Laughing Anne

Wendell Corey is a rising seaman in the Far East. He gets his own commands and permission to bring his wife along. She, however, hates the sea and leaves him. He goes on a drunk, meets saloon singer Margaret Lockwood and her kept man, Forrest Tucker. When he returns to his ship and sets sail, he discovers Miss Lockwood has stowed always. He puts her to work in the galley, and over the course of the voyage, her history with Tucker is told in flashback.

Herbert Wilcox produces and directs from a mashup of two Joseph Conrad stories - Robert Harris appears as Conrad to introduce the story. It's a well-told tale, with some nice cinematography by Mutz Greenbaum, and I can't help but think this was originally intended as a vehicle for Wilcox's wife, Anna Neagle; however, it didn't fit her star personna, and so Miss Lockwood was cast. I venture to suggest that the movie is better for that. The story is told from Corey's viewpoint, had Miss Neagle appeared, the handling would have centered far more on her... a most Un-Conrad sort of tale.