Radio review – Lux#193 – “The Buccaneer” (1939) *1/2

I always though Clarke Gable would make a good pirate – I remember thinking that watching Captain Blood – because he had that macho aura and was a convincing enough sailor in Mutiny on the Bounty. But he doesn’t make an ideal French pirate – he’s cast here as Lafitte, the legendary New Orleans buccaneer who fought for the Americans in the Battle of New Orleans. Gable seems aware he’s miscast, which perhaps explains his hesitancy throughout the performance – or maybe he just stood too far back from the microphone. The story doesn’t adapt as well to radio as Captain Blood did – it might be just the quality of adaptation, maybe it’s the characters. Some French import called Olympe Bradna plays the female lead.