Tyrone Power or Black and White But Not Boring

Actors have always been actors; real ones who totally immerse themselves in their characters, bring on a little crazy and throw themselves into a world of total fiction. So how crazy did these people have to be in let's say the 50's when they were churning out film after film? Taking on a new ego month after month; totally recreating themselves for the sake of their craft; that's nothing short of madness.

These people felt as their characters felt and hurt as they hurt. That intensity is all consuming and sometimes fatal when that passion collides with physical limitations. But that's why we love actors so much. Because the good one's they're no longer John Superstar or Heidi Long Legs. Those people are long forgotten.

Tyrone Power is the perfect example of this. Before Clooney, Pitt, or Banderas women were flocking in great number to fantasize a life with him via silver screen. Tyrone was often cast as a romantic male lead or a swashbuckler. He was even the first Zorro. (The Mark of Zorro 1940) Sadly Power took his craft to the grave.

One of the last movies he ever did really hung with me and I'd recommend it to anyone as their first foray into Black and White cinema. It's called Seven Waves Away however the last time I saw it on television they used the U.S. title Abandon Ship! So if you're stateside ask for the latter; elsewhere look for the former.


Seven Waves Away is a simple movie. My best analogy for it would be the Open Water of 1957. It's a 'what if' movie that even at the age of 14 when I first saw it was powerful enough to hold my attention; even when I was too young to appreciate it.

At the beginning the film declares that this movie was inspired by the true events of the sinking of William Brown in 1841. It's what makes this film especially powerful.

The movie starts out on a luxury cruise liner called the SS Crescent Star and it strikes a minefield while in the Atlantic taking all the passengers with it save 27 who cram aboard a life raft only meant for nine. Tyrone Power plays Executive Officer Alec Holmes who is put in command after the mortally wounded Captain passes on.





With a storm approaching the ship threatens to become swamped. Holmes (Power) is forced to make a difficult decision under the advice of one of his peers who says the only recourse is to jettison the survivors. Cast them adrift to sea and to certain death.

As the poster declares. Alec Holmes does just that; takes on the job of Judge, Jury, and Executioner. The movie is full of intense dialogue, harsh truths, and one's man concept of the value of life. Especially in one scene where he sends a famous atomic scientist over in lieu of a mobster and other unremarkable fellows.

The ship's nurse who is assured survival because of her status is played by Mai Zetterling and she is the voice of conscious throughout the entire movie. Rallying against Holmes from the beginning. She does an amazing job. The entire movie is fraught with the highs and lows of human desperation. From amazing compassion to sheer desperation without the benefit of technicolor, a multi-million dollar budget, or even a wave machine.

As for the end. It'll totally knock you off your ass. And it's my little secret until you go out and rent the movie.

There are of course some downsides to this movie. Little preparation was given for these roles. The actors threw themselves in a little too frenetically and melodramatically. The water was relatively flat for braving the perils of a storm; and some of the characters are eerily calm throughout the whole ordeal, more like ornaments than the ensemble. However this same frenetic energy carried over well through the entire performance. It made them manic and a little crazy and their eyes held a certain truth to them in it's darkest moments. The melodrama is just something one has to deal with in the older films.

This was one of my favorite Powers movies. The perfect example of old school Hollywood intensity that really made it the billion dollar industry that it is today. An amazing ending point to his career. He died a year later filming a dueling scene; suffered a massive heart attack from the stress brought on required by the role. And not to mention he'd taken a physically intensive role on before that.

Tyrone died doing what he loved. Any of his movies are truly worth the watch but Seven Waves Away is still current. Still a survival horror story. It's still an example of something we'd watch on Discovery Channel or TruTV recreations in rapt attention. Only in this case it's a movie and not a crappy low budget recreation. One must remember that Power and Zetterling were the Pitt and Jolie of their day. This was an all star cast full of amazingly talented actors.

If you ever watch one black and white movie let it be this one.