Seven Waves Away
8 /10 1 Votes
Duration Language English | 7.8/10 IMDb Genre Adventure, Drama, Thriller Story by Richard Sale Country United Kingdom | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date April 17, 1957 (US) Based on Seven Waves Away1938 short story by Richard Sale Cast (Alec Holmes), (Nurse Julie White), (Frank Kelly), (Will McKinley), (Edith Middleton), ('Cookie' Morrow) Similar movies Patch Adams , Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest , Independence Day , The Adventures of Tintin , Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides , Mission: Impossible III Tagline 14 of these survivors must be cast adrift! Which will the Captain choose? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Scene from abandon ship seven waves away 1957
After the massive luxury liner the Crescent Star sinks into the ocean, the ships officer (Tyrone Power) must command a rickety life boat, built for only nine, that is stuffed with 20 desperate and injured passengers. As a hurricane approaches, and the many wounded passengers struggle for life, difficult life and death decisions must be made about who will remain on the boat and who must be cast to the sea in order to give others the chance to survive.
Contents
Seven Waves Away (alternate U.S. titles: Abandon Ship! and Seven Days From Now) is a 1957 British drama film starring Tyrone Power, Mai Zetterling, Lloyd Nolan, and Stephen Boyd. When his ship goes down, an officer has to make an agonizing decision on his overcrowded lifeboat.
Richard Sale adapted the film from his 1938 short story of the same name, originally published in Scribners Magazine. The plot has similarities to the real-life sinking of the American ship William Brown in 1841. The William Brown hit an iceberg 250 miles off Newfoundland and lost 31 of its 65 passengers. Two boats with 17 crewmen and the remaining passengers escaped the wreck, but more than a dozen passengers were sacrificed from the crowded longboat.
Though there is no direct acknowledgment by the filmmakers, the film ends with a voice-over stating, "The story which you have just seen is a true one. In real life, Captain [sic] Alexander Holmes was brought to trial on a charge of murder. He was convicted and given the minimum sentence of six months because of the unusual circumstances surrounding the incident."
Ship's officer finds himself in command of a lifeboat full of survivors of a sunken luxury liner.
Plot
The luxury liner SS Crescent Star sinks in seven minutes after striking a rogue mine in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, taking with her nearly all of the 1156 people on board. Twenty-seven of the survivors converge on a single lifeboat designed to accommodate only nine. The dying captain passes command to executive officer Alec Holmes (Tyrone Power). Holmes then learns from "Sparks" Clary (John Stratton), the ships radio operator, that both transmitters were destroyed before a call for help could be sent. Holmes decides to try to reach the nearest land, Africa, 1500 miles away.
With a major storm approaching, Frank Kelly (Lloyd Nolan) warns Holmes that the overloaded boat will be swamped unless some of the passengers are jettisoned. The mortally injured Kelly then sacrifices himself by jumping overboard. Holmes decides to get rid of the old and injured, over the shocked protests of his girlfriend, ships nurse Julie White (Mai Zetterling). When he orders Will McKinley (Stephen Boyd) to dispose of an unconscious woman, McKinley obeys, then jumps in after her. One by one, Holmes sends others to certain death, until there are 15 left aboard. Edith Middleton (Moira Lister) observes that an atomic scientist, a brilliant playwright, and a famous former opera singer have been sacrificed to save two "apemen", a racketeer, and a devout coward. Passenger Michael Faroni (Eddie Byrne) demands Holmes go back for the others. When Holmes refuses, Faroni seriously wounds him in the shoulder with a switchblade and is in turn shot dead with a flare gun.
The lightened lifeboat weathers the storm and the rest of the survivors thank Holmes for saving them. Realizing he is now a liability due to his wound, Holmes throws himself overboard, but Julie brings him back aboard. Then, they spot a ship. As it comes to pick them up, the others, with the exceptions of Julie White and Edith Middleton, quickly distance themselves from Holmes actions.
Cast
References
Seven Waves Away WikipediaSeven Waves Away IMDb Seven Waves Away themoviedb.org