Jan 091952
 
two reels

Brian Hawke (Errol Flynn) is an undercover agent among pirates. Capt. Roc Brasiliano (Anthony Quinn) doesn’t trust him. Captain Prudence “Spitfire” Stevens (Maureen O’Hara) switches back and forth between lusting after him and wanting to skewer him. On his first pirate mission with Brasiliano, they capture an Indian princess and her caretaker (Mildred Natwick). Now Hawke must keep the princess safe while destroying the harbor’s defenses and romancing Spitfire.

In 1938 Errol Flynn starred in the greatest A-picture Swashbuckler. Fourteen years later there’s nothing A-picture about this creaking action film. Quinn is a second rate villain, the battles are matinee-level, and Flynn had aged poorly. The story is simple and dim, and the characters are nonsensical. The pirates are strangely pleasant when it comes to women and the Indian Princess has an IQ of 70. Hawke is trying to ingratiate himself with the pirates (he is a spy after all) but is perpetually a smartass.

While there are many flaws and a general haze of mediocrity, the biggest problem is Maureen O’Hara. She played this same part over and over and it never worked. She’s the “fiery redhead,” which translates to insane. One second she is sweet, the next jealous to the point of murder. She’s supposed to be strong, but as this was the ‘50s, she turns out weak—she yells not from pride and power but from not having a proper man. Why is it she’s a pirate captain but doesn’t command her own ship? They could have made her a feminist icon or a maiden in need of saving. Either way would have worked. But they went for unpleasant. She is stunningly beautiful, but misused.

As the second part of an afternoon double feature—perhaps with a Tarzan film—this would have been fine for young teens in 1952.

Errol Flynn’s Swashbucklers/pseudo-Swashbucklers are: Captain Blood (1935), The Prince and the Pauper (1937), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), The Sea Hawk (1940), Adventures of Don Juan (1948), The Master of Ballantrae (1953), Crossed Swords (1954), and The Dark Avenger/The Warriors (1955).

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