Panamint This film is pure dreck. Obviously made to be beyond the shock (or nausea) level allowed on TV thereby competing to get some viewers into the movie theaters and make the producers a few bucks. There is no story, no plot. Just some senseless slaughter that even one of the characters says is not necessary!Its too bad that tired lines like "these men are on the verge of mass hysteria" are typical. Dorothy Dandridge gives a poor performance, tarnishing her Oscar-nominee status. And this is definitely one of James Mason's all-time worst films. His performance is wooden and the lines he is given are embarrassing. His character is supposed to be courageous but really only calls for an actor (Mason) to feign desperation. No real acting is required of Mason or anyone else in this.Former Oscar winner Broderick Crawford's role is as one-dimensional and predictable as any ever written. His character is a cardboard caricature. No wonder this helped nail the lid on the coffin of his career.A complete waste of your time if you choose to watch. Don't bother.

simmonsjo First time watching and I was captivated throughout. I'm not sure why attention was given to Dorothy Dandridge as hers seemed like a small part. Very brutal but believable plot given that anything could happen on the open sea. I especially liked the scene of the ship intending to ram the lifeboat. It was a great camera angle and one actor uses sailor jargon like, "she's really got a bone in her teeth". I was also amused by the hip lingo used by the actors. Crawford reminds me of a ratpacker no matter what film he is in. I was wondering if anyone could tell me what ship(s) was used in the film for the interior and exterior shots? It looks like a Liberty Ship I took a cruise on, the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien.

pakhuntz Lame and predictable film with James Mason incredibly miscast as captain of the ship. you know immediately that Broderick Crawford will be the instigator of trouble as he always was and the outcome shows no surprises.The best part of the film is the voluptuous Dorothy Dandridge who displays her charms that would make any crew mutiny for her. As as the custom in the 50's, she is married to a man who is twice her age which also makes the film sadly lacking. Better to see James Mason in his other films in which he portrays a much more realistic person.

bmacv The Decks Ran Red flaps as the title under which sets sail a tense and focused movie that takes place aboard a freighter. The Berwind sails into port in New Zealand because its captain has mysteriously died. Awarded his first command, James Mason flies in to take over as skipper of the troubled ship. He finds a slovenly and insubordinate crew, and his officers tell him that mutiny may be in the wind. Since some of the hands have jumped ship, Mason has some holes to fill. The only cook available will sign on only if he can bring his wife, Dorothy Dandridge (as a Maori whose command of the English language encompasses even the future-perfect tense). This sultry native, the only woman on board, doesn't cool down the smouldering unrest, but the arsonist is Broderick Crawford, who fuels the fires in order to advance his own half-baked scheme: To murder all the crew but a few henchmen, making it look like desertion and mutiny, then scuttle the ship and sell it and its cargo as salvage for $1-million. It's basically an old dark house story taken to the high seas, with murders aplenty and the briny deep to swallow up the corpses. And, despite Mason, Crawford and Dandridge, its production values are not those of The Titanic. Still, it sails brisky along (slackening a bit toward the stretched-out ending) under Andrew Stone's competent if lackluster direction.Stone and his wife Virginia were Hollywood's answer to the mama-papa candy store: He wrote and directed, she produced and edited. Their long career resulted in many forgettable films and some embarrassments as well (Song of Norway, for one). But there were a few modest successes, too: Highway 301, The Night Holds Terror, Blueprint for Murder. The Decks Ran Red can join them as a decidedly not luxurious but still seaworthy vessel.