Gainsborough really stopped caring with this one... actually maybe that's not fair, but they did stop taking their stories seriously. I know this is relative when talking about 40s melodrama but there's scenes in this which would be laughed at in a Christmas panto e.g. Robert Helpmann trying to push Stewart Granger off a boat (you can practically hear little kids yell out "behind you behind you"), a ridiculous amount of flashbacks in the first half hour as Stewart Granger tells stories of his childhood, the camp acting, ripe dialogue.
Denis Price was kept in by Gainsborough as a reserve villain in case James Mason wasn't available and this gives him his best chance - he's not remotely in Mason's class, even though (or because) he apes Mason's voice at times. Granger does his best in what is a terrible role - but he's fine, and Helpman is terrific as a snivelly assassin, as is Jean Kent as a gypsy girl.
Anne Crawford is the biggest debit: she's stuffy and bland as the aristocrat Granger is in love with (you long for Pat Roc or Phyllis Calvert). Honestly, Granger's better off with Kent, who loves him unconditionally, is brave and sexy as hell, can dance up a storm, dives naked off rocks into the water in front of him, has hundreds of fans panting over her but picks him, and eventually gives up her life for him. You kind of feel depressed at the end when he winds up with this spoilt, not particularly attractive brat.
This is more action orientated than the usual Gainsborough - it starts with a brawl, there's a kids hanging off cliff tops, an extended assassination sequence (which ends very effectively with Granger being shot when we think he's safe), not one but two scenes in quicksand, a coach chase. There's also camp - lots of dancing, a weird scene where Price invites all these prostitutes to dine with Crawford, Kent's nostril flaring performance and famous lines such as "what do you cold English women know about love" (I'm paraphrasing). Stupid, messy, fun, over the top - you can hardly believe they made it.
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