The Sea Chase
Encyclopedia
The Sea Chase is a 1955 World War II
drama film
starring John Wayne
and Lana Turner
. It was directed by John Farrow
and written by James Warner Bellah
. The plot is basically a nautical cat and mouse
game, with Wayne determined to get his German freighter home during the first few months of the war, all the while being chased by British
and Australian
naval ships. The island of Pom Pom Galli is mentioned again in the 1993 film La Classe américaine
.
, where she successfully evaded two British naval craft searching for her, and re-stocked with food and wood (cutting down large swathes of the southern rata forest). The freighter then made a desperate and successful escape to Valparaíso
, Chile, South America.
A reverse propaganda film, it portrays Wayne and Turner as innocent Germans (war refugees).
Captain Karl Erhlich (Wayne) is the master of the elderly German steam freighter ‘Ergenstrasse,’ in port at Sydney
Australia
on the eve of the Second World War. Erhlich is depicted as a patriot, once a career naval officer who lost his rank and position having fallen out of favour with the current regime and refusing to support the Nazi Party. As his ship prepares for sea (or to be interned if war is declared ) he meets with an old friend, British Commander Jeff Napier (Farrar) and his fiancé Elsa Keller (Turner).
Germany
has invaded Poland
, and war is imminent. As his ship prepares to slip away, Erhlich receives a visit from the German Consul-General, who asks him to take with him a spy to prevent his capture. It is only after the Ergenstrasse slips out of harbour in thick fog that Erhlich discovers the spy is in fact Keller.
Old, slow, short on coal
, the Ergenstrasse is seen as easy prey by the Australian Navy, and by Napier in particular, who understandably holds a grudge. But Napier is the only man who does not underestimate Erhlich as the wily Captain leads his enemies on a wild goose chase across the Pacific Ocean
, beginning with a run to the south to throw off pursuit, pausing for supplies at an unmanned rescue station on Auckland Island, and then stopping for wood at Pom Pom Galli in mid Pacific, after an eventful passage that includes burning three of the ship’s lifeboats for fuel.
Only after the ship arrives at Valparaiso
in neutral Chile
does Erhlich learn that his first officer, the pro-Nazi Kirchner (Bettger ) has murdered three marooned seamen during their visit to Auckland Island, a pointless act that makes he and his shipmates war criminals. He also encounters Napier, as his ship the Rockhampton has pursued him from New Zealand. Unable to reply to Napier’s accusations, Erhlich confronts Kirchner and forces him to sign an account of his actions in the ship’s log in the hope that he alone will take the blame for the murders.
Luck is with them as the Ergenstrasse, re-provisioned and fuelled slips away in the darkness; the British forces waiting for them have been called away in support of the cruisers facing the German Pocket Battleship Admiral Graf Spee
at Montevideo
, Uruguay
. Napier requests a transfer to the British Naval patrols in the North Sea
, believing that Erhlich must pass through the patrols in his attempt to reach Kiel
.
For political reasons, German radio broadcasts a message from Lord Haw Haw that discloses the position of the Ergenstrasse as it passes Norway
, thus giving up the ship and crew to the Royal Navy, and the waiting Napier, as his swifter passage home places the corvette now under his command in Erhlich’s path.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
starring John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
and Lana Turner
Lana Turner
Lana Turner was an American actress.Discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM at the age of sixteen, Turner first attracted attention in They Won't Forget . She played featured roles, often as the ingenue, in such films as Love Finds Andy Hardy...
. It was directed by John Farrow
John Farrow
John Villiers Farrow, CBE was an Australian, later American, film director, producer and screenwriter. In 1957 he won the Academy Award for Best Writing / Best Screenplay for Around the World in Eighty Days and in 1942 he was nominated as Best Director for Wake Island.-Life and career:Farrow was...
and written by James Warner Bellah
James Warner Bellah
James Warner Bellah was a popular American Western author from the 1930s to the 1950s...
. The plot is basically a nautical cat and mouse
Cat and mouse
Cat and mouse, often expressed as cat-and-mouse game, is an English-language idiom dating back to 1675 that means "a contrived action involving constant pursuit, near captures, and repeated escapes." The "cat" is unable to secure a definitive victory over the "mouse", who despite not being able to...
game, with Wayne determined to get his German freighter home during the first few months of the war, all the while being chased by British
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
and Australian
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...
naval ships. The island of Pom Pom Galli is mentioned again in the 1993 film La Classe américaine
La Classe américaine
La Classe américaine , also known as Le Grand Détournement , is a 1993 French television film, written and directed by Michel Hazanavicius and Dominique Mézerette. It consists exclusively of extracts of old Warner Bros...
.
Plot
The story loosely parallels (whether by design or coincidence) the historical account of the German freighter Erlangen (sometimes described as a "raider"). Under the captaincy of Alfred Grams, the freighter slipped out of Lyttelton Harbour (New Zealand) in 1939 on the very eve of war, so as to avoid internment. She then headed for the subantarctic Auckland IslandsAuckland Islands
The Auckland Islands are an archipelago of the New Zealand Sub-Antarctic Islands and include Auckland Island, Adams Island, Enderby Island, Disappointment Island, Ewing Island, Rose Island, Dundas Island and Green Island, with a combined area of...
, where she successfully evaded two British naval craft searching for her, and re-stocked with food and wood (cutting down large swathes of the southern rata forest). The freighter then made a desperate and successful escape to Valparaíso
Valparaíso
Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...
, Chile, South America.
A reverse propaganda film, it portrays Wayne and Turner as innocent Germans (war refugees).
Captain Karl Erhlich (Wayne) is the master of the elderly German steam freighter ‘Ergenstrasse,’ in port at Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
on the eve of the Second World War. Erhlich is depicted as a patriot, once a career naval officer who lost his rank and position having fallen out of favour with the current regime and refusing to support the Nazi Party. As his ship prepares for sea (or to be interned if war is declared ) he meets with an old friend, British Commander Jeff Napier (Farrar) and his fiancé Elsa Keller (Turner).
Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
has invaded Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, and war is imminent. As his ship prepares to slip away, Erhlich receives a visit from the German Consul-General, who asks him to take with him a spy to prevent his capture. It is only after the Ergenstrasse slips out of harbour in thick fog that Erhlich discovers the spy is in fact Keller.
Old, slow, short on coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
, the Ergenstrasse is seen as easy prey by the Australian Navy, and by Napier in particular, who understandably holds a grudge. But Napier is the only man who does not underestimate Erhlich as the wily Captain leads his enemies on a wild goose chase across the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, beginning with a run to the south to throw off pursuit, pausing for supplies at an unmanned rescue station on Auckland Island, and then stopping for wood at Pom Pom Galli in mid Pacific, after an eventful passage that includes burning three of the ship’s lifeboats for fuel.
Only after the ship arrives at Valparaiso
Valparaíso
Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...
in neutral Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
does Erhlich learn that his first officer, the pro-Nazi Kirchner (Bettger ) has murdered three marooned seamen during their visit to Auckland Island, a pointless act that makes he and his shipmates war criminals. He also encounters Napier, as his ship the Rockhampton has pursued him from New Zealand. Unable to reply to Napier’s accusations, Erhlich confronts Kirchner and forces him to sign an account of his actions in the ship’s log in the hope that he alone will take the blame for the murders.
Luck is with them as the Ergenstrasse, re-provisioned and fuelled slips away in the darkness; the British forces waiting for them have been called away in support of the cruisers facing the German Pocket Battleship Admiral Graf Spee
Admiral Graf Spee
Admiral Graf Spee can refer to:*Graf Maximilian von Spee, the German admiral*Admiral Graf Spee, a Heavy cruiser named after von Spee....
at Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
. Napier requests a transfer to the British Naval patrols in the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
, believing that Erhlich must pass through the patrols in his attempt to reach Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
.
For political reasons, German radio broadcasts a message from Lord Haw Haw that discloses the position of the Ergenstrasse as it passes Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, thus giving up the ship and crew to the Royal Navy, and the waiting Napier, as his swifter passage home places the corvette now under his command in Erhlich’s path.
Cast
- John WayneJohn WayneMarion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
as Capt. Karl Ehrlich - Lana TurnerLana TurnerLana Turner was an American actress.Discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM at the age of sixteen, Turner first attracted attention in They Won't Forget . She played featured roles, often as the ingenue, in such films as Love Finds Andy Hardy...
as Elsa Keller - David Farrar as Cmd. Jeff Napier
- Lyle BettgerLyle BettgerLyle S. Bettger was a character actor known most for his Hollywood roles from the 1950s, typically portraying villains...
as Chief Officer Kirchner - Tab HunterTab HunterTab Hunter is an American actor, singer, former teen idol and author who has starred in over forty major films.-Background:...
as Cadet Wesser - James ArnessJames ArnessJames King Arness was an American actor, best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon in the television series Gunsmoke for 20 years...
as Schlieter - Richard DavalosRichard DavalosRichard Davalos is an American actor.Davalos was born in New York City, New York, of Finnish and Spanish descent. Davalos starred in East of Eden as James Dean's brother and portrayed the convict Blind Dick in Cool Hand Luke...
as Cadet Walter Stemme (as Dick Davalos) - John QualenJohn QualenJohn Qualen was a Canadian-American character actor of Norwegian heritage who specialized in Scandinavian roles....
as Chief Engineer Schmitt - Paul FixPaul FixPaul Fix was an American film and television character actor, best known for his work in westerns. Fix appeared in more than a hundred movies and dozens of television shows over a 56-year career spanning from 1925 to 1981...
as Max Heinz - Lowell Gilmore as Capt. Evans
- Luis Van RootenLuis van RootenLuis van Rooten, was an American film actor. He was christened Luis d'Antin van Rooten.Van Rooten earned his BA at the University of Pennsylvania and worked as an architect before deciding to pursue film work in Hollywood during World War II...
as Matz - Alan Hale, Jr.Alan Hale, Jr.Alan Hale, Jr. was an American film and television actor, best known for his role as Skipper on the popular sitcom Gilligan's Island. Hale was the lookalike son of popular supporting film actor Alan Hale, Sr....
as Wentz (billed as Alan Hale) - Wilton Graff as Counsel General Hepke
- Peter WhitneyPeter WhitneyPeter Whitney, was an American actor in film and television. Born as Peter King Engle in Long Branch, New Jersey, Whitney's corpulent, heavy build qualified him to play villains in many Hollywood movies in the 1940s and 1950s.From the late 1950s, he was more prolific playing character roles in...
as Bachman - Claude AkinsClaude AkinsClaude Marion Akins was an American actor with a long career on stage, screen and television.Powerful in appearance and voice, Akins could be counted on to play the clever tough guy, on the side of good or bad, in movies and television. He is best remembered as Sheriff Lobo in the 1970s TV series...
as Winkler (billed as Claude Akin) - Royal Canadian NavyRoyal Canadian NavyThe history of the Royal Canadian Navy goes back to 1910, when the naval force was created as the Naval Service of Canada and renamed a year later by King George V. The Royal Canadian Navy is one of the three environmental commands of the Canadian Forces...
frigateFrigateA frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
HMCS New Glasgow FFE315HMCS New Glasgow (K320)HMCS New Glasgow was a River class frigate that served in the Royal Canadian Navy from 1943 to 1945 and as a Prestonian class frigate from 1955-1965....
as HMS Rockhampton
See also
- 1955 in film1955 in filmThe year 1955 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* November 3 - The musical Guys and Dolls, starring Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra, debuts.* June 27 - The last ever Republic serial, King of the Carnival, is released....
- List of American films of 1955
- List of drama films
- List of World War II films