Captain Kidd und das Sklavenmädchen

Caught this movie one late night. I watched it just for fun. It stars Eva Gabor as a spoiled girl who has to pretend to be a slave, Anthony Dexter as Captain Kidd and Alan Hale Jr as the Captain's best friend. Gabor becomes a slave to Dexter and the two fight, with pampered Gabor made to do duties which are beneath her but expected for a slave girl. The two lock horns and a sort of Taming of the Shrew kind of treatment to the story occurs, with Gabor fighting the Captain's every demand, who tries to tame the spirited 'slave' girl. They talk, and talk and talk. And, of course, they fall in love.

The whole film is OK and sorta fun in a quaint "they don't make movies like this anymore" way but nothing about it really stands out aside from the fact that Dexter is often shirtless and showing off his physique. There's also a pretty good cat-fight between Gabor and Sonia Sorrell, a female pirate (who looked really cool and sorta out of place in such an studio film). What's painfully obvious about CAPTAIN KIDD are the studio bound sets, which really looked like they're in a studio (we see shadows of actors appearing against the background 'sky'). There are some scenes shot outside but most of this seafaring adventure is filmed indoors. In fact the movie reminds me of a TV movie. A typically forgotten/overlooked United Artist movie.

Okay, let's not pretend, this is not a classic by any means, but actually turns out to be an enjoyable and undemanding little movie, with a lively and engaging lead performance by the much-underrated Anthony Dexter, as Captain William Kidd. In the co-starring roles, Alan Hale Jnr and Eva Gabor provide sterling support, and there's a pretty wild cameo from Sonia Sorrell as a female pirate, of all things!! The storyline is basic and straightforward, but rattles along at a fairly brisk pace. In fact, as the previous reviewer has pointed out, the film is only really let down by the stagy backdrops. If there had been more outdoor shots, the film would have benefited greatly via the authenticity of the so-called the exterior scenes. As long as any potential viewer doesn't expect too much, this is a more than satisfactory, neat little movie.

Having been betrayed by "The Earl of Bellomont" (James Seay) for acts of piracy, he did not commit, "Captain William Kidd" (Anthony Baxter) has been tried, found guilty in London, and sentenced to hang the next day. Although more than happy to see Captain Kidd condemned to death, the Earl of Bellomont knows that Captain Kidd possesses knowledge of a fortune he acquired during a battle with a pirate named "Captain Avery" (Richard Karlan). Eager to get his hands on it, he drugs Captain Kidd and allows him to escape on a ship waiting for him in a port. Once that's accomplished, he follows behind in his own ship, hoping that Captain Kidd will lead him to the treasure. To that effect, not only has he provided a loyal crew aboard Captain Kidd's ship, but he has also assigned a stunning spy named "Judith Duvall" (Eva Gabor) to signal the ship's location at night, ensuring it doesn't elude him. What no one realizes, however, is that Captain Kidd is aware of everything and has plans of his own. Rather than reveal any more, I will just say that although it wasn't necessarily a good film, it had a couple of redeeming qualities, with the main one being the presence of Eva Gabor, who brightened every scene with her beauty and charm. Similarly, Anthony Baxter performed quite well in the main role. Even so, the plot seemed a bit too shallow and predictable, and I have rated this movie accordingly. Slightly below average.

Lew Landers already gave us LAST OF THE BUCCANEERS, so he was not a beginner in that domain of pirates and sea adventures. He as a adventures and exotic movies specialist. It is not a masterpiece, not at the scale of Sidney Salkow's PRINCE OF PIRATES for instance, nor even Jacques Tourneur's ANNE OF THE INDIES, nor a Warner Bros stuff directed by Raoul Walsh, but it is a pretty good entertainment to enjoy, an interesting time waster. I only was unlucky to see it in black and white instead of color. Alan Hale Jr is the Tony Dexter's sidekick, as his father was Errol Flynnn's one on ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD. I highly advise this one to moviegoers in love with such rare gems.

I'm surprised by another review that characterizes this film as briskly paced and Eva Gabor as providing "sterling" support. Even at 82 minutes the film simply crawls -- I had to speed up the DVD playback just to get through it, and I'm a collector of swashbuckler films! Anthony Dexter and Alan Hale, Jr. are fine, as far as they go, but Eva Gabor is simply terrible: wooden and unconvincing. Yet even if she'd had the skills of a Patricia Medina, the atrocious screenplay would still have thwarted her efforts -- it's really that bad. Swashbucklers are, by nature, stylized, so I wasn't expecting cinéma vérité, but this movie is so stilted it's simply unwatchable without a peanut gallery a la "Mystery Science Theater 3000". I have more than 90 swashbuckler films on DVD and this one is so unenjoyable that it won't go on the shelf with the others. For far better pirate fare try "Captain Blood", "Fortunes of Captain Blood", "Captain Blood Returns", "Anne of the Indies", "The Black Swan", "The Sea Hawk", "The Spanish Main", "Seven Seas to Calais", "Duel on the Mississippi", "The Buccaneer", "The Black Pirate", "Raiders of the Seven Seas", or even "Last of the Buccaneers" and "Pirates of Tripoli". All of these are available on DVD and even the latter two rather-mediocre swashbucklers are far superior to "Captain Kidd...". The other films listed are delightful alternatives.