Singer Deborah McCoy (Yvonne De Carlo, best known as Lily Munster) is a stowaway on Capt. Duval’s ship when it is captured by the infamous pirate, Baptiste (Philip Friend). She escapes and ends up in New Orleans under the tutelage of Mme. Brizar (Elsa Lanchester), where she is trained to be an entertainer at high class parties. There she discovers that Baptiste has a second identity as a local respected captain and he’s secretly trying to destroy the true villain, the wealthy Narbonne (Robert Douglas).
Well, it’s technically a Swashbucker. There’s a little sword fighting early on, and a bit more over an hour later. And there’s plenty of attempts at wit. So, it falls into one of my review categories…unfortunately.
So, the story is simply, the dialog unimaginative, the action uninspired, and the songs missable (there’s more singing than sword-fighting). None of that is bad. It’s just that none of it is good. And I like something positive in my movies. Well, Buccaneer’s Girl does contain a nice performance by Elsa Lanchester as the pseudo-madam. Her quirky and intelligent line readings even make the script sound decent, an effect that vanishes when she does. It’s also a pretty movie. Not in any way that stands out, but the Technicolor is bright and cheery, and the set designs are better than average for a budget Swashbucker. It makes me wonder if Universal Pictures just tossed this into production when a studio executive noticed they had a few days extra rental on the Technicolor camera at the same time their period interior sets were going unused.
Countering those few good features are the lead characters. Baptiste Is a nonentity, but the real issue is Debbie. I’m assuming she’s supposed to be bold, brash, and roguishly enticing, but she’s comes off as stupid and obnoxious. When we reach the point where she gives away everything because a rich girl wasn’t paying attention to her song, I was ready for someone to stab her.
Find a different film with Elsa Lanchester in a supporting role and give this a miss.