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Slave Ship is a 1937 American historical adventure film directed by Tay Garnett and starring Warner Baxter, Wallace Beery and Elizabeth Allan. The supporting cast features Mickey Rooney, George Sanders, Jane Darwell, and Joseph Schildkraut. It is one of very few films out of the forty-eight that Beery made during the sound era for which he did not receive top billing.

Plot

Cast

Warner Baxter as Jim Lovett
Wallace Beery as Jack Thompson
Elizabeth Allan as Nancy Marlowe
Mickey Rooney as Swifty
George Sanders as Lefty
Jane Darwell as Mrs. Marlowe
Joseph Schildkraut as Danelo
Miles Mander as Corey
Arthur Hohl as Grimes
Douglas Scott as Young Boy at Launching
Minna Gombell as Mabel
Billy Bevan as Atkins
Francis Ford as Scraps
Jane Jones as Ma Belcher
J. Farrell MacDonald as Proprietor
J. P. McGowan as Helmsman
DeWitt Jennings as Snodgrass
Paul Hurst as Drunk
Dorothy Christy as Blonde
Charles B. Middleton as Slave Dealer
Dewey Robinson as Bartender
Holmes Herbert as Commander
Edwin Maxwell as Auctioneer
Herbert Heywood as Old Man at Launching
Winter Hall as Minister
Marilyn Knowlden as Christener at Launching
Arthur Aylesworth as Stranger

Reception

Writing for Night and Day in 1937, Graham Greene gave the film a mixed review, finding fault with the "slow-motion emotions" of Warner Baxter's acting and the plot's "slowness and inevitability" whereas real life is replete with "unexpected encounter[s]". Nevertheless, Greene opined that "[Slave-Ship] isn't a bad film, [and] it has excellent moments". Chief amongst these moments, Greene praised the knife-throwing scenes and the general acting of Wallace Beery.^[2]

References

^ Based upon a historical novel "The Last Slaver" by Dr. George S. King of Bay Shore, New York. Dr King's NY Times obituary
^ Greene, Graham (19 August 1937). "Slave-Ship/Stradivarius/Woman Chases Man". Night and Day. (reprinted in: Taylor, John Russell, ed. (1980). The Pleasure Dome. Oxford University Press. p. 162. ISBN 0192812866.)

External links

Slave Ship at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
Slave Ship at IMDb
Slave Ship at the TCM Movie Database
Slave Ship at AllMovie

[1] Based upon a historical novel "The Last Slaver" by Dr. George S. King of Bay Shore, New York. Dr King's NY Times obituary

[2] Greene, Graham (19 August 1937). "Slave-Ship/Stradivarius/Woman Chases Man". Night and Day. (reprinted in: Taylor, John Russell, ed. (1980). The Pleasure Dome. Oxford University Press. p. 162. ISBN 0192812866.)

[2]