Dangerous Charter

Marty McMahon, the captain of a small fishing vessel, discovers the luxury yacht Medusa adrift at sea, its sole occupant dead. With no one to claim it, the Coast Guard offers the ship to Marty as a charter boat. What they don't tell him is that the Medusa will act as bait to draw out its real owners, who are suspected to be dope dealers. Sure enough, Marty's first customer is Sidney Mallet, the leader of a drug smuggling ring. He reveals that $500,000 worth of heroin is hidden somewhere on the boat. Mallet intends to get back to mainland with his illegal cargo... but not before destroying the Medusa and killing everyone on board.

Dangerous Charter was written, directed, and produced by Robert Gottschalk, the inventor of the Panavision process. Shot over 5 days in 1958, it was meant to show major studios the benefits of using Panavision lenses. Ironically, the film did not get a distribution deal until 1962, by which time Panavision had become an industry standard. Gottschalk would eventually be awarded two Oscars for his efforts in advancing the art of cinematography. In 1982, he was tragically stabbed to death by his male lover in his Los Angeles home. Blonde starlet Sally Fraser will be familiar to fans of "B" movies from her appearances in AIP productions such as It Conquered the World (1956), The Spider and War of the Colossal Beast (both 1958). Dangerous Charter was her final film, and shortly afterwards she retired to a cattle ranch in Idaho to raise her children.