Souls at Sea

The film takes place in 1842, on seas where the slave trade is still running. Michael Taylor and his friend Powdah try to save people in the middle of a disaster at sea. But the decisions taken during that rescue will later be asked about in court, and how a thing that looked right at the time looks afterwards is the film’s real subject. The account uses the slave trade as the ground for an adventure and does not treat the people subjected to it as a story in their own right; seen from now, that is what stands out most. Gary Cooper and George Raft appear in Henry Hathaway’s ninety two minute film, completed in 1937.