Good concept, poorly executed.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Errol Flynn dives for sunken treasure in "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" director Gordon Douglas' "Mara Maru," with Ruth Roman, Raymond Burr, and Paul Picerni. This black & white yarn about avarice on high seas is predictable fare, but a top-notch cast, Gordon Douglas' assured direction, and some good underwater diving scene keep it afloat. Like the character that he plays, Errol Flynn was on his way down by the time that he cast in this adequate potboiler. Director Gordon Douglas doesn't let the action get water-logged for a moment, and "Mara Maru" is an entertaining epic even though it doesn't have any major surprises in it. Raymond Burr is perfectly cast as a villain with smooth edges who displays no qualms about cheating his partners as they set out to find a jewel encrusted cross. Picerni is just as oily as another villain who has a difficult time deciding whose side—either Burr or Flynn—that he wants to support. Virile Richard Webb gives a good account of himself as Flynn's former partner who winds up murdered before the first 30 minutes elapses. Another familiar face in this sturdy saga is Dan Seymour who plays a local cop in Manilla who wants to pin a murder on the intractable Flynn. Flynn fans will have a ball with this one. Of course, a capable stunt man probably wore the helmet and suit for the deep sea diving scenes, but Douglas does a good job of inserting close-ups of Flynn in the helmet into the action.

Yes, Errol Flynn looks more than his 43 years here...but not that much more...more like 48. So I don't buy all those comments that he had turned into an old man. He still had about 7 years more of making films in him before his early death at age 50.What is noticeable is how his star had fallen. It's not that this is a bad picture. In fact, it's a pretty decent mystery-adventure film. But, it's a far cry from the glory days of "The Adventures Of Robin Hood" and "That Forsythe Woman", and Ruth Roman was no Olivia de Havilland or Greer Garson.Nevertheless, the main cast does rather nicely. Here, Errol Flynn looks like the kind of man who might have stayed in the Philippines after the war, lived a tough life, and ended up deep sea diving. And the diction -- always one of his strong points -- remained. Ruth Roman, though a B picture actress, was a good B picture actress, and does very well here as the wife of Flynn's partner. Raymond Burr always did nicely as a heavy (no pun intended), and does nicely here; he really was quite good. And Paul Picerni as a PI, adds a nice touch.The plot is pretty straight-forward. There's a treasure to be had (dating from WWII) and the men who are after it are not to be trusted. When Flynn's partner (one of two men who knew the location of a diamond treasure) is murdered, it falls to Flynn to work his way through the intrigue to find the treasure and the murderer. There are enough twists and surprises to keep you involved, and I very much enjoyed this pic. Recommended

Warner Bros. MARA MARU (1952) is a fairly forgotten, generally disliked and disregarded Errol Flynn vehicle. Without doubt it is one of the actor's lesser efforts but it isn't really that bad. If, like me, you are into most anything that the great man is in then there's some enjoyment to be had from this sometimes lethargic seafaring thriller. From an original story by Philip Yordan, Sidney Harmon and Hollister Noble a reasonably fair to middling screenplay was fashioned by N.Richard Nash. It was also buoyed by an adroit score by the studio's Max Steiner and the whole thing had workmanlike direction by the busy Gordon Douglas. Although the star still had to do "The Master of Ballintrae" the following year in England to finish out his Warner contract MARA MARU was his last Hollywood film for them (He made a brief return to the studio in 1958 for the John Barrymore biopic "Too Much Too Soon").Flynn steps into the shoes of Bogart and Garfield here as Gregory Mason a boat Captain and deep-sea diver (his first time to do so) running a salvage operation in the Philippines after WW2. He knows exactly where a PT boat went down in the China Sea during the war but what he didn't know it sank carrying a diamond encrusted cross. This he learns from a shady collector Raymond Burr who, for a share and a payment of $10,000, asks him to dive for it. Flynn refuses at first but after his partner (Richard Webb) is murdered and his boat burnt out he finally agrees and sets sail with Burr and an assorted collection of dubious characters to retrieve the cross. Of course when he eventually brings up the treasure there is already a well hatched double-cross prepared on board which leads to an action filled finale and a redeemed Flynn returning the cross (at the behest of an over sanctimonious Ruth Roman) to its rightful place in the Church.Performances are generally fine throughout. Flynn gives a good portrayal of a man wanting to get rich quick and who finally regains strength of character. Raymond Burr is as effective as ever as the calculating baddie and Ruth Roman is just about there as the love interest in what is essentially a poorly written and unconvincing role.Adding superbly to the thing and keeping it afloat, so to speak, is Max Steiner's terrific score. There is a winsome ethnic piece to point up the Manila setting and eerie music for the diving sequences. But the score really comes into its own in the brilliant chase sequence in the raging storm towards the end, where swirling strings accompany Flynn as he is pursued for the cross through some thick jungle foliage. Then there is a poignant hymnal melody denoting the religious connotations associated with the cross and a beguiling waltz is the love theme for the picture's softer moments with Flynn and Roman. MARA MARU is one of the composer's unfairly forgotten scores.MARA MARU is probably in its disregarded and ignored state because of its unavailability on disc or even on video tape. But the good news is it has just been released by Warners on their new Archive series. So hopefully this release will create a wider audience and enhance its reputation. Check it out!

[Contains some minor spoilers about first 30 minutes of movie]Mara Maru, one of Errol Flynn's more mediocre movies, is obviously an attempt to cash in on the success of the B movies of the time, what we now call film noir, while attempting to add a twist of the usual Flynn style (i.e. a swashbuckler). The early part of the movie is almost an exact copy of the opening of The Maltese Falcon - the main character (in this case Flynn's) partner is murdered, he meets with hostile police, a past love affair with partner's wife is revealed, and then he meets with various mysterious villains who offer to help him towards large bundles of cash, if only he will acquire something for them.The mix isn't successful, with the noir element dominating most of the time, although the adventure quotient ups a bit later on. The problem with this is that Errol Flynn is great at being the charming rogue, but really not very convincing as the threatening Bogie-noir "man with a dark past" type. Indeed, no one is very convincing in this movie, most of the actors seeming like "Will work for food" types; moreover the plot proceeds much too slowly and ploddingly, and occasionally lapses into sentimentally, which has no place even in pseudo-noir. There are none of the directorial touches usually associated with noir movies either.Mara Maru is not an awful movie, merely boring and a waste of time; there are thousands upon thousands of movies your time would be better spent watching than this one. I'd recommend instead checking out either some of Flynn's much superior full-blown swashbucklers like The Sea Hawk, The Adventures of Don Juan, or The Adventures of Robin Hood; or some full-blown noirs, like The Maltese Falcon or Touch of Evil.