Virtually one of the most impossible plays to successfully film, this is as good as it's going to get. The independent production is raised up a notch by the powerful performances of William Bendix and Susan Hayward, saying extreme opposites whose first encounter creates heat, but not the kind that Bendix desires.
The title role is indeed Bendix, a rather vile, uncouth foreman of a ship's furnace. Hayward is a nasty socialite, a party girl with no direction who is furious how she must take a freighter rather than a cruise ship to her next spot of amusement, and while on board, decided to check out the seedier side of the ship by visiting the furnace room. One look at Bendix brings out both fascination and disgust, while Bendix is both filled with lust and humiliation by her reaction to him. This is one of those dramas that audiences avoided on screen because it reminded them of their prejudices and judgementalism.
On stage, this was obviously an intense comment on social injustice and human corruption. Bendix doesn't win sympathy because he's a brutish bully, while Hayward is everything that can be wrong with the alleged "gentler sex". It is a play for intellects, but on screen during World War II, it made humanity seem as vile as the enemies we were fighting. As art, it is very profound, but as entertainment, it is quite depressing.
The title role is indeed Bendix, a rather vile, uncouth foreman of a ship's furnace. Hayward is a nasty socialite, a party girl with no direction who is furious how she must take a freighter rather than a cruise ship to her next spot of amusement, and while on board, decided to check out the seedier side of the ship by visiting the furnace room. One look at Bendix brings out both fascination and disgust, while Bendix is both filled with lust and humiliation by her reaction to him. This is one of those dramas that audiences avoided on screen because it reminded them of their prejudices and judgementalism.
On stage, this was obviously an intense comment on social injustice and human corruption. Bendix doesn't win sympathy because he's a brutish bully, while Hayward is everything that can be wrong with the alleged "gentler sex". It is a play for intellects, but on screen during World War II, it made humanity seem as vile as the enemies we were fighting. As art, it is very profound, but as entertainment, it is quite depressing.