In this Western, Ken Curtis, Columbia Pictures' low-budget answer to Gene Autry, romanced one of the studio's most beautiful starlets, Rita Hayworth-lookalike Dusty Anderson. She played Helen Wyatt, whose father (the rotund Guy Kibbee) loses his ranch to the hayseed singing group the Hoosier Hot Shots. Unbeknownst to Wyatt, the Hot Shots have been swindled by a couple of Eastern crooks (Ian Keith and Matt Willis) and consider themselves the lawful owners. Chased by the irascible Wyatt, the band members seek protection from aspiring singer Curt Stanton (Curtis), who they mistake for a gunslinger.
A San Francisco airplane bound for South America crashes, and among the scorched debris is found a shrunken native human head, neatly packaged. The perplexed police contact a local anthropology museum about this unclaimed piece of grisly baggage, where they intersect with Jack and Doc, two private eyes, called there to meet a mysterious woman who had a case for them and wanted to meet in private.
Told in flashback, Out of the Depths strives to explain why its four male protagonists are bobbing around the Pacific in a lifeboat. The story proper begins as Captain Faversham (Jim Bannon) and his crew embark upon a secret mission which takes them into Japanese waters. The plan is to prevent a kamikaze attack against the American invading forces. Compelling in itself, the plotline isn't improved by arbitrary doses of misfire pathos and comedy relief. One of the sailors is played by Ken Curtis, later to gain TV fame as Festus on Gunsmoke.
George Sanders stars in this engrossing melodrama about a very domineering sister who holds a tight grip on her brother -- especially when he shows signs of falling in love.
