Lon Chaney Jr. -- still credited as Creighton Chaney -- is a sponge diver, anxious to get his own boat and Sally O'Neil. He has a boat to buy, but auctioneer Russel Simpson thinks it's a cursed boat, and won't lend him the money. But George Regas wants Miss O'Neil, so he lends Chaney the money, and puts a saboteur on board the ship.
I wasn't expecting much given this is a Paul Malvern production directed by Armand Schaefer. I was very pleasantly surprised. With Archie Stout in charge of the camera, and most of the movie shot off Catalina, the audience is treated to some fine camerawork from aloft, and a long sequence shot underwater, showing the men harvesting the sponges. It's topped off with a lively and funny fight aboard ship.
In addition, the cast is spot on, with Chaney good in an early role, Regas quite good, and Miss O'Neil outstanding, beautiful, full of energy, and her accent fitting her role to a T. There's also some good comic relief by Si Jenks, dressed in a Popeye suit, with a corncob pipe stuck in his mouth, looking more like Poopdeck Pappy than the spinach-munching sailor man. Over all, it's as good as a Gower Gulch production can be.
