Misteraser Critics,are you kidding us

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Walter Sloane Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Spikeopath Sea Devils is directed by Raoul Walsh and written by Borden Chase. It stars Rock Hudson, Yvonne De Carlo, Maxwell Reed, Denis O'Dea, Michael Goodlife and Bryan Forbes. Music is by Richard Addinsell and cinematography by Wilkie Cooper." Guernsey in the Channel Islands near the coast of France in the year 1800, where fishermen, prevented by war from following their usual livelihood, turned to other occupations..."That occupation is of course smuggling, which lends one to think that Sea Devils is about to buckle our swash with a tale of derring do on the high seas. Unfortunately it doesn't pan out that way, for the pic is essentially a spy adventure set partly at sea that involves Hudson and De Carlo going backwards and forwards between England and France. They bicker, they swoon, she looks sexy, he takes his shirt off, he makes dumb decisions (he's no dashing hero type here) and she does her bit for King and Country as she hopes to stop Napoleon in his watery tracks. It's nicely colourful, the costuming adequate and the cast are fun to watch. But Walsh lets the film meander at times and it never really amounts to being more than a dressed up time filler of a movie. 6/10

Prismark10 This is a wannabee swashbuckler set in the Napoleonic era with Rock Hudson as a bare chested dashing pirate evading the customs men and Bryan Forbes as his faithful mate. Maxwell Reid plays his rival who is a true bounder.The lovely Yvonne DeCarlo is mixed up in this as a British spy send over to France to obtain important information but Reid ends up in jail after getting involved in a fight with Hudson.DeCarlo has to use Hudson to get over to France but only for Hudson to be a hindrance as he thinks she might be a French spy and even worse he fell for her sob story to get her over there.The film has no swash or buckle. There are some decent sailing sequences and Hudson will keep his male fans happy with his bare chest. However the story is pants, with little chemistry between DeCarlo and Hudson, we neither care if DeCarlo is a double spy or not and the sequence where Reid and Hudson join up is stupid because they hate each other and we can guess betrayal in in the air.Director Raoul Walsh has made better films.

James Hitchcock Swashbuckling movies in the best Douglas Fairbanks/Errol Flynn tradition enjoyed something of a revival in the fifties, probably because they provided the colour and spectacle which the cinema needed as a weapon in its battle with television, and Rock Hudson was one of several actors (others included Stewart Granger and Burt Lancaster) endeavouring to prove themselves the heir to Flynn. In "Sea Devils" Hudson plays Gilliatt (we never learn his Christian name), a Guernsey fisherman-cum-smuggler during the Napoleonic wars. The plot is nothing particularly original; it is essentially a basic Cold War or World War II espionage story sent back in time to an earlier period of British history. Gilliatt agrees to transport a beautiful woman to France in return for payment. She tells him that she is a refugee from the Revolution and that she needs to return to rescue her brother, who is being held captive in a dungeon, but he later comes to suspect that she may in fact be a spy for the French. Gilliatt may cheerfully disregard British law, at least as regards the evasion of import duties, but remains a patriot at heart, so is horrified that he may have played a part in assisting the enemy. Or is the lady in fact a double agent who has been working for the British all along? A sub-plot involves Gilliatt's rivalry with another smuggler, the villainous Rantaine, who has no qualms about helping the French provided he is paid enough.Hudson's leading lady here is Yvonne De Carlo who (like a number of his leading ladies from the fifties, Jennifer Jones in "A Farewell to Arms" being another example) was slightly older than him. Although the age difference in this case was not great (Rock was 28 in 1953, Yvonne 31), this perhaps made him unusual in a decade when Hollywood's leading male stars were often cast against much younger women. I certainly can't agree with the reviewer who found Yvonne too old for the part; in the early fifties she was one of Hollywood's loveliest female stars. "Sea Devils" is reasonably entertaining, but it has no great action set- pieces and it cannot compare to the really great swashbucklers like the Errol Flynn "Adventures of Robin Hood" or "The Sea Hawk". It does, however, remain watchable today, if only for the charisma of its two leads. 6/10Some goofs. Although the film is set in 1800, Napoleon is referred to as "Emperor" of France. He did not become Emperor until 1804; in 1800 his title would have been First Consul. The French name "Lethierry" is consistently mispronounced as "Letheery".

ma-cortes A panoramic adventure during the Napoleonic Wars set on location in Guernsey , the Channel Islands , near the coast of France in the year 1800 , where fishermen, prevented by war from following their usual livelihood turned to other occupations . Gilliatt (enjoyable hero Rock Hudson) along with his partner (Bryan Forbes , subsequently a good filmmaker) are two fisherman-turned-smugglers on the agree to transport a gorgeous woman (an attractive Ivonne De Carlo) to the French coast in the year 1800 . The smuggler Gilliatt finds himself falling in love for her and they come together but he feels betrayed when he later aware this woman is a countess helping Napoleon scheme an invasion of England and the nasty Fouche (Brunius who gets all the best lines and makes the most of them) pursues his beautiful bride-to-be . This exciting story packs sea romance , thrills , spectacular struggles , intrigue , and lots of gutsy adventure . Brawling , sprawling , almost primitive action in cracking pace , teeming across the screen . Raoul Walsh demonstrates a special talent for making the densest action sequences seem uncomplicated and uncluttered and his characters , like the scenes distinguished , often have an unfettered , raw power . Developed in untroubled-gusto and hardly seems to matter that many scenes are inexplicable . The movie marked the third teaming of director Raoul Walsh with star Rock Hudson who worked together on ¨Horizons West¨ and ¨Lawless breed¨, they would work together again on ¨Gun fury¨, their fourth and final movie together . Gorgeous Ivonne De Carlo as a spy who bears a mysterious past , she does an enjoyable and prominent acting . Good secondary cast with familiar hearted features as Maxwell Reed as Rantaine , Denis O'Dea as Lethierry , Michael Goodliffe as Ragan , Bryan Forbes as Willie , Jacques B. Brunius as Fouche , Arthur Wontner as Baron De Baudrec and special appearance of Gérard Oury as Napoleon . Colorful cinematography by Wilkie Cooper , filmed on location in Channel Islands ,Concarneau, Finistère, France and Nettlefold Studios, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, UK . Spectacular and evocative musical score by Richard Addinsell . The motion picture produced by David Rose was well directed by Raoul Walsh . From his starts in the silent cinema he achieved successful films until the 50s and forward , early 60s , when he was less dominant , but is still stayed lots of lusty adventure , stories of comradeship and friendship , and Raoul makes the most of plentiful action scenes . Walsh was an expert director of all kind genres but with penchant in Western as ¨Colorado territory¨ , ¨They died with their boots on¨, ¨Along the great divide¨, ¨Saskatchewan¨, ¨King and four queens¨ , ¨The sheriff of fractured jaw¨, ¨A distant trumpet¨ ; Adventure as ¨Thief of Bagdad¨, ¨Captain Horatio Hornblower¨, ¨World in his hands¨, ¨Blackbeard the pirate¨ ; Warlike as ¨Objetive Burma¨ , ¨Northern pursuit¨, ¨Marines let's go¨ ; and Noir film as ¨White heat¨, ¨High Sierra¨, ¨They drive by night¨, ¨The roaring twenties¨. Rating : Fairly straightforward movie and acceptable flick . This briskly-realized action film makes it of the various of Raoul Walsh genre entries being worthwhile watching .