Popular swashbuckler with gorgeous colour and sets and a top rank cast. The script was written by Ben Hecht and Seton I Miller - some of the bantering quippy dialogue feels very Hecht, and the story is by Miller, and feel as if he's borrowing from The Sea Hawk.
Like that this is about a good pirate (though it's clear Tyrone Power was once a bad man, whereas Errol Flynn in Hawk was always good), doing good work, who falls for a hoity toity woman (Maureen O'Hara looking great in technicolour), and deals with a traitor at court (John Sutton instead of Henry Daniell).
But it's not as tightly written. There's no decent comeuppance for John Sutton, or George Zucco (who plays O'Hara's snobby dad). The final battle was confusing.
Most of all I hated how Power abducted O'Hara. I liked their bantering, I loved how they had to pretend to be married so George Sanders wouldn't kill them... but there was too much rape-yness. And it was no unnecessary - they could've just made it he had to kidnap her because she busted them doing something and was going to tell on them so they had to take her away. But no, he goes to do it because she's going to marry someone else. It's horrible.
I think audiences didn't mind so much because Power is such a clearly nice man, for all his growth and scowling... you never believe he's a really nasty pirate.
It's great fun to see George Sanders in a red beard and wig swashbuckling away, and Laird Cregar has the time of his life as Henry Morgan. I wish Anthony Quinn had more to do. I feel the later Errol Flynn-Quinn-O'Hara movie Against All Flags was a quasi remake of this and fixed a lot of the story problems.
No comments:
Post a Comment