The Last Man (1932)

While traveling near Suez in a dense fog, the freighter Glencoe almost runs into an apparently abandoned freighter that is drifting aimlessly. As the crew investigates the mysterious vessel, they find twelve dead men lined up in two rows. In front of them sits an elderly, deranged man who repeatedly protests that he has been tried and found innocent. There is evidence of an enormous fight, and more dead men litter the cabins and decks below. Further search reveals the presence of two more survivors: a beautiful young woman and an injured man. When the man is revived, he informs the boarding party that he is an English insurance detective named Bannister. He then begins to tell his rescuers the strange tale of how he came to be "the last man:" Bannister worked for Hoyt's Insurance of London and was assigned by Marsden, the firm's top representative in Suez, to investigate a series of mysterious and costly ship losses sustained by ship line owner John Wingate. Suspecting that Wingate is scuttling his own vessels in order to collect the insurance, Bannister travels to Suez in the guise of a trouble-making seaman. His feigned aggressiveness gets him put ashore at Suez, where he begins his investigation. Also aboard the ship were Wingate and his beautiful daughter Marian, who is traveling with her father to help quiet the mysterious fears from which he suffers. Bannister finds his way through the dives and streets of the port, encountering dangerous criminals and a villain named English Charlie. Inspired by clues found during his wanderings, Bannister decides to ferret out the culprit by luring him with a shipment of $1,000,000 in gold, which is actually a load of iron. Marsden, who is the instigator of the insurance fraud scheme, arranges for one of Wingates' ships to carry the gold. Seeing an opportunity to get the gold, the insurance money and Marian, whom he desires, Marsden accompanies her and Wingate on the journey. Bannister boards at the last minute and keeps a close eye on Marian, with whom he has begun a romance. The crew is in Marsden's employ, but some of them, hearing a rumor that the gold is to be put ashore on an island, believe that they are being double-crossed. A desperate gun battle occurs and all of the crew are killed. Bannister is wounded while finishing off Marsden, after which the ship drifts until it is found by the Glencoe . Now that the case has been solved and Wingate vindicated, Bannister looks forward to a happy ending with Marian.