Very disappointing...

Sorry, this movie sucks

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

"The Wake of the Red Witch" is a curious film in that it stars John Wayne as a villain, or at least as something closer to a villain than to the sort of clean-cut characters Wayne usually played, or even to his flawed heroes in films like "The Searchers" and "The Shootist". The story is based upon what the opening credits call the "famous best- selling" novel by Garland Roark. (Well it might still have been famous in 1948, only two years after it was published, but since then both it and its author have sunk into obscurity). It is a melodramatic seafaring yarn which owes something to Joseph Conrad. Wayne's character Captain Ralls is a ship's captain in the Dutch East Indies during the 1860s. When we first meet him he is preparing to intentionally wreck his own ship, the "Red Witch", which is carrying a valuable cargo of gold bullion, by grounding it on a reef. After he does so he is called before a court of inquiry, but before the court can reach its verdict the case is dropped by the ship's owner, Mayrant Sidneye.In 1950 Alfred Hitchcock caused some controversy by including a "lying flashback" in "Stage Fright". Flashbacks had traditionally been used to reveal the true situation, so Hitchcock's use of the device to show one character's false account of events, without revealing to the audience until later in the film that this account was indeed false, came as a surprise to many. Here, however, in a film made two years earlier, director Edward Ludwig does something almost equally controversial. He presents us with two contradictory flashbacks; one is told from the viewpoint of Sidneye and the other, although it is narrated by a secondary character, Sidneye's niece Teleia Van Schreeven, essentially tells us Ralls's side of the story. It is already clear that the two men are enemies of long standing, and the two flashbacks, taken together, explain the reason for their enmity, why Ralls sank the Red Witch and why Sidneye dropped the proceedings against him. The full story is too complicated to set out here, but it revolves around their rivalry for the love of the same woman, Angelique.The highly melodramatic plot, in fact, gets a bit too convoluted at times and can be difficult to follow. The film has other weaknesses as well. Wayne never seems completely at home playing Ralls, a man driven at least in part by jealousy, greed and desire revenge, and considerably more complex than the average John Wayne hero. Gail Russell, who had also starred with Wayne the previous year in "Angel and the Badman", is a bit insipid as the lovely Angelique. The scene where Ralls has to fight a giant octopus, which is guarding a treasure of pearls, is horribly unconvincing. (This scene may have inspired a similar scene in another seafaring yarn from a few years later, "Pearl of the South Seas", which features an even more ludicrously unconvincing giant octopus).On the other hand, Luther Adler is good as the greedy and obsessive shipping magnate Sidneye, and Ludwig's unusual narrative style does enough to hold our interest. "The Wake of the Red Witch" is far from being a classic of the cinema, but it still remains watchable today. 6/10

The first thirty minutes or so of Wake Of The Red Witch has so many characters, and it's so hard to figure out what's happening, it may remind you of The Big Sleep. After two lengthy flashback sequences, told by two different characters, the waters of the plot were a little less muddy. Unfortunately, at that point the story slowed down and sagged a little. Nevertheless, this is a very exotic (as in strangely but appealingly different) and entertaining movie and a different direction for John Wayne, who plays one of the most sinister and cruelest characters of his career.Republic Pictures was a studio with a reputation for making movies on the cheap without the final product looking cheap. Most of their output were programmers, but they liked to turn out one or two "quality productions" per year. It looks as if Wake Of The Red Witch with a budget of over $1,200,000 was the quality of 1948. The movie premiered in Houston, Texas in late 1948 but did not get a general release until March 1949, which probably indicates some re-editing and perhaps new scenes. It has a terrific cast, headed by Wayne and Gail Russell, excellently supported by Gig Young, Adelle Mara, Luther Adler, Henry Daniel, Eduard Franz, Paul Fix, and Grant Withers. Edward Ludwig's direction is sharp, especially considering the complex script handed him by screen writers Harry Brown and Kenneth Gamet. Cinematography by Reggie Lanning is up to the best standards of beautiful back and white era. Though there is some obvious back projection in places, the South Sea sets by John McCarthy, Jr. and George Milo are lush and convincing, and stock footage from other movies (one of Republic's favorite cost-cutters) is blended in flawlessly. On the other hand the fluid editing we take for granted in pictures from the 'forties is spoiled by too many abrupt, blackout scene changes. This may point to some radical re-editing between the premiere and the general release three months later.Set in the 1860's Dutch East Indies and surrounding area, the story revolves around a bitter but respectful rivalry between sea captain Wayne and ship owner Adler. These two strong, morally challenged men are locked in a long-standing mutual hatred. But each grudging admires the other as the most ruthless and competent man he knows. Their rivalry eventually becomes the sole reason each has for living.Wayne was coming off the release of the highly successful Red River, which had actually been filmed two years earlier, when Wake Of The Red Witch was made. There was a little of Tom Dunson, the cruel, tyrannical rancher he played in Red River in practically every movie John Wayne subsequently made. There is a lot of Dunson in his Captain Ralls in Wake Of The Red Witch. He is Dunson magnified. Wayne and Adler's intense character studies are what makes this movie really worth watching. As for the rest of the cast .... judging by this picture, it would seem that Gail Russel, in addition to wrecking her career with booze, just wasn't really much of an actress. Adele Mara should have had the female lead instead of the second lead. And Gig Young should have kept the mustache.Wake Of The Red Witch is one of John Wayne's best performances, an entertaining, action-packed, and mysterious picture.

This will provide a treat for those nostalgic for the kind of 'character' and 'supporting' actors that once fleshed out every film that came out of Tinsel Town. For me the attraction was Luther Adler, scion of a great acting family (father, Jacob, sister Stella) who did sterling work with the Group Theatre but made only a handful of films. Here he is cast as the type of 'heavy' played around the same period by the likes of George MacReady, Elliot Sloane, etc. Also on hand is Paul Fix, Jeff Corey and third featured male Gig Young, a good ten years before he evolved into 'friend of the leading man', in the shapes of Rock Hudson, James Garner etc. The plot is more or less Wuthering Heights with seaweed and in the Heathcliff role Duke Wayne acquits himself reasonably well whilst Gail Russell trades heavily on her fragile beauty and lacks the spine of a Cathy Earnshaw. Nevertheless it's an entertaining romp from Republic and worth a look.

As other viewers have commented, I personally viewed this film when I only paid 35 cents for admission and it was well worth it. John Wayne was my idol and just the thought of going down under the water was extremely unimaginable and fighting all the horrible creatures we just read or heard about was never viewed on a big screen. (Radio was our only big entertainment and we had to use our IMAGINATION!) In 1948 the country had just gotten over WW II and Hollywood did not have all the special effects it has in 2000! I have viewed this film over and over again and still remember how it kept me on the edge of my seat. All future generations will do the very same thing and admire how much the film industry has advanced in their technology. This is a great John Wayne Classic and to find fault with it is uncalled for.