This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

This is just as bad and unconvincing as the other film "The Conqueror" that John Wayne made playing a Mongoliian war lord.First there has to be a note to the other inebriated reviewers of this film. The ship was in the German Merchant Marine. There is no North Sea storm. They are not heading for home in Germany and the captain played by John Wayne is not one of Hitler's supporters. The story line is ostensibly supposed to be that the captain heads out of Sydney harbor with a British naval captain in hot pursuit because the German captain takes his girl. Unbeknownst to the British naval captain "his girl" is suspected by the German captain as being a German spy for the Nazis. Where are they heading to? To Valparaiso, Chile where the captain and crew can hopefully wait out the war rather than rotting in some allied prisoner camp.Okay, what went wrong? The storyline should have been worked out well in advance for such a scenario. It wasn't. The captain should have been somebody like Curd (alias Kurt) Jurgens. Why didn't they do it? Because the director while maybe understanding naval matters was totally unversed in the intricacies of internaional politics. Lana Turner was eye candy that was totally unsuitable and should have been replaced by an unknown actress that was more convincing. The direction should have been nuanced with much greater subtlely so that you could believe it.John Wayne should have turned the role down and recommended Jurgens and another actress for the woman and said the director was unsuitable for anything other than an advisory capacity just to make sure they didn't pressure him into taking the part just for the money.In short, even if you are a John Wayne fan avoid this stinker if it comes your way.

John Wayne is a German freighter captain who is trying to get his crew back to his homeland, but has to take in a spy on the run, who happens to be Lana Turner, who was about to marry Britisher David Farrar for her country to gain information, but Wayne intervened and messed up her plans. If you forget about Wayne's image and his western career, this film can stand on its own as thoughtful and engrossing entertainment. But if you can't get past the odd casting of him in this film, then you probably won't like it. They do make quite a very good pair; despite the fact he wants nothing to do with her in the beginning and she him, you know what is going to happen. As an added bonus is the presence of Tab Hunter and TV veterans James Arness, Claude Akins, and Alan Hale as part of the crew. Lyle Bettger is very memorable as a disgustingly repulsive cad, who hates his captain with a vengeance. The cast aside, this is a very moody and romantic film, with beautiful scenery and the high seas as the backdrop. I have always liked the ambiguous ending very much: the feeling, the image, the voice of David Farrar narrating. What the film may lack in fast-paced action and in other departments, I feel it makes up for in the romantic scenes between Lana and the Duke, who find love in the unlikeliest place of all.

Decent war film starring John Wayne, Lana Turner, Lyle Bettger, Tab Hunter, James Arness, John Qualen and Paul Fix. Wayne plays a German ship captain, Karl Ehrlich, who, because he's not a Nazi and opposed to them, has been stripped of his command and given an old ship, the Ergenstrasse. Now, short on fuel and food, he's trying to get it from Australia back to Germany. Before they leave, he's asked by the German consulate to take an intelligence agent, who is about to be arrested, on the ship. It's a woman, Elsa Keller, the fiancé of his old Royal Navy friend (David Farrar). She was given the assignment of marrying into a British Navy family.Once on the ship, though initially they dislike each other, Ehrlich and Elsa are drawn to one another, and Chief Officer Kirchner (David Farrar) who is on board ship under protest, wants her for himself. When Kirchner is sent aboard to get supplies in Auckland, he kills four unarmed fishermen. He tells Ehrlich that the men are fine and well-provisioned. Meanwhile, the Royal Navy intends to capture the ship and hang everyone on it for the murders. On the Ergenstrasse, Ehrlich, determined to get home, drives his men hard as they break up wood for fuel.John Farrow, an experienced director, oversaw this film but apparently he was distracted. Okay, no one on the German ship and no other Germans speak with a German accent because obviously, they would be speaking German, not English with a German accent. Perfectly correct. But why, oh why, did John Wayne's butchering of "auf wiedersehen" get past the director? It was the only German he spoke! Instead of saying wiedersehen with a soft "v", he pronounces the beginning of the word like he's saying wiener. It is such a glaring error and sounds ridiculous. Later, when Ehrlich is writing a report, the camera focuses on what he is writing, and it is clearly written "Ehrlick" and not "Ehrlich." Sloppy.Wayne is masculine and authoritative as Ehrlich, and the soft-spoken, sexy Lana is appealing as Elsa. Wayne here is about 48, and Turner 35 (according to Maureen O'Hara, Turner took a year off and was actually born in 1920). They're both too old for their roles.A young Tab Hunter has a small role in this, as does a blond James Arness. "The Sea Chase" looks to be a big-budget color film for the wide screen. If only someone had paid attention to the dailies.

What was with John Wayne in the 1950s?! Perhaps it was because he often produced his own films or had great star power, but whatever the reason, he chose some of the weirdest parts to play. Think about it...during this era he played Genghis Khan, a diplomat to Japan, an Air Force pilot (this isn't so weird, but his counterpart was Janet Leigh as a Russian pilot!!) and here he plays a German ship's captain during WWII!! At least here he is a German who dislikes the Nazis....but still...Wayne fighting for Germany during the war?! That's so surreal! The film begins just days before WWII begins. Wayne is having a conversation with an old friend who is a captain in the British Navy. This officer is trying to convince Wayne to leave his boat and come with him, as he knows that Wayne hates Hitler and the Nazis. However, Wayne's sense of duty and loyalty to his country prevent him from doing anything other than command his ship.When the war begins, Wayne is concerned to first evade his friend's warship as well as avoid being captured once they are underway. So, it's a never-ending battle to take this merchant vessel to small ports where they can get food and fuel--and somehow possibly make it back to port at Valparaiso and eventually back to Germany.What Wayne doesn't know is that his over-zealous Nazi of a first officer murders two innocent fishermen when they stop to get provisions. Later, when the British Navy discovers this atrocity, Wayne's old friend is determined to destroy the merchant ship and make Wayne pay.During all this time, there inexplicably is a woman aboard. Apparently, she (Lana Turner) is a spy who needs to get away as soon as possible or she'll be captured. Once on board, she generally is a nuisance as she seems petulant and nasty for no particular reason. Later, naturally, sparks fly between Turner and Wayne--though the reason for this seemed a bit forced and illogical.Let's talk more about Wayne and Turner. Although casting Wayne was odd, he handled the job well provided you were able to believe he was German. He did a good job and his character was particularly written well. As for Turner, she seemed like a giant walking cliché. She was moody and curt but over time she became enamored with Wayne. This turnaround was really too much, as she seemed all emotions and fickleness--a truly shallow and silly character (Turner, by the way, was good at these sort of roles). Late in the film, off the coast of Norway, the dialog (particularly hers) is really, really bad--very sticky and dumb.Overall, a pretty interesting tale that didn't really need Lana Turner's character. She was a diversion in an otherwise engaging tale.