JohnHowardReid Copyright 12 May 1952 by Warner Bros Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Warner: 23 April 1952. U.S. release: 3 May 1952. U.K. release (in a 91-minute version): 11 August 1952. Australian release: 8 January 1953. Sydney opening at the Park (ran 2 weeks). 98 minutes. SYNOPSIS: A deep-sea diver, engaged in salvage operations in the Philippines, is the only person who knows the exact location of a sunken treasure. NOTES: Despite the hic-cup of Captain Fabian, Flynn's next movie, Mara Maru, did quite good business in Australia. Locations in Los Angeles and Newport Harbors, Catalina Island and San Fernando Mission (doubling for a Manilla cathedral).COMMENT: The trouble with Mara Maru is not so much its plot - or even its less than lavish budget - but its dialogue. Talk, talk, talk. True, Douglas and Burks do their best. The picture is always most attractively atmospheric to look at, even at its dullest and most garrulous. Yes, there's a bit of action certainly, but not enough. Too much aural padding, not enough real tension. Not enough conflict and roundness in the characters either, despite marvellous efforts by sterling players, particularly Burr (one of our favorite villains), to give them life. A special hand-clap for Michael Ross as Big China. Flynn himself is adequate enough. His fights are staged with convincing doubles. Miss Roman makes for okay decoration, but strikes few sparks. Mara Maru is one of Douglas's most fluent films. The photography, as stated, is remarkably skillful too, giving the sets an obvious luster that in less talented hands they wouldn't have. Editing is smooth, though judicious trimming would not go amiss. A pity to see so much craftsmanship wasted on such an empty script. The plot has promise but the end result is neither sufficiently witty nor dry. And what's worse, it takes far too long to make its points. OTHER VIEWS: Despite some underwater scenes with obviously double-exposed, transparent fish and seemingly endless close-ups of Flynn in his diving helmet, this is an action-full melodrama with good performances and solid direction (Gordon Douglas). N. Richard Nash's screenplay does not treat Miss Roman too kindly as most of her dialogue is pretty dull. She is better served by photographer Robert Burks. Max Steiner's music score is one of his most pedestrian. - JHR writing as Charles Freeman.

calvinnme Sometimes I like a film and I'll even have a hard time really being able to explain why.One example is this 1952 programmer from Warner Brothers. It was clearly a come down for star Errol Flynn who was being shoved off by the studio into a bit of a cheapie black and white production as a fulfillment of their contract with him. It would be, in fact, Flynn's last studio made film on his Warners contract.While there are no particular surprises in the story line of this tale about sunken treasure, it is smoothly and efficiently directed by Gordon Douglas, who seemed to get saddled with a lot of the films with lesser scripts. Make it work, Gordon, they seemed to say and he did. The Curtiz and Walsh rejects seemed to go to Douglas.Ruth Roman is Errol's leading lady this time out. No real sparks between them. Raymond Burr in his early heavy days (heavy as in villain, as well as weight) is the two faced opponent whose duplicity is pretty obvious right from his first appearance in the film.Flynn goes through the motions in his role for the most part but even when Errol isn't really trying, his understated performances still tend to satisfy me. Then, suddenly as the film approaches the end, Flynn starts to do some real acting. It happens in a scene in which he angrily slaps his Filipino assistant across the face and then shows remorse for his behaviour. It reminded me once again of what a good actor he could be when he put his mind to it. Recommended for watching talent in front of and behind the camera wrestle with and prevail with a so-so story.

jpdoherty Warner Bros. MARA MARU (1952) is a fairly forgotten, generally disliked and disregarded Errol Flynn vehicle. Without doubt it is one of the actor's lesser efforts but it isn't really that bad. If, like me, you are into most anything that the great man is in then there's some enjoyment to be had from this sometimes lethargic seafaring thriller. From an original story by Philip Yordan, Sidney Harmon and Hollister Noble a reasonably fair to middling screenplay was fashioned by N.Richard Nash. It was also buoyed by an adroit score by the studio's Max Steiner and the whole thing had workmanlike direction by the busy Gordon Douglas. Although the star still had to do "The Master of Ballintrae" the following year in England to finish out his Warner contract MARA MARU was his last Hollywood film for them (He made a brief return to the studio in 1958 for the John Barrymore biopic "Too Much Too Soon").Flynn steps into the shoes of Bogart and Garfield here as Gregory Mason a boat Captain and deep-sea diver (his first time to do so) running a salvage operation in the Philippines after WW2. He knows exactly where a PT boat went down in the China Sea during the war but what he didn't know it sank carrying a diamond encrusted cross. This he learns from a shady collector Raymond Burr who, for a share and a payment of $10,000, asks him to dive for it. Flynn refuses at first but after his partner (Richard Webb) is murdered and his boat burnt out he finally agrees and sets sail with Burr and an assorted collection of dubious characters to retrieve the cross. Of course when he eventually brings up the treasure there is already a well hatched double-cross prepared on board which leads to an action filled finale and a redeemed Flynn returning the cross (at the behest of an over sanctimonious Ruth Roman) to its rightful place in the Church.Performances are generally fine throughout. Flynn gives a good portrayal of a man wanting to get rich quick and who finally regains strength of character. Raymond Burr is as effective as ever as the calculating baddie and Ruth Roman is just about there as the love interest in what is essentially a poorly written and unconvincing role.Adding superbly to the thing and keeping it afloat, so to speak, is Max Steiner's terrific score. There is a winsome ethnic piece to point up the Manila setting and eerie music for the diving sequences. But the score really comes into its own in the brilliant chase sequence in the raging storm towards the end, where swirling strings accompany Flynn as he is pursued for the cross through some thick jungle foliage. Then there is a poignant hymnal melody denoting the religious connotations associated with the cross and a beguiling waltz is the love theme for the picture's softer moments with Flynn and Roman. MARA MARU is one of the composer's unfairly forgotten scores.MARA MARU is probably in its disregarded and ignored state because of its unavailability on disc or even on video tape. But the good news is it has just been released by Warners on their new Archive series. So hopefully this release will create a wider audience and enhance its reputation. Check it out!

elliot-1 [Contains some minor spoilers about first 30 minutes of movie]Mara Maru, one of Errol Flynn's more mediocre movies, is obviously an attempt to cash in on the success of the B movies of the time, what we now call film noir, while attempting to add a twist of the usual Flynn style (i.e. a swashbuckler). The early part of the movie is almost an exact copy of the opening of The Maltese Falcon - the main character (in this case Flynn's) partner is murdered, he meets with hostile police, a past love affair with partner's wife is revealed, and then he meets with various mysterious villains who offer to help him towards large bundles of cash, if only he will acquire something for them.The mix isn't successful, with the noir element dominating most of the time, although the adventure quotient ups a bit later on. The problem with this is that Errol Flynn is great at being the charming rogue, but really not very convincing as the threatening Bogie-noir "man with a dark past" type. Indeed, no one is very convincing in this movie, most of the actors seeming like "Will work for food" types; moreover the plot proceeds much too slowly and ploddingly, and occasionally lapses into sentimentally, which has no place even in pseudo-noir. There are none of the directorial touches usually associated with noir movies either.Mara Maru is not an awful movie, merely boring and a waste of time; there are thousands upon thousands of movies your time would be better spent watching than this one. I'd recommend instead checking out either some of Flynn's much superior full-blown swashbucklers like The Sea Hawk, The Adventures of Don Juan, or The Adventures of Robin Hood; or some full-blown noirs, like The Maltese Falcon or Touch of Evil.