Lawrence2014 | Lawrence Ellsworth

About Lawrence2014

This author has not yet filled in any details.
So far Lawrence2014 has created 148 blog entries.

Captain Kidd

Captain Kidd
Rating: ***
Origin: USA, 1945
Director: Rowland V. Lee
Source: American Home Treasures DVD

Captain Kidd

Charles Laughton had a strange career for a movie star. Enormously talented, with an outsized screen presence despite his modest stature, he made an early name for himself in the ‘30s playing big rôles like King Henry VIII, the Emperor Nero, and Captain Bligh. But no matter how talented he was, Laughton was far from conventionally handsome, and only grew more homely with time; this limited his options, and by the 1940s about the only lead parts he could get were in low-budget melodramas like Captain Kidd. Though theoretically based on the life of the historical pirate, other than a few names and some disconnected incidents, this movie has less to do with history than with touching on as many pirate-movie tropes as possible: rascally new crew members signing the Articles; the buccaneers burying their ill-gotten treasure in a hidden cave; a sword duel over possession of a captive lady; a candle burning down to set off a ship’s powder magazine; a medallion that reveals the wearer’s true parentage. All good fun, but this film’s principle pleasures come from watching Laughton’s portrayal of the supremely duplicitous William Kidd, who indulges in treachery, corruption, cruelty, and murder because he genuinely enjoys it, and revels in his utter lack of scruples. When he’s lying to someone he plans to betray (i.e., everyone), he can scarcely conceal his evil glee. At one point John Carradine calls him a cold-blooded shark, and he replies, “Ah, you flatterer!”

Speaking of the gaunt and ever-sinister John Carradine, he may be the best of the fine character actors supporting Laughton in this film, but he’s not the only one: there’s Gilbert Roland as another of Kidd’s lieutenants, the suave but avaricious Spaniard Lorenzo, the haughty Henry Daniell as King William III, and Reginald Owen as the snooty Shadwell, the butler employed by Kidd to teach him how to act like “a person of quality.” The one wrong note comes from the casting of Randolph Scott as Adam Mercy, the ex-pirate who joins Kidd’s crew as master gunner, but whose manners and attitude betray an aristocratic background. The problem is that Scott, a tall square-jawed American best known as a two-fisted cowboy in Western movies, is about as aristocratic as beer, and about as piratical as an Eagle Scout. As the king’s infiltrator in Kidd’s crew, it’s just unbelievable that Kidd and his cutthroats would be taken in by him for a moment. But this is Hollywood, so in the end cowboy virtue wins out over ruthless duplicity. At least Laughton gets in a mocking final speech.

Fun fact: according to Nikita Khrushchev’s memoirs, this was one of Josef Stalin’s favorite films. He’s said to have been delighted by Laughton’s portrayal of the unrepentant and utterly unprincipled pirate captain. Is good!

By Lawrence2014|2018-01-02T21:05:03-05:00December 16, 2017|Cinema of Swords, Ellsworth's Cinema of Swords|Comments Off

Captain Horatio Hornblower

Captain Horatio Hornblower
Rating: *****
Origin: USA, 1951
Director: Raoul Walsh
Source: Warner Bros. DVD

Captain Horatio Hornblower

Drawing from three of the Hornblower novels by C.S. Forester, this movie is easily the best depiction of Napoleonic-era naval warfare until, well, the British TV Hornblower adaptations in the late ‘90s. It also works as a character study, as a romance, and an unflinching reminder of the high human cost of war. Forester himself wrote the adaptation, though the script was handled by three Hollywood screenwriters. The film was originally developed as a vehicle for Errol Flynn, but after the disappointment of The Adventures of Don Juan, Flynn was passed over, and the movie stars Gregory Peck as Royal Navy Captain Hornblower. It’s a great choice: Peck, though not English, has the sort of awkward grandeur the rôle requires, formal and severe on the surface, but gnawed by doubt underneath. Hornblower wins his battles against the odds by out-thinking his opponents, and Peck deftly conveys the character’s native intelligence. Plus, he just plain looks great in a Royal Navy captain’s rig, like a statue from the Admiralty come to life.

The story is wide-ranging, from the tropical Pacific to the cold North Atlantic, and if it has a flaw it’s over-ambition, cramming in a midnight boarding expedition, a gun duel between ships of the line, a mad warlord, a jealous commodore, imprisonment and escape, a ship hijacked from port, and a surprise attack on an anchored French squadron under the guns of a cliff-top fortress—all in just under two hours. Somehow there’s still time for character development, camaraderie among the English officers, and the mourning of losses after the battles. Credit must be given to veteran director Raoul Walsh for keeping all of these elements moving swiftly and coherently without ever feeling rushed.

And we haven’t even gotten to the romance yet! The changing politics of war mean that Lady Barbara Wellesley (Virginia Mayo) needs a sudden ride out of Panama, and Hornblower’s is the only English ship for thousands of miles, so he’s stuck with carrying her around the Horn and back to England. Lady Barbara shows courage and heart by caring for the wounded during battle, Hornblower returns the favor by personally nursing her through a bout of debilitating tropical fever, and love blooms. But they’re adults with commitments, neither one is free, and obstacles must be surmounted. Mayo, who in a lightweight part could sometimes rely on her smile and phone it in, excels herself here as Lady Barbara, showing how well she can act when she’s engaged with the rôle. That, and her genuine chemistry with Peck, really make the love story work. But of course, Forester had a feel for stories of strong women romancing eccentric captains: he also wrote The African Queen. By the way, watch for Christopher Lee as a Spanish captain fighting a fierce cutlass duel with Hornblower—he’s the only guy in the movie who’s taller than Gregory Peck.

By Lawrence2014|2018-01-02T21:05:03-05:00December 16, 2017|Cinema of Swords, Ellsworth's Cinema of Swords|Comments Off

Captain from Castile

Captain from Castile
Rating: ***
Origin: USA, 1947
Director: Henry King
Source: 20^th Century Fox Classics DVD

Captain from Castile

This is a magnificent failure, a classic case of Hollywood buying a novel for its strengths, and then lacking the guts to put those strengths on the screen. And it’s a damn shame, because it could have been great. Samuel Shellabarger’s best-selling 1945 novel tells the story of a naïve young Spanish nobleman who runs afoul of the Inquisition; to escape persecution and certain death, he joins Hernán Cortez’s expedition to Mexico, becoming one of the conquistador’s trusted officers. The novel pulls no punches in its depiction of the excesses of the Inquisition and the horrific events of the Conquest of Mexico, but the screenplay for the film chokes on both those points, soft-pedaling the Inquisition (and changing its name), and waffling on whether the slaughter and suppression of the Aztecs is deplorable or glorious.

And that’s not even the worst of it. When a historical fiction author involves their protagonist in great historical events, it’s essential to make that protagonist a mover and driver of the action rather than a mere spectator. This is where the script for Captain from Castile fails in a big way, as Captain Pedro de Vargas is nearly always swept along by other forces rather than directing or influencing them himself. Poor Tyrone Power, who plays Vargas: much of the time he simply seems clueless or bewildered. The exceptions are when the story calls for some swashbuckling, briefly giving him some clear purpose, and when he’s romancing the fabulous Jean Peters as Catana, dazzling here in her début rôle. There’s genuine chemistry between Powers and Peters, especially in a white-hot scene at a Mexican campfire where they dance a blazing sarabanda. Vaya!

This movie does have other things going for it as well. For one thing, it’s bloody gorgeous, shot in full color largely on location in Mexico at or near the actual sites of the Conquest. Historically, part of Cortez’s march on the Aztec capital took place against the backdrop of an active volcano, and while shooting this film the peak of Paricutín obligingly erupted, enabling jaw-dropping scenes of the Conquistadores marching across country with a great volcanic ash-cloud smeared across the sky behind them. Another visual home run: meticulous research went into re-creating the arms and clothing of the Aztecs, and they’re worn in the film by descendants of the Aztec people instead of Hollywood extras. Plus Cesar Romero gives an energetic performance as Cortez, alternating between inspiring leader and rapacious plunderer. And it’s all backed up by one of composer Alfred Newman’s greatest scores. Alas, ultimately the tonal inconsistency and the flaws in the story take the wind out of the sails of what should have been a masterpiece.

By Lawrence2014|2018-01-02T21:05:03-05:00December 16, 2017|Cinema of Swords, Ellsworth's Cinema of Swords|Comments Off

Captain Blood

Captain Blood
Rating: ***** (Essential)
Origin: USA
Director: Michael Curtiz
Source: Warner Bros. DVD

Captain Blood

After the success of swashbucklers Treasure Island and The Count of Monte Cristo, Warners decided to go all-in on a remake of Rafael Sabatini’s Captain Blood. (There’d been a silent version in 1924, now lost.) The stars they initially had in mind for the leads bowed out, and in the end the studio took a huge risk and cast two complete unknowns: Errol Flynn and Olivia DeHavilland. Luckily, they were both excellent, ideal for the rôles—and even better, they had great on-screen chemistry together, so good they were paired seven more times in the next ten years. The director’s chair went to studio veteran Michael Curtiz, who in 1938 would direct another swashbuckling essential, The Adventures of Robin Hood, before his career pinnacle helming Casablanca. Add in Basil Rathbone as the villain, supported by a slate of the best character actors in Hollywood, with a stirring soundtrack by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and you have the makings of a true classic.

The story starts in 1685 during Monmouth’s Rebellion against England’s King James II. Dr. Peter Blood, treating one of the wounded, is swept up among the captive rebels and sentenced to death in the Bloody Assizes, where we first get a sense of his indomitable character. Throughout the film Blood is aflame with a mocking defiance of oppression and tyranny, but Flynn’s characterization also sparkles with wry intelligence, as he delivers razor-sharp remarks with such conviction it seems he’d thought them up himself. Blood’s sentence, and that of his fellow rebels, is commuted to slavery on the plantations of Jamaica, and the crew is shipped off to Port Royal. At a degrading slave sale, Blood catches the eye of Arabella Bishop (Olivia DeHavilland), daughter of one of the plantation owners, and in order to save the sullen Irishman from being bought by the most brutal man on the island, she buys him herself—now there’s a “meet cute” for you!

The film’s next half hour is this amazing back and forth as the story contrasts the luxury and brutality of colonial Jamaica, with Blood step-by-step engineering an escape attempt by himself and his fellow slaves, meanwhile currying favor with the governor (only Blood can cure his gout) and engaging in a half-unconscious courtship dance with Arabella. (Neither of them really mean it—or do they?) Then the escape plans go awry and all seems lost, until the “timely interruption” (as Blood himself puts it) of a raid by Spanish pirates. The slaves take advantage of the chaos to turn the tables on both Spanish and English, and after some derring-do, Blood and his crew are free and in command of a fighting ship. And then, with all the world their enemy, what should they do but sail to Tortuga and join the Brotherhood of the Coast? But when you ally with pirates, you must consort with such scoundrels as Captain Levasseur (Basil Rathbone)—and that might not end well.

But oh, those scenes of Caribbean piracy: the buccaneers swearing to the Articles, drunken pirates pillaging a seaport, freebooters roistering in the taverns of Tortuga, the boarding actions—“Grappling hooks to larboard!” They’ve all been done many times since, but never better, to my mind. The rapier duel in the surf between Flynn and Rathbone over the captured DeHavilland is worth the price of admission alone. Guilty pleasure: Basil Rathbone’s outrrrrrageous French accent.

By Lawrence2014|2018-01-02T21:05:03-05:00December 16, 2017|Cinema of Swords, Ellsworth's Cinema of Swords|Comments Off

Previous 282930 Next