Mystery Sea Raider ** (1940, Carole Landis, Henry Wilcoxon, Onslow Stevens) – Classic Movie Review 8147

‘SPY RING strikes at sea!’ Director Edward Dmytryk’s 1940 Paramount Pictures feature Mystery Sea Raider is a routine World War Two wartime flag-waving spy drama, with some good tension and effective romantic moments, but there is little verve and there are few surprises in the writing or the handling.

The Nazis abduct a British boat en route to New York from London, with dancer June McCarthy (Carole Landis) as a passenger, and change it into a warship for their own evil schemes. Nazi captain Carl Cutler (Onslow Stevens) is clever, but not clever enough, as he has reckoned without Landis’s womanly wiles and some British sea-going intervention. Henry Wilcoxon also stars as Captain Jimmy Madden.

With its efficient but anonymous scripting and direction, plus modest acting (though Stevens is the standout), it is watchable, though nothing more. Back projections and ill-matching stocks shots are a problem, damaging credibility.

Also in the cast are Henry Victor, Kathleen Howard, Wally Rairden (as Wallace Rairdon), Sven Hugo Borg, Roland Varno, Louis Adlon, Willy Kaufman, Monte Blue, Matthew Boulton, Gohr Van Vleck, Jean Del Val and Kay Linaker.

It is written by Edward E Paramore Jr, based on Robert Grant’s story.

Carole Landis (aka Frances Lillian Mary Ridste) committed suicide by taking an overdose of Seconal in her home at Brentwood Heights, California, on 5 July 1948. She was only 29 but had made 49 movies.

Dmytryk was one of the Hollywood Ten who refused to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), which put him in prison for refusing to cooperate. Having spent several months in jail, he testified again before the committee, giving the names of people he said were Communists, ruining careers and lives. 

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8147

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