Power Powers ABANDON SHIP!

ABANDON SHIP! aka Seven Waves Away (4K UHD)

1957 / 101 min

Sony

Available at MovieZyng.com

Review by Mr. Paws😸

To be perfectly honest, I had no idea this movie even existed until just recently. Considering my lifelong predilection for disaster-based films, I’m kinda surprised that I hadn’t at least heard of it. Oh well…better late than never, because while Abandon Ship isn’t quite a disaster film, it’s a gripping tale of survival that had me pondering what I would do in a similar predicament.

Disaster certainly sets up the scenario, though. An ocean liner, the S.S. Crescent Star, strikes an old mine left over from World War II and sinks. Unfortunately, this is depicted immediately following the opening credits as a montage of fire and raging water, not even showing the ship going down and thus avoiding any expensive special effects. But my initial disappointment over the lack of spectacle dissipated as the story unfolded.

A couple of dozen survivors manage to make it to the only lifeboat, which is only designed and equipped to support nine. After the captain dies, Executive Officer Alec Holmes (Tyrone Power) takes command. Almost immediately, he’s forced to deal with a dangerously overfilled boat, injured passengers, challenges to his authority and, most ominously, the realization that no distress signal was sent prior to the sinking. Worse yet, there isn’t nearly enough food or water to sustain everyone for very long. This ultimately forces Holmes to make the terrible decision of who to save and who to let perish.

The passengers learn that Holmes' previous command was the S.S. Poseidon.

I suppose comparisons to Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat are inevitable. But while that film is a superior technical achievement, it does occasionally get bogged down by melodrama. Conversely, Abandon Ship! achieves a darker tone. Aside from establishing an existing relationship between Holmes and ship’s nurse Julie White (Mai Zetterling), the narrative focuses almost exclusively on the crisis at hand, with Holmes acting alone and resorting to using a gun to force selected people off the boat. Abandoning the idea of trying to save everyone so that at least some stand a chance for survival is both logical and appalling.

To be honest, I never thought a “movie star” like Power had it in him to convey such a moral quandary, but Nightmare Alley notwithstanding, this could be the best (or at least the most underrated) performance of his career. Holmes’ character transformation is ultimately the crux of the entire film and Power pulls it off quite well. Though few of the other characters are as engaging, the story effectively establishes that some of those tossed from the boat absolutely do not deserve to die, leading to some gut-wrenching moments.

Somewhat forgotten over the years, Abandon Ship! is a survival thriller worth checking out. What it lacks in visual panache is compensated by a compelling story that raises some discussion-worthy questions. I’m not sure why Sony chose to forego any Blu-ray or DVD release and go straight to 4K with this one, but the disc does boast excellent picture and sound quality.

EXTRA KIBBLES

DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL CUTS - The latter is a couple of minutes longer.

AUDIO COMMENTARY - By film scholar Jason A. Ney

DIGITAL COPY