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CJ Skamarakas
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Posted on: Oct 28, 2020 - 4:06pm
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Thanks to TCM, I learned the other night of another film from 1952 featuring a PT boat, called "Mara Maru." Errol Flynn plays a post-war ex-skipper of a PT boat that went down after the fall of Manila with a treasure onboard. Not a great movie, but worth watching once.
The boat in question was shown as the PT-49. Of course, this is a Hollywood movie. There was a PT-49, but it never served in the Pacific. After Elco completed her in 1942, she was transferred to the Royal Navy and became HM MTB-307 and served in the Mediterranean. After the war, she was given to Italy as Torpedo Recovery Craft GIS-0019.
Having watched "Mara Maru," I kind of wish that Errol Flynn had been in "They Were Expendable" instead of John Wayne, but that's how Hollywood works.
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Drew Cook
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Oct 29, 2020 - 3:40pm
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C.J.,
I too watched "Mara Maru" on TCM, mostly because I came across it while channel-surfing, it starred Errol Flynn, and the mention of a PT boat in the plot.
For those that haven't seen it, Errol's an ex-PT skipper who carried away a golden, jeweled cross from a church in Manila as it fell in his "PT 49," later sunk with said cross onboard. Errol, who's the only one who knows the location of the sunken PT, and an unsavory character (Raymond Burr in his pre-Perry Mason bad-guy days), are after the valuable cross.
The only visual of "PT 49" (presumably a 77' Elco) is an underwater shot of the bow of the sunken boat, a large hole in it and a huge "PT 49" in pre-war shaded numbers on the bow -- not really recognizable as a PT.
Not really worth the time, unless you're a hard-core Errol Flynn film fan. And "Mara Maru" is the name of the salvage boat the characters use to look for the sunken "PT 49."
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Jeff D
Moderator
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 Posted on: Oct 30, 2020 - 4:16am
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I read a non-fiction story about a disabled PT being sunk to avoid capture, along with an envelope filled with lots of cash, and missing crewmen that turned up in Australia. There were hints of possible shadiness regarding the event. It may have been in an autobiography but I really don't remember. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
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Will Day |
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Nov 4, 2020 - 6:12pm
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J.D.
I thought that was YOUR autobiography....
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Jeff D
Moderator
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Posted on: Nov 5, 2020 - 5:53am
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Hey if I had a REALLY big wad of cash, I'd be out cruising around on my restored PT. Or more likely, owning a 1/2 restored PT and living under a bridge...
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