Cynical, embittered newspaperman David Charleston (Michael Redgrave) is tormented, then inspired, by visions he keeps having of people who have drowned.
David Charleston (Michael Redgrave), once a world-renowned journalist, now lives alone maintaining the Thunder Rock lighthouse in Lake Michigan. He doesn't cash his paychecks and has no contact other than the monthly inspector's visit. When alone, he imagines conversations with those who died when a nineteenth century packet ship with approximately sixty passengers sank. He imagines their lives, their problems, their fears, and their hopes. In one of these conversations, he recalls his own efforts in the 1930s when he tried desperately to convince first his editors and later the public of the dangers of fascism and the inevitability of war. Few would listen. One of the passengers, a spinster, tells her story of seeking independence from a world dominated by men. There's also the case of a doctor who is banished for using unacceptable methods. David has given up on life, but the imaginary passengers give him hope for the future.—garykmcd
Redgrave plays British journalist Charleston in the decade before WWII., where he witnesses the onslaught of fascism. His warnings dismissed, disenchanted with the myopia and apathy he encounters, Charleston retires from the world. Isolating himself as a lighthouse keeper in the northerly waters of Lake Michigan, he finds himself fascinated by a shipwreck of 90 years prior. Those lost in the disaster occupy his imagination vividly and his considerable conversations/debates with them bring him eventually to a different course. Unusual cinematography and affects create an atmosphere of eeriness and slight oddity that supports the supernatural aspects of the film.
