User Reviews

Mitchell Lewis and Jason Robards Sr. Quarrel philosophically over Eiizabeth Page. They agree to play a hand of poker for her.

It's a well shot little drama, even though the script and Miss Page's performance are heavy handed. Neither is the sound very good; the sound of a storm goes on offstage, rendering the dialogue hollow. On the other hand, Ed DuPar's camerawork, and the inserted model wrk -- it takes place onboard a ship, with only the three principals to be seen -- is nicely done.

This heavy-handed bit of trivia serves only to let us see what Jason Robards Jr.'s father looked like.

The son gave us many memorable performances, but on the evidence of this film, the father was mired in the stagger-and-clutch school that we can't connect with.

The short as a whole is stagy, obvious and unrewarding.

The Warners special effects unit brews up a fine storm at sea, but the human interaction remains stiff and lumbering,intense but clumsy.

To its credit, the film is short.

For collectors only.

The Death Ship (1928)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

On a stormy night at sea, a Captain (Mitchell Lewis) and the First Mate (Jason Robards) talk about the girl that they are both in love with. Then they agree to play a game of cards where the loser agrees to kill himself so that the other can have her. THE DEATH SHIP really isn't that good of a movie but there are enough interesting bits in it to make the thing worth watching at least once. The biggest thing is the actual story itself. While the entire conversation between the two men is rather boring, having a plot involving suicide was very much pre-Code and it's actually used for some good drama once the card game starts. I'm not going to ruin what happens but I thought it was quite effective. Another plus that the film has going for it is that the performances by Lewis and Robards are quite good and Elizabeth Page is nice in her brief bit as the girl. Yet another good thing is the scene showing the ship caught up in the storm. This was obviously done on a sound stage but the effect is quite believable. THE DEATH SHIP could have been much more had the dialogue been more interesting and drew you closer into the story.