Slave Ship (film)

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Slave Ship
Slave Ship FilmPoster.jpeg
Directed by Tay Garnett
Written by William Faulkner (story)
Screenplay by Sam Hellman
Lamar Trotti
Gladys Lehman
Based onThe Last Slaver
by George S. King [1]
Produced by Darryl F. Zanuck
Starring Warner Baxter
Wallace Beery
Elizabeth Allan
Mickey Rooney
George Sanders
Jane Darwell
Joseph Schildkraut
Cinematography Ernest Palmer
Edited by Lloyd Nosler
Music by Alfred Newman
Production
company
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • June 12, 1937 (June 12, 1937)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Slave Ship is a 1937 American historical adventure film directed by Tay Garnett and starring Warner Baxter, Wallace Beery and Elizabeth Allan. The supporting cast features Mickey Rooney, George Sanders, Jane Darwell, and Joseph Schildkraut. It is one of very few films out of the forty-eight that Beery made during the sound era for which he did not receive top billing.

Contents

Plot

Cast

Reception

Writing for Night and Day in 1937, Graham Greene 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[s]". Nevertheless, Greene opined that "[Slave-Ship] isn't a bad film, [and] it has excellent moments". Chief amongst these moments, Greene praised the knife-throwing scenes and the general acting of Wallace Beery. [2]

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References

  1. Based upon a historical novel "The Last Slaver" by Dr. George S. King of Bay Shore, New York. Dr King's NY Times obituary
  2. Greene, Graham (19 August 1937). "Slave-Ship/Stradivarius/Woman Chases Man". Night and Day . (reprinted in: Taylor, John Russell, ed. (1980). The Pleasure Dome. Oxford University Press. p. 162. ISBN   0192812866.)