Souls at Sea

Director Henry Hathaway’s opening, George Zucco, whom we’ll learn is a British agent, Porter Hall as the prosecutor, Gary Cooper in the dock, Frances Dee a complainant, but there’s more to it, in Souls At Sea, 1937, based on the of historic wreck of the William Brown.

In a flashback from his Philadelphia trial in 1842, we find Gary Cooper as sailor Taylor, with his mate Powdah (George Raft), unhappy about the conduct of their captain (Stanley Fields) on their slave ship off West Africa, Henry Hathaway directing Paramount’s Souls At Sea, 1937.

Now an agent for the Brits against slave traders, Gary Cooper (as sailor Taylor), disembarking Liverpool, meets fetching Margaret (Frances Dee), who aims to detain her brother Lt. Tarryton (Henry Wilcoxon), not knowing of his scheme with Pecora (Tully Marshall), in Souls At Sea, 1937.

Gary Cooper as Taylor and George Raft as Powdah enjoy a sea shanty in the brig when Tarryton (Henry Wilcoxon), who’s up to his neck in nefarious slave trade, offers an apology for his unfounded accusations leading to their arrest, really just protecting his interest, in Souls At Sea, 1937.