Meuterei auf dem Piratenschiff

It's the War of 1812. French citizens have come up with a lot of gold for the United States. However, France is at peace with Great Britain for the moment, and the British have a blockade of the US. The government turns to Mark Stevens, and his fast sloop. He recruits Patrick Knowles, a disgraced captain who stole his ship's money to pay for lovelies for Angela Lansbury, who's in France. They get to France, and bring Miss Lansbury out. She's not interested in a life without luxury. Then she discovers the gold, and persuades Knowles to mutiny.

It's the first movie Edward Dmytryk directed in three years, after tangling with and eventually giving into the HUAC. That's undoubtedly how he came to direct this King Brothers production; they knew how to get talent on the cheap. The script is by Philip Yordan -- he fronted a lot of blacklisted screenwriters in this period. Unfortunately, while the miniature work is good, the dialogue stinks. All in all, it's an unprepossessing effort.

Dmytryk's next movie would be the taut and exciting THE SNIPER. He was on his way back and by the 1960s, would helm some major big budget movies.

Edward Dmytryk's first film in Technicolor is unlikely to have been a milestone he took pride in, grateful as he doubtless was simply for the work after having been jailed as one of the Hollywood Ten.

Several other talented people were also slumming in this reasonably ambitious King Brothers potboiler (notably Angela Lansbury as a treacherous, high maintenance femme fatale), enhanced by a Dimitri Tiomkin score and atmospheric photography by Ernest Laszlo (which goes some way towards mitigating the stationary painted clouds that ruin most of the scenes on deck).

The script by Philip Yordan (assuming he's signing his own work this time) is actually pretty witty & imaginative; and the similarity of the ignominious fate suffered by one character and incorporation into the plot of an early submersible suggests he knew both his Shakespeare and his military history.

Watch this for Angela Lansbury burning up the screen. Mark Stevens and Patric Knowles are fine but once she appears the film takes off. Dymytryk's direction whips along and the narrative is sufficiently novel to hold the attention. Lansbury is really a noir villainess on the high seas - using her man to get to the cash. One warning - the print shown on Matinée movies is grim - scratched, out of focus and the technicolor down to almost two strip. The film is an independent production - King Brothers - which means that it is a bit of a rarity and may account for the quality of the print. Is there a decent neg or print anywhere or is this it?

All you 3 out of 10s are not looking at the 'big picture' here - the historical background added interest; the presence of a woman on board and a strong one at that; 'mateship' overriding one of the mens' love for that woman, and causing one to go to the assistance of the other and the good acting made this worthwhile for me. I did enjoy Angela Lansbury as the scheming grasping female lead! I could overlook the absence of full sized ships, however I was disappointed it was not in colour. We are so spoilt nowadays. There was a time when all movies were black and white only and when colourised movies were released everyone said people wouldn't like them, audiences would get ill watching them - how wrong they were. I'm surprised a film made in 1952 was B & W - there must have been a tight budget.

I admit that I liked MUTINY, but I also admit that, had it run on longer than its 77 minute length, it would have quickly worn on me.

I've always been a sucker for seafaring films as well as historical ones, so the fact that MUTINY takes place at sea coupled with being set during the War of 1812 definitely worked to its advantage.

And then there was Angela Lansbury, sharpening her teeth for her role as Raymond Shaw's mother in 1962's THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE. Lansbury's Leslie is a real tramp; a money-hungry social climber who returns with Patric Knowles to the ship only because she believes he's the Captain. When she finds out that he's only first-mate, her lovey-dovey ways fly right out the hatch. Lansbury is good here, the best performance in the film, and its worth watching for her alone.

I'll give it 6 out of 10 and say that its worth a watch if you find it on one rainy afternoon.