Wake of the Red Witch

John Wayne plays Ralls, the sadistic, two-fisted captain of the Red Witch, a square-rigger plying its trade in the East Indies. He’s at loggerheads with the ship’s owner, Mayrant Sidneye. The reason is revealed in flashback: the beautiful Angelique Desaix spurned Ralls for Sidneye. Ralls is planning his revenge – he scuppers the bullion-carrying ship on an uncharted reef, planning to return and claim the gold for himself – but Sidneye is now the one after revenge in Edward Ludwig’s adventure-thriller., This unusual, dreamlike John Wayne vehicle is set in the East Indies. The focus of the film is the deadly rivalry between two men of the sea. Ship’s captain Rails (John Wayne) nurses a long-standing grudge against shipping magnate Van Schreeven (Luther Adler). The reason for the animosity: Van Schreeven stole away Rails’ love, Angelique (Gail Russell). Revenge has warped Rails to point that sometimes he seems to be the heavy of the picture. Complications involving valuable pearls ensue before the offbeat climax, which finds Rails scuttling his own vessel, the Red Witch, as means of getting even. The film’s resolution is one of the strangest ever concocted for a Wayne picture. Wake of the Red Witch represented the second screen teaming of John Wayne and Gail Russell; the film must also have held some special significance for Wayne, since he named his own production company, Batjac, after the shipping firm depicted in the picture., John Wayne as a sea captain fighting for a fortune in gold bullion. Gail Russell, Gig Young. Teleia: Adele Mara. Van Schreeven: Eduard Franz. Sidney: Luther Adler. Younger: Grant Withers. Edward Ludwig directed., Stormy seafaring saga of a bitter rivalry between two men in the South Seas that centres around their love of the same woman and their desire for gold., John Wayne as a sea captain fighting for a fortune in gold bullion., (1948) John Wayne plays Ralls, the sadistic, two-fisted captain of the Red Witch, a square-rigger plying its trade in the East Indies. He’s at loggerheads with the ship’s owner, Mayrant Sidneye (Luther Adler). The reason is revealed in flashback: the beautiful Angelique Desaix (Gail Russell) spurned Ralls for Sidneye. Ralls is planning his revenge – he scuppers the bullion-carrying ship on an uncharted reef, planning to return and claim the gold for himself – but Sidneye is now the one after revenge in Edward Ludwig’s adventure-thriller., In Edward Ludwig’s adventure-thriller, John Wayne plays Ralls, the sadistic, two-fisted captain of the Red Witch, a square-rigger plying its trade in the East Indies. He’s at loggerheads with the ship’s owner, Mayrant Sidneye. The reason for their conflict is revealed in flashback: the beautiful Angelique Desaix, who spurned Ralls for Sidneye. Ralls takes his revenge, scuppering the bullion-carrying ship on an uncharted reef, planning to return and claim the gold for himself. But that leaves Sidneye with his own score to settle…