific during WW2, the survivor of a downed aircraft tries to keep his companion's spirits up by telling him the story of his life.
COMMENT: A perennial Friday flick, "High Barbaree" was still being booked for midweek double bills in the early 1960s. The reason for its remarkable longevity wasn't due to any entertainment merits in the movie itself. Universally judged to be a very mediocre show, "High Barbaree" had the box-office strength of June Allyson and Van Johnson (two of MGM's most popular stars), plus its intriguing premise and catchy title, plus its basis in a novel by "The Mutiny on the Bounty" team, Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall — plus a great trailer.
All of these pluses drew the patrons in. And if they left the theater a bit unsatisfied, they had only themselves to blame for expecting too much from a Friday feature.
In actual fact the script is just awful. Full of sickening sentiment and hogwash philosophy! The acting of the principals is likewise below par. Johnson especially tends to out-stay his welcome. And even normally steady character players like Thomas Mitchell don't shine so brightly.
Maybe director Jack Conway can carry the blame. Not only is the acting ragged, but compositions appear haphazard, angles don't match, and lighting changes abruptly. My guess is that Conway and Wagner didn't start the film at all but were brought in halfway through to try to clean up someone else's mess.
Whatever, the direction is mostly inept, the photography jarringly inconsistent.
Nonetheless, despite their surrounding seas of trouble, some scenes do have a certain appeal: The water-tower. The circus bicycle. The tornado. These sequences, and a few others, are genuinely moving. But all that stuff on the ocean waves with Cameron Mitchell — a boring actor if ever there was one — is strictly for poverty lane.
Copyright 6 March 1947 by Loew's Inc. An M-G-M picture. New York opening at the Capitol, supporting Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians, plus Jean Carroll, The Pitchmen and Lathrop & Lee: 5 June 1947. U.S. release: May 1947. U.K. release: 23 June 1947. Australian release: 22 May 1947. 8,294 feet. 92 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Adrift in the Pacific during WW2, the survivor of a downed aircraft tries to keep his companion's spirits up by telling him the story of his life.
COMMENT: A perennial Friday flick, "High Barbaree" was still being booked for midweek double bills in the early 1960s. The reason for its remarkable longevity wasn't due to any entertainment merits in the movie itself. Universally judged to be a very mediocre show, "High Barbaree" had the box-office strength of June Allyson and Van Johnson (two of MGM's most popular stars), plus its intriguing premise and catchy title, plus its basis in a novel by "The Mutiny on the Bounty" team, Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall — plus a great trailer.
All of these pluses drew the patrons in. And if they left the theater a bit unsatisfied, they had only themselves to blame for expecting too much from a Friday feature.
In actual fact the script is just awful. Full of sickening sentiment and hogwash philosophy! The acting of the principals is likewise below par. Johnson especially tends to out-stay his welcome. And even normally steady character players like Thomas Mitchell don't shine so brightly.
Maybe director Jack Conway can carry the blame. Not only is the acting ragged, but compositions appear haphazard, angles don't match, and lighting changes abruptly. My guess is that Conway and Wagner didn't start the film at all but were brought in halfway through to try to clean up someone else's mess.
Whatever, the direction is mostly inept, the photography jarringly inconsistent.
Nonetheless, despite their surrounding seas of trouble, some scenes do have a certain appeal: The water-tower. The circus bicycle. The tornado. These sequences, and a few others, are genuinely moving. But all that stuff on the ocean waves with Cameron Mitchell — a boring actor if ever there was one — is strictly for poverty lane.