CORSAIR

US, 1931, 75 minutes, Black and white.
Chester Morris, Thelma Todd, Fred Kohler, Ned Sparks, Emmett Corrigan, Frank Mc Hugh, Frank Rice, Mayo Methot.
Directed by Roland West.

Corsair is the name of the boat with overtones of piracy – in the seas of the West Indies, contemporary Pirates of the early 1930s involved in bootlegging.

The film is interesting in its critique of Wall Street, being released soon after the fall of 1929. There are some scenes of frenzy at the stock market in those years, ruthlessness in the attitudes and behaviour of the tycoons, especially in oppressing poor investors.

However, the film opens with the excitement of gridiron matches in the celebration of the sports hero, John Hawkes, played by Chester Morris early in his career. He is latched on to by the daughter of a Wall Street tycoon, Thelma Todd. She persuades her father to give Hawkes a job but when he is commanded to come down hard on the poor woman, he quits.

What is he to do? Get revenge on the tycoons by arranging with his football friend, Frank Mc Hugh, to get a ship, the Corsair and become involved in bootlegging – actually robbing cargoes of alcohol owned by the tycoon and selling them back to him! He is helped in his enterprise from the inside is accompanied by an unusual couple played by Ned Sparks and Mayo Methot.

Eventually, there is confrontation between the ships owned by the tycoon and the Corsair, some setups, exposure of the traitors, explosives instead of alcohol with the destruction of the Corsair.

John Hawkes confronts the tycoon, has his revenge, is not interested in the money – and has some confrontations with his femme fatale would-be girlfriend who has inveigled herself and her fiance, a silly-ass type, on-board for the showdown. But, there is a romantic fadeout.

Actually, some of the behind-the-scenes events are possibly more interesting. Humphrey Bogart’s wife, Mayo Methot appears as the secretary. But, Thelma Todd was murdered in 1935 and the killing never solved, suggestions of links with gangsters and nightclubs – and the connection with the director of this film, Roland West, Thelma Todd’s boyfriend. In fact, this was his last film, his leaving Hollywood and, allegedly, a deathbed confession about the murder.