Der scharlachrote Kapitän

This should have been a classic swashbuckler in the tradition of Zorro, Robin Hood, and Captain Blood. It has a good, traditional, premise (young nobleman returns home to find his home and land taken over by the bad guy, and then tries to get back his land, right wrongs, and free the oppressed, all while making loyal friends and falling in love), but the poor acting, directing, and way too cheesy script (so bad it's funny) ruin this movie for the sophisticated viewer. I loved this film as a child, however (the poor acting and super cheesy script did not bug me then), especially the fact that he teaches the girl (Princess Maria) how to sword fight (in one of the few good lines in the film he comments that no one has taught her anything useful - her skills up to that point being embroidery, dancing, etc).

I really wish Disney or some other company would remake this movie in to something better, instead of remaking good old films into something worse. Saddly, I fear this film has been forgotten by the big studios and that I will have to content myself with the fact that many of the things I enjoyed in the movie as a child (like the sword fighting Princess, and the way they trick the bad guys in by all dressing as Captain Scarlet) have been used since in other, better made movies.

This is a film best viewed on Saturday mornings, right after the cartoons. It works best as a comedy for children. Follows similar themes in other movies. The acting is not convincing, it appears the actors are just doing it for laughs.

most probably will not. Many will no doubt be disappointed by the overall predictable quality of this film, its lackluster acting & direction and worst of all its disappointing sword fights and extended chase scenes. Despite all of that I did find myself enjoying Richard Greene's performance as the dashing Captain Scarlett and even more his interactions with the lovely Leonora Amar who plays Princess Maria.

This has very little to do with history, or real life at any period, but it is fast-moving and colourful and I enjoyed the snappy script:

"You are insolent."

"Only to people I don't like."

Richard Greene, who played Robin Hood in the British TV series in the '50s, is playing almost the same role, in a costume from somewhere around 1800, with a sword instead of a longbow. Assurance counts for a lot, especially for a hero, and he is surrounded by presumably Mexican actors(They all have Spanish-sounding names, but the film was made in the US.) as monks, dancers, feisty heroines and lovable rogues, who know what is expected of them as well as he does. If being a travesty of history stopped a work from being enjoyed and appreciated, a lot of Shakespeare would have to be thrown out. This one is far from being Shakespeare, but it certainly is fun.

Set in France in the years following the fall of Napoleon, Captain Scarlett seems to have been very much inspired by the legends of Robin Hood and Zorro. Captain Scarlett (Greene) returns to France to discover that his lands have been seized by an unscrupulous nobleman. After saving Princess Maria (Amar) and being joined by a man named Pierre (Young) who has also lost his lands, the group proceeds on a series of adventures in the fight for justice.

Sadly, "Captain Scarlett" is a highly flawed film. Its villains are incompetent bumblers, the music score is often out of place, the fight scenes often poorly done, and acting generally weak. Some scenes shot on soundstages are particularly poorly done. Overall, the film is mediocre at best. Nevertheless, die hard fans of classic adventure films and swashbucklers might want to give this one a chance. Be warned, however, that "Captain Scarlett" has the feel of a comic book and that plausibility is largely lacking.