Really Surprised!

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The movie really did start out like it'd be quirky fun, but in reality I got a dull, droning, headache of a film, that ultimately had no point, or relevance. First we start out on with a man looking for his sea wife, then on to the flashbacks, then to the ship and ending up on the raft. Up to this point, the film is good I thought, then on the raft, no one becomes interesting. The black man seemed like he'd play a crucial role, nothing, the women maybe? Nope. The fat man would be a god antagonist? Well, sorta, but then switches, lightens up, maybe a happy redemption story for him? Nope. The handsome man? Nothing. On the island maybe there will be tribalism and a look into people's psychology? Nope, it sets it up like maybe so, but ultimately changed course and goes into bizarre-o world. MAJOR SPOILERS: the fat man decided to leave the black man for no REAL reason, and then oh look they're saved, and nothing bad happens to the fat man, and the women still never revealed that she's a nun for NO reason, not even on the 1 in a billion chance that she happens to pass by him and still decides to let his heart yearn for the rest of his life. Unfulfilling in every way, and frankly a waste of time and film, skip this one for sure.

I found this a rather light-weight and superficial film. The actress who played the Sea Wife was particularly unconvincing.The main story is told in a flashback, which I thought far too long and, thanks to the intriguing start, loses much of its interest, since you spend much of the time anticipating events that happen pretty much as you'd expect. It would have been better to put the start of the film near the end.The ending also seems rather lame (to me, anyway), and the only thing the film really has going for it is the stunning scenery and good camera work.

In their only time together in a film, Richard Burton and Joan Collins co-star in Sea Wife which is a combination of Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat and John Huston's Heaven Knows Mr. Allison. It was sad to say not a really good blend.The film is told in flashback with both Richard Burton and Basil Sydney remembering the events of many years ago during World War II. After leaving the besieged Singapore in a crowded cargo ship, Burton, Sydney, Joan Collins and Cy Grant find themselves on a rubber dinghy after the ship is torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.Sydney is your typical John Bull like administrator who spent his life among the various native populations and has a racist superiority attitude concerning them. Cy Grant is a black sailor and the only one who is really capable of helping this disparate bunch survive. He knows something about Collins that the other two don't, that she's a nun who had to leave the ship quickly without habit.Why she doesn't come right out and tell the other two I'm still not figuring out. I mean Deborah Kerr did in Heaven Knows Mr. Allison and it kept Robert Mitchum somewhat at bay. But she keeps it a deep dark secret and let's Richard Burton's hormones go raging.The real story here is with Sydney and Grant and Grant has the best acted role in Sea Wife. Had this been an American production the part would have gone to Sidney Poitier and he would have been acclaimed for his performance. Sea Wife is not anything that will be listed among the top ten of either Richard Burton's or Joan Collins's films.

"Dynasty" fans may recall when Joan Collins, as Alexis, posed as a nun. Well, here she is a nun again, in "Sea Wife," also starring Richard Burton, Cy Grant, and Basil Sydney.The jolly foursome are stuck on a lifeboat in 1942 when the ship they were on explodes as they escape from Singapore. For reasons known only to themselves, they all adopt nicknames - Burton is Biscuit, Collins is Sea Wife, Grant is No. 4, Sidney is Bulldog. Sea Wife neglects to tell anyone she's a nun, but Number 4 knows, and uses it to get food and water from an enemy ship. The big mystery of the film is why she doesn't tell anyone.Not much happens in this movie. The story is told in flashback, when Burton goes on his search for Sea Wife, with whom he is madly in love. He visits Bulldog, and the story of their voyage begins.Lots of shots of their boat floating on the water. Sidney's character is most unpleasant - he distrusts No. 4, who is black, even though the man gets food and water for them and also saves his life. Burton is handsome, and he definitely had one of the greatest voices in film. Collins here is young and beautiful, but she made such a reputation for herself as Alexis, it's kind of funny to see her as a reverent, devoted nun - who doesn't tell anybody. She and Burton don't have much chemistry.Skip it.