It pains me to say this because Edward G Robinson is in this film, but this movie isn't very good. Typically, even some of his weaker movies still manage to be worthwhile experiences for me because he's able to single-handedly salvage the mediocre dialogue, plot, and so on, but here, not even Robinson can save the rest of this film. Tiger Shark concerns itself with a Portuguese fisherman named Mike (Robinson) who lives in San Diego. He typically goes after tuna fish, and one day while on a small rowboat, he leaves one of his hands in the water and a shark bites it off. Despite this, Mike and his crew continue their fishing operations, until one day when one of his crewmates is killed. Mike visits Quita (Zita Johann), who is the daughter of the deceased crew member. At first she wants Mike to leave because she just lost her father, but soon, they start to form a relationship. Mike and Quita eventually get married but unbeknownst to Mike, she doesn't really love him. She's only thankful that Mike took care of her during a difficult time in her life. In reality, Quita wishes that she could have married Pipes (Richard Arlen), one of Mike's shipmates. Quita knows it's morally unacceptable to cheat on Mike, especially after all he's done for her, so she keeps her mouth shut to him about her true desires. Soon, Quita and Pipes try to run away together, but when Pipes is nearly killed in the process, Quita's feelings for him grow immensely. On the boat one day, Mike walks in the room right as Quita and Pipes are hugging each other, and Mike is incandescent with rage. Mike knocks Pipes unconscious and throws him into a lifeboat, which he punctures with a harpoon so it'll start sinking. Quita thinks Mike is insane and runs off to get help from the other crew members, whom Mike has all locked inside one of the ship's rooms. Eventually, they break out and try to rescue Pipes, but Mike's foot is entangled in a rope and he's thrown over the side of the ship. Both Mike and Pipes are recovered, but not before the former is badly chewed up by the sharks. Mike dies, and Quita is free to be with Pipes. I thought this movie was decent, but for some indiscernible reason, I felt it was lacking. I normally never say things like this, but even Robinson's character kind of annoyed me. He has an accent throughout the entire movie which just doesn't fit somebody like him, and oftentimes, he switches between that and his normal way of speaking. The film, paradoxically, felt really long to me despite not even being 90 minutes in length, and I think this has to do with the rather lackluster storyline. Even really long movies can feel shorter than they really are when their plots are engaging and make you think. The same can't really be said for this. It's a generic love story where some guy likes a girl, the girl doesn't like him back but puts on a facade to fool him, and then gets caught later on. I thought the ending of the movie was pretty good at least since it reminded me of how Captain Ahab is killed, but that's a small piece of the overall whole. In general, I was ultimately let down by this movie and expected more from Howard Hawks. He directed some of the best 30s movies (including Scarface), but this one is perhaps forgotten for a reason. Eddie deserved better.
Review of Tiger Shark
