I must admit that I'm a fan of Adele Mara, and thus I tend to give her movies a higher rating than they deserve. "The Sea Hornet" is probably such a movie. Certainly, the extremely dull, totally routine direction by Joseph Kane is of no great shakes. In fact, even by Kane's extremely humble standards, it's probably a little more uninspired than usual. This is a shame because both the female leads, the aforesaid Adele Mara and Adrian Booth, are very attractive. The script by Gerald Drayson Adams would have made a fairly exciting movie in the hands of someone like John Farrow, for instance, despite the fact that sunken treasure is a somewhat overworked theme.
Of course, a "B" picture is miles below Farrow's standard, but was "The Sea Hornet" intended as a "B"? 84 minutes is at least 20 minutes too long. So, at one stage or other, it was obviously intended as a main attraction! In addition to its top writer, Gerald Drason Adams, it has a top support cast, a top photographer in Bert Glennon, a top music score by R. Dale Butts, and a top editor in Tony Martinelli. But somewhere along the line, executive producer Herbert J. Yates got cold feet and assigned Joe "Don't make it good, make it Friday!" Kane to both produce and direct.
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