Basically nothing more than a copycat/rip-off of M. Somerset Maugham's Rain, which had already had a silent film adaptation before this early talkie. They attempt to juice up the specifics somewhat by making the minister an escaped convict in disguise and throwing in some admittedly impressive special effects of a giant stingray, but the central storyline is very similar, and similarly dull and full of Christian proselytization. I don't know how they managed the effects in 1930, but they seem years ahead of what should have been possible then. If only the dramatics were as full of excitement. It's the same story of a wild girl being tamed by religion in a tropical climate, and her conversion is just as sudden and unrealistic. The actors make the film tolerable, but there's really not much here worth recommending.

• RANKED! — 1930

Not enough Sea Bat.

Escaped convict Charles Bickford comes disguised as a man of the holy book to a tropical place and ends up converting island girl Raquel Torres. Some start suspecting something is not right, but besides that not much excitement apart from the big fish. Perhaps the most interesting is the bunch of known faces in small supporting parts like pre-fame Boris Karloff, Chaplin's Mack Swain and Greed's Gibson Gowland.

Could have been a cool sea monster movie showing some early visual perspectives to create the illusion of a huge creature they're hunting down, but this quickly turns into a fairly soft romance story among rough people.

This movie is a half star until they start facing off against this monster stingray in the final act. You then start wondering how the film crew managed to get that heavy camera equipment on a boat and using practical FX dragging this rubber-suit aquatic monster around in the ocean.

Well done. 

Bravo.

Fight through the 1930-camp dialog to get to that final act which pays off handsomely.

Charles Bickford escapes from prison and flees to an island while disguised as a missionary. The disguise starts to rub off on him though and the message he's preaching begins to sink in. Meanwhile, he's also falling in love with Raquel Torres, trying to evade suspicious sailors who've seen his wanted poster, and there's a giant manta terrorizing the local waters.

That's a very cool plot. Sadly, the movie presents it in the quickest, most unsubtle way possible.

The giant manta is great though. No subtlety needed there.

Godawful film filled with stereotypes and stupidity

Also Boris Karloff gets one line before being eaten by a giant, surface-feeding manta ray

Would have liked to see more of the sea bat.
Sort of reminded me of RAIN except not at the same time.

no cuz I thought this film was shitty for the reviews but for 1930 it was kind of a slay?? like the effects for the sea monster were crazzzzzy

Pretty cool pre-xode drama at 65 minutes flies by. What amazed me on this was the second unit filming esp for 1930 it really stuck out as very good.This is directed by Wesley Ruggles, another actor turned director. Look 4 early pre-Frankenstein Karloff in a bit part which surprized me I didn't know Karloff made any movies for MGM, until now. Always learning always growing

In which the filmmakers downplay the interesting, timeless elements (giant sea bat, Karloff) in favor of the dated, poorly aging elements (overheated romance, racist caricatures). That certainly was a choice