20 years ago, Captain Drake (Ralph Ince) fished a lifeboat full of
victims from a shipwreck out of the sea - because he wants to rape the
woman (Priscilla Dean) among them, her husband Len Andrews (William
Farnum) and his young son Cole (Wally Albright) are thrown back into the
lifeboat and marooned again. Before Drake can rape her though, the woman
commits suicide. Now: Len Andrews has been blinded by the past
experience, but his son Cole (now played by Rex Bell) takes good care of
him, and he makes dad proud, being the hero of the local fire
brigade, a hero to such an extent that he is to be awarded with a medal.
Plus, he is in love with Betty (Sally Blane), the wholesome
girl-next-door. Then though, when he is to receive his medal, Cole falls
for the charms of slutty Estelle (Eve Southern), Betty's cousin of all
things, and Betty understandably breaks up with him. There is also a new
boss at the fire brigade, who immediately fires Cole for having missed the
latest fire (he was with Estelle at that time) - but the real reason is
because he lusts after Betty and thus wants to break Cole. Betty is even
somehow attracted to the man ... but the problem is that he is in fact
Captain Drake who is responsible for Cole's son's death. Cole is too young
to remember, but his father recognizes him by his laugh. It all comes to
a showdown when Captain Drake wants to rape Betty, who never saw more in
him than a means to make Cole jealous - and Estelle calls Cole for help.
Cole tries to wrestle Drake down, but is defeated - but his father still
has a score to settle with Drake, so he turns out all the lights and
fights Drake in the dark ... and in the dark, a blind man's always in
advantage. Ultimately, blind dad kills Drake, and Cole and Betty are
reunited. Very creaky cheap drama that is in style way too
reminiscent of both stageplays and the silent era to really work, so
there's hamming it up aplenty in front of static cameras while a mediocre
ensemble cast tries to make its way through an awfully constructed drama
that despite its title has very little to do with the sea. One of these
forgotten films that best remains forgotten.
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