The Beachcomber = Vessel of wrath

Ginger Ted is a dissolute beachcomber, a drunken remittance man (the ‘black sheep’ of an upper class English family being paid to stay away) residing on an island in the Archipelagos. Ted revels in the squalor there, enjoying an endless supply of liquor and the charms of a local girl. A Dutch missionary’s pious sister, Martha Jones, takes an exceptional dislike to Ted, proclaiming him a corrupting influence. Her attitude toward him shifts however when the two are briefly stranded on an island. Shortly afterwards Martha heads off to a remote community where she is determined to counteract an outbreak of cholera. But her efforts are misguided; whilst distributing an antidote she is riled by the natives’ rituals and swiftly earns their wrath. Ted manages to protect her and the pair, inevitably, are romantically united. Laughton succeeds well here with his portrayal of Ted, a slovenly drunkard whose attitude toward the local populace is far more tolerant than the parochial and condescending Martha. Cast also includes Elsa Lanchester and Robert Newton. Based on the tale “Vessel of wrath” by W. Somerset Maugham.