Deep Waters

Ann Freeman, Jean Peters, a State of Maine social worker who has given up architecture to chase the sea, breaks off her engagement to Hod Stillwell, Dana Andrews, explaining that she could never bear living with the constant worry about his safety. At the same time, she talks Mary McKay into taking in 12-year-old Donny Mitchell, an orphan whose father and uncle died at sea; Donny longs for the ocean and has run away to sea several times, and Mary’s steadiness is meant to keep him grounded.

The next day, Donny Mitchell, Dean Stockwell, befriends Hod while they’re out hunting. Hod, returning from a fishing trip on his boat with his partner, Joe Sanger, Cesar Romero, discovers Donny on Hod’s lobster bank, having rowed out in a dinghy and stolen two lobsters. He doesn’t realize they belong to Hod and Joe, so Hod gives the boy a firm talking-to and takes him home to Mary, suggesting that Donny work for him on Saturdays. Mary agrees, and Donny’s face lights up with the promise of life at sea; he even clouts a huge halibut, earning a share of $5.75. Ann, having recently witnessed Molly Thatcher’s husband fall victim to the sea, grows anxious and warns that she may move Donny inland if Hod allows him to go to sea again. Reluctantly, Hod follows her advice and tells Donny the partnership is over.

Devastated, Donny stands on the jetty and watches Hod’s boat drift away, then sneaks into town to steal a camera from a drug store to fund another attempt to reach the sea. He steals a boat and sets out again, only to be caught in a terrible storm and rescued by Hod and Joe. Realizing he cannot keep Donny away from the water, Ann approves letting him return to work on Hod’s boat. Donny rushes to Hod with the good news, and Hod agrees to let him go out to sea again.

Elated, Donny hurries home to share the news with Ann and Mary, but he encounters the sheriff and the second-hand shop owner—the men to whom he sold the stolen camera—waiting for him. Ashamed, Donny confesses the theft and begs them not to tell Hod that he’s being sent away to a reform school.

Hod then asks Ann about Donny; she doesn’t reveal his whereabouts. When Hod learns that Donny is in a reform school, he intervenes, urging the state to allow adoption instead. Donny initially resists adoption, ashamed of his misdeed, but once he discovers Hod isn’t angry, he agrees to be adopted and returns home with Hod and Ann, ready to start anew as a family.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 11:28