Harbor of Missing Men

Brooklyn (Richard Denning) is a charter boat captain out of Key West. In addition to the money he gets from charters, he supplements it by doing a little bit of smuggling. When a local mobster, Danzinger (George Zucco), approaches him with a proposition to make BIG money, he jumps at the chance. However, transporting these guns to Cuba turns out to be a big mistake...and the folks take the guns...and the money...and the boat. As for Brooklyn, he jumps into the Gulf and eventually he's picked up by a sponge diving boat bound for Tarpon Springs. Only later does Brooklyn realize that Danzinger's secretary is behind the theft and getting to Danzinger to tell him what happened seems impossible. The secretary and her partner want to kill him to shut him up and Danzinger thinks he's a thief and wants to shoot him!

While this film was made in Hollywood, it is set in Florida and I happen to live pretty close to Tarpon Springs. It's still a Greek sponge diving community (albeit far more commercial now than back in 1950) and they STILL jump into the harbor to retrieve the cross at Epiphany....just like they do in the movie...though the divers are normally just teens. It makes for a nice bit of local color in the film. And, for me, this is reason enough to watch the film.

So is it any good? Yes....not great but watchable and enjoyable. It's hardly a must-see but if you like B action pictures, it's pretty good.

If you want to see more about Tarpon Springs, it's also the subject in the films "16 Fathoms Deep" and "Beneath the 12 Mile Reef".