This is just as bad and unconvincing as the other film "The Conqueror" that John Wayne made playing a Mongoliian war lord.First there has to be a note to the other inebriated reviewers of this film. The ship was in the German Merchant Marine. There is no North Sea storm. They are not heading for home in Germany and the captain played by John Wayne is not one of Hitler's supporters. The story line is ostensibly supposed to be that the captain heads out of Sydney harbor with a British naval captain in hot pursuit because the German captain takes his girl. Unbeknownst to the British naval captain "his girl" is suspected by the German captain as being a German spy for the Nazis. Where are they heading to? To Valparaiso, Chile where the captain and crew can hopefully wait out the war rather than rotting in some allied prisoner camp.Okay, what went wrong? The storyline should have been worked out well in advance for such a scenario. It wasn't. The captain should have been somebody like Curd (alias Kurt) Jurgens. Why didn't they do it? Because the director while maybe understanding naval matters was totally unversed in the intricacies of internaional politics. Lana Turner was eye candy that was totally unsuitable and should have been replaced by an unknown actress that was more convincing. The direction should have been nuanced with much greater subtlely so that you could believe it.John Wayne should have turned the role down and recommended Jurgens and another actress for the woman and said the director was unsuitable for anything other than an advisory capacity just to make sure they didn't pressure him into taking the part just for the money.In short, even if you are a John Wayne fan avoid this stinker if it comes your way.

I thought it was refreshing to see a WW2 film where the German characters are the protagonists for a change, even though I ended up supporting the British side. But THE SEA CHASE commits a case of epic miscasting in putting John Wayne in the role of the German captain. You know, John Wayne, the all-American western actor. You can't get much MORE American, so he never convinces as a German for a second.Aside from the miscasting, THE SEA CHASE tells an interesting, sea-bound tale that occasionally reminded me of the Jack Higgins novel STORM WARNING, albeit with less tension. And that's the problem with this lengthy film: there's no suspense, even though there are some good set-pieces including the occasional shock here and there. The story just sort of plods along while the Lana Turner characters adds extra cliché and slows things down even more.There's never a sense of pursuit or real menace here, or even survival against the odds. Instead the writers go through the motions, putting all of that effort into setting the scene and location and then not doing much with it. The ensemble cast members are fine but nothing much really happens and I was twiddling my thumbs at times. And the end looks like they ran out of money, it's so cheaply achieved.

This was the first of 11 films I have scheduled to commemorate John Wayne’s 100th Anniversary; actually, it’s one of his titles that keep cropping up on Italian TV – but I somehow never got to catch it over the years.It’s also one of the star’s handful of incongruous 1950s pictures – where he tried to broaden his range but generally came off as ridiculous (for instance, THE CONQUEROR [1956] and THE BARBARIAN AND THE GEISHA [1958; another film I’ve missed out on more than I care to remember!]). This one sees him as the tough anti-Nazi skipper of a German tramp steamer in the days immediately prior to WWII, engaged in a voyage from Sydney, Australia en route to the Fatherland – with the British navy in hot pursuit. One of the English officers is Wayne’s pal David Farrar – who’s set to marry glamorous agent(!) Lana Turner, a passenger on Wayne’s rundown ship! Still, this melodramatic situation renders the chase dull rather exciting – though William H. Clothier’s pleasing Widescreen cinematography offers some form of compensation (as does the supporting cast, littered with regulars from Wayne’s films such as Claude Akins, James Arness and Paul Fix, but also featuring two popular young actors of the day, Tab Hunter and Dick Davalos).In addition to the strain of dodging his pursuers, Wayne is beset with problems on board his own vessel: having fallen for Turner himself, he must contend with his slimy lieutenant Lyle Bettger who has also set his eyes on her; besides, Bettger is responsible for the cold-blooded murder of a group of fishermen which has resulted in the branding of Wayne as a criminal (when Bettger is confronted with the truth in Wayne’s cabin, the latter dismisses him by asking the former to “crawl out” of his sight); Arness, too, decides to contend Wayne’s overly strict leadership but, by the end of the film, they’ve earned one another’s respect. The lengthy film rises to a good (and surprisingly) downbeat climax – but it’s fatally compromised by the mismatched (and miscast) stars. Incidentally, Wayne was in pain during much of the filming due to an ear infection developed after he went scuba-diving; all the star’s subsequent scenes were shot showing just one side of his face.By the way, many seafaring WWII films were made during this era including three which, similar to this one, took the form of a long-running chase – namely THE ENEMY BELOW (1957), RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP (1958) and SINK THE BISMARCK! (1960).

This film is purely for entertainment and not of any historical background. Still, navy/sea warfare buffs will enjoy the story of the pursuit by a British destroyer of a German merchant ship across several oceans. The cast is so-so but with the "Duke" (John Wayne) in the lead role the story manages to limp along with some degree of success. The "destroyer" used in the film is in fact HMCS New Glasgow, a frigate then in service with the Royal Canadian Navy. I saw the movie shortly after it's release in 1955 while in my mid-teens; a number of years later I served on New Glasgow and recalled the part played by the ship and crew in the film. Shows how Hollywood will use any "prop" available to fill in scenes. The crew never did get any extra pay for their appearance (nor did the ship)but at least they have the satisfaction of knowing the true identity of the "destroyer." Despite all the above the film is good viewing and will be of interest to many.