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Thursday, February 9, 2023

THE GOLDEN MISTRESS

THE GOLDEN MISTRESS (1954). Director: Joel Judge (Abner Biberman). 

In Haiti Bill Buchanan (John Agar of Bait) is behind in payments for his boat. He is beloved by some of the people for bringing an anti-toxin to them and saving lives. A scoundrel named Carl Dexter (Abner Biberman) has stolen an idol from natives and wants to team up with Bill to find a lost treasure. Carl sends his daughter, Ann (Rosemary Bowe), to talk to Bill and he winds up dumping her in the ocean. Eventually, after her father's death at the teeth of a shark, Ann and Bill do team up to see if they can find the treasure on a mysterious island that may not even exist. But there's no guarantee that either of them will come back alive. 

John Agar and Rosemary Howe (Stack)
The Golden Mistress is a 99 cent item filmed in Haiti, and for much of its length it resembles a travelogue with some interesting locations. Soaking up local color is one thing, but Mistress doesn't know when to end a scene and move on to something more entertaining. The picture meanders -- it's full of incident but the story isn't told in a compelling fashion, and after awhile you may lose patience. There's a brief flurry of excitement at the very end, but this doesn't last long.  John Agar gives a charismatic and solid performance as the captain, who like most men in these old adventure movies, is chauvinistic. Rosemary Howe was a former model who in this is barely passable as an actress. (She has trouble showing emotion when her father is eaten by a shark.) She gave a much better performance in The Big Bluff but wisely married actor Robert Stack the following year and left the business. 

The supporting cast is of more interest. Jacques Molant is Ti Flute, a likable teen native who is the cabin boy or first mate, depending on who's asking. Andre Narcisse is Iznard, the Houngan or high priest whose son, Christofe (Kiki), is saved by Bill when the boy's foot is caught inside a clam. Abner Biberman, who plays Carl Baxter, also directed the film under a pseudonym. His credits were mostly in television. Considering the location, some of the native cast members and other elements, it's a shame that Golden Mistress doesn't emerge as a more memorable motion picture. 

Verdict: Not much more exciting than a bad Jungle Jim movie. **. 

2 comments:

  1. Agar was so handsome. No wonder Shirley Temple married him for a minute. They were a cute young couple in that John Wayne movie, was it Fort Apache?
    -C

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  2. I don't recall, I read Agar's memoir some years back but don't remember what he said about marriage to Temple.

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