The Beachcomber (1938)

Truly Dreadful Film

Absolutely Brilliant!

A Masterpiece!

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

In reading all of the reviews scant attention seems to be given to Robert Newton.Maybe because this performance is typical of those he gave in the 1930s and 1940s before Long John silver got hold of him.The irony is that in real life he was far more like the character played by Charles Laughton.Indeed in just about any biography of any actor of that period ,sooner or later tipsily in to view comes Robert Newton.Unfortunately drink made him much the worse for wear,making producers unwilling to take the chance and ultimately shortening his life.I do wish somebody would write a biography of this fine actor who gives a quiet even underplayed performance in this film.

I don't recall exactly when I became a fan, although Witness for the Prosecution must have had something to do with it, so now I catch whatever I can of this wonderful, towering actor.And, I was not disappointed with the Beachcombers, although the plot let me down, and I did not watch it all the way through.That being said, Charles Laughton is riveting as usual and dead-on as a stumble bum. I always wonder if modern-day actors can emulate the truly greats, and my answer is essentially no they cannot because, first, there aren't the scripts today, which greatly enhance an actor's performance and, second, it doesn't matter because, perhaps with the exception of Leonardo, D. Washington, D. Hoffman, and perhaps a few others, no actors today can tie on the bootstraps of the actors of yesteryear. Not considering the greats of the silent age (I'm thinking C. Chaplin, B. Keaton and H. Lloyd, all exceptional, and the many, fantastic character actors throughout cinema who added inestimable richness to many a movie, my personal favorites, and I know it's subjective, and I'm speaking of film presence including Charles Laughton, are: William Powell, Spencer Tracy, and Jack Lemmon. Heck, I'm not allowing myself to include Steve McQueen, one of my favorites because he is a notch below the above-mentioned, in my overly haughty assessment.P.S. I'm sure I'm leaving someone of the list, and, by the way, I notice the inherent sexism of my comments, but I chalk most of it up to contemporary society where woman are not afforded the stardom or roles of men. Again, an overly presumptuous statement.

I downloaded this movie free from the internet the other night, and was just charmed by it. I'd read somewhere that Laughton's performance was particularly notable in it, and yes, he delivers on the difficult job of playing a lovable scoundrel. In what could have been a one-note portrayal, he adds layers of nuance to a what is also a rather physical role. His drunken muttering is as revealing as it is spot-on.Elsa Lanchester (Laughton's real-life wife) also shines, rolling her R's throughout as a prim missionary teaching Indonesians how to recite "Here we go gathering nuts in May." The only other role of hers that I (and everyone else) is familiar with is as the Bride of Frankenstein, but here you could see she has a subtle knack for comedy. Actually, I couldn't get that film (and Laughton in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame") out of my mind while watching this one, except here it is Laughton who plays a sort of monster!

Compared to Charles Laughton in Vessel of Wrath, Cary Grant in Father Goose and Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen look they stepped out from a Savile Row tailor. They don't know what to do with him over in the Dutch East Indies. He's a lazy, shiftless bum who won't work, won't pay his debts and is leading the natives that good Christian missionaries Elsa Lanchester and her brother Tyrone Guthrie are trying to convert into sober, hardworking Protestants.My guess is that Laughton is in the Dutch territories because he's been kicked out of British island possessions for exactly the same reasons. As it is he has a friend in the local magistrate Robert Newton. But Newton's patience is being tried. The British would say he'd gone native.He exiles Laughton after Laughton tried to disgrace one of Elsa Lanchester's pupils. But wouldn't you know it, fate casts Elsa right on the island that Laughton is exiled to, doing 'hard labor.' A few things happen and she decides maybe she should try to reform him as opposed to ostracism.Laughton and Lanchester give a couple of cute performances about some middle-aged people finding romance, of course anticipating The African Queen by 13 years. Lanchester has a much tougher reforming Laughton than Kate Hepburn did with Humphrey Bogart. Bogey may have been seedy, but he did own his own business.In a way this story is sort of Somerset Maugham's yin to the yang of Rain. Both stories are based in the tropics with missionaries as their leading characters, but this one is essentially comedic, although there are some serious events here like a typhoid out break, where Laughton proves invaluable in dealing with the natives.Charles and Elsa give us a grand show, don't miss it. Lanchester has a much tougher job