WAKE OF THE RED WITCH

US, 1948, 106 minutes, Black and white.
John Wayne, Luther Adler, Gail Russell, Gig Young, Adele Mara, Eduard Franz, Grant Withers, Henry Daniell, Paul Fix, Dennis Hoeg.
Directed by Edward Ludwig.

Wake of the Red Witch is an entertaining John Wayne vehicle - on the high seas rather than in the West. It was one of his last films at Republic, where he had made so many action westerns during the '40s and where he was still to make such films as Rio Grande and The Quiet Man. It was the period of Wayne's emergence as a top star at the end of World War Two and the beginning of his many John Ford films, including They Were Expendable, Fort Apache. He is joined by Gail Russell with whom he had appeared in The Angel and the Badman. Luther Adler provides an excellent villain and there is good support from Gig Young and Adele Mara. Wayne and Young were both to win Oscars for Best Actor performances 21 years later. The film is based on a novel by Garland Roark, whose Fair Wind to Java was to be filmed by Republic colourfully if less spectacularly, with Fred Mac Murray and Vera Ralston five years later.

1. The film as a John Wayne vehicle? His screen persona and audience response to it? An action hero? An example of Hollywood film-making of the '40s?

2. Production values, black and white photography, re-creation of period, the East Indies and the islands of the Pacific. the atmosphere of the sea, the sailing ships? Special effects, especially for underwater sequences? The musical score?

3. The complex structure: the basic narrative, the lengthy flashbacks in which the heroine appears? The additional flashbacks with the comment from Teleia? The final vision of the Captain and Angelique?

4. The introduction to Ralls: his ship, the flogging, his administration of justice, his drinking, the plots against Sidney’s agent, the faking of the log, the persuading Sam to join him, the reliance on Ripper? The putting of the ship on the reef and the sinking of the gold? The court case and Sidney’s withdrawing the charges? The typical John Wayne hero? The puzzle about his motives? The fishing for the year and their being lured to the island? The confrontation with Sidney and the build-up to the sinking again of the gold? The background of his being rescued by Sidney, his falling in love with Angelique. the hostility of Desaix? His drunkenness and despair at the announcement of the engagement? The fight with the octopus and the rescue of the pearls? The accidental killing of Desaix and Angelique's reaction? His later visits to her and their continuing love, his grief at her death? The spirit of vengeance? The help of Teleia and his relying on Sam? The escape on the ship and its exploding? His decision to dive for the gold? His death - and the heavenly vision of himself and Angelique (later to be echoed when Wayne died at the end of The Cowboys, 1972).

5. The character of Sam: his being rescued, working on the ship, the puzzle about the Captain, his being invited to help with the gold, the court case, the map and going to the island, his falling in love with Teleia, listening to Sidney’s story, decisions, Ralls cutting him off and his remaining with Teleia? The parallel with Sam - but with the happy ending? Teleia and her relationship with her uncle parallelling Angelique and her uncle?

6. Angelique as attractive heroine, relationship with her uncle, falling in love, the romantic idyll, the announcement of the engagement, her anxiety with Ralls diving and the octopus? Her grief at her uncle's death? Her marrying, the child, her illness and Ralls' visits? Her death? The vision of her being forever with the Captain?

7. Sidney as villain: his greed, his luring Ralls to the island, telling his story from his own point of view to Sam: the rescue, the island and the pearls, the linking with Desaix, his greed, the engagement to Angelique, the fight with the octopus but Ralls' surviving, his marrying Angelique, his injury, his wanting to recover the gold? His not wanting Ralls to die - and his vision of an empty life without vengeance on Ralls' death?

8. The sketch of Sidney’s friends, advisers, Desaix?

9. Ripper and the comic touch and support for Ralls?

10. The Egnls1h Captain and the British sense of justice, the aiding of Ralls to escape?

11. Action adventure? A fable of love, greed and vengeance?