Ebb Tide

One of the strangest films to come from a major studio during the golden era of Hollywood, "Ebb Tide" was promoted as "the first South Seas drama in COLOR", and boasts an eclectic (to say the least) cast, including Oscar Homolka (in his US feature debut), Frances Farmer (in her only color film), Ray Milland, Barry Fitzgerald and Lloyd Nolan. Dour, pessimistic, and full of tortured close-ups of Homolka grimacing, this was probably not what movie-goers of 1937 were expecting. On the plus-side, the performances are riveting (though Homolka is difficult to understand at times), and the chance to see the ravishing Farmer in Technicolor splendor is worth wading through a turgid plot involving three ne'er-do-wells shanghaing a quarantined ship to the tropical paradise island of Tehua, where they meet madman Lloyd Nolan. There's also an exciting storm sequence which was the "Perfect Storm" of its day. Based on a story co-written by Robert Louis Stevenson. The only broadcast print in wide circulation is edited and is badly in need of color correction.