Alaska Seas, from 1954, is a crime-drama starring Robert Ryan, Jan Sterling, and Brian Keith. This was a film I discovered in Net Flix instant viewing, solely because I was looking for Robert Ryan films, and I will be honest, Ryan is the only reason I watched until the end.
The setting is a remote Alaskan fishing village in 1924. Ne'er-do-well Matt Kelly (Ryan) has just finished serving a 6-month jail sentence for poaching seal skins. Upon his release, Matt is handed a $920.60 bill from the local boat repairman; however, since Matt can't pay the bill, he sneaks off into the night, intent on returning to his home village and his old girlfriend, Nicki (Jan Sterling).
Matt's return home is met with contempt. No one in the village likes or trusts him, and they don't want him joining in the fishing cooperative. Add to that, Nicki, with whom Matt hopes to reconcile, is engaged---to Matt's old friend, Jim (Brian Keith). Nicki and Jim both are willing to give Matt a chance, and despite the fact that Matt continually shows himself as untrustworthy, his old friends repeatedly stand up for him. Eventually, though, Matt takes things too far, and Jim and Nicki are forced to acknowledge Matt's wickedness.
This film dragged for me; in fact, I was going to turn it off when there were about 30 minutes left---only my regard for the fabulous Robert Ryan kept me going. As always, Ryan is extremely good and solid in the role. He definitely played the unlikeable cad to perfection. Maybe the subject matter just didn't interest me, I don't know. I just know that with the exception of the final two minutes, which were exciting, the last half of the film was hard to get through. (And the first half wasn't a whole lot better.) I didn't hate the film, though. For me, a "hate it," 1-star rating is a film that I detest so much I turn it off. This one was just rather boring. (That's why there are no 1-star films on my blog...I don't watch 1-star films...I just turn them off and, thus, don't know enough about them to review them.)
However, we're all unique, so what may be boring to me, someone else may like. So, if Alaska Seas sounds interesting to you, you can catch it on Net Flix instant viewing, or perhaps it will be on TCM's schedule in the near future.
Happy viewing!!
