Die Taverne von New Orleans

I saw this on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) channel.

This 1951 melodrama, with its Gothic overtones stars a dashing, if rather old looking Errol Flynn and a caddish Vincent Price. Lead actress is the French Micheline Presle and she's a dark haired gypsy looking type of seductress, falling for mariner Flynn, of the title.

It seems set in the early 19th century, has stilted and corny dialogue that only the movies could endure and is, frankly, fairly slow and boring. One wonders why a movie with such a cast is not available on DVD, at least not on Amazon, not even as a region 1 and maybe that one has discovered a long lost gem. I've not heard of director William Marshall before and I won't be rushing to track down his other work.

Those craving to own everything that the three leads have ever appeared in are the likeliest to get some enjoyment out of it, but it's difficult to find anything here for an everyday, modern audience. It's not actually terrible but when one often wonders what else one should be doing instead, that's not a good sign.

Adventures of Captain Fabian has the distinct aroma of tax write-off about it. Errol Flynn and friend William Marshall who was married to Ginger Rogers at one time, filmed this in France and released it through Herbert J. Yates's Republic films. In this case Yates might have been wise to put wife Vera Hruba Ralston in it because she couldn't have possibly made the film any worse.

For a man who led an adventurous and made so many action films, it's amazing that Errol Flynn when writing a screenplay could make it so deadly dull. Flynn, if in fact he wrote it, borrowed a bit from Saratoga Trunk and a bit from Mourning Becomes Electra and a touch of Tennessee Williams. All of which are beyond his reach as thespian. It's only in the last ten minutes of the film when Flynn who is framed for the murder of Victor Francen is being freed from jail. How it's done by the way is a bit bizarre.

In fact Flynn is barely in the film at all except for the last 40 minutes. He and Michelline Presle have both been done dirty by the family of which Vincent Price is the wastrel heir.

In Michelline's case, Price has had his fling with her, but now he's dumping her to make a proper marriage, New Orleans style. She ain't taking it lying down and her machinations get her, Price and Flynn in a whole lot of trouble.

The film was shot over in France, the interiors done in Paris and New Orleans of 1853 is represented by the French city of Villefrance. Flynn and Marshall were supposed to do a French language version simultaneously as per French law, but skipped the country before the authorities caught on. They also stiffed Vincent Price on his salary and Price had to sue both of them and he collected a few years later.

In fact Price is the one good thing about Adventures of Captain Fabian. He essentially takes his Shelby Carpenter character from Laura back to the previous century. Agnes Moorehead plays Michelline Presle's aunt, but she's got a terrible makeup job, she looks and acts like Flora Robson from Saratoga Trunk.

Knowing what Errol Flynn fans like, they are going to be terribly disappointed with Adventures of Captain Fabian.

Serving girl Micheline Presle is mistreated by Agnes Moorhead and made love to by her nephew Vincent Price, but she's not good enough to marry. Instead, she's framed for an accidental murder Price commits, until sea captain Errol Flynn wanders by, gets her out of trouble, sets her up with a nice tavern and clothes, and leaves again. So, Mlle Presle decides to get her revenge by conniving her way into New Orleans elite society by marrying Vincent Price.

Considering Flynn wrote the screenplay this movie was based on, and has the starring position in the credits, he's not around that much, nor does his character seem particularly interested in any of the events or characters. He very well may be having adventures at sea, but mostly it's Price and Mlle Presle being angry with each other, and trying to frame each other, until a corpse shows up. It's not clear if Price or Mlle Presle killed it, but Price decides to frame Flynn, who's in town, and then leads a lynch mob against him.

No one is particularly well served by this movie, even though there's a spectacular explosion and fire towards the end. Robert Florey did some uncredited direction on it.

Micheline Presle stars as Lea Mariotte, a Creole maid in 1860 New Orleans. She gets accused of murder in order to cover up the misdeeds of local wealthy scion George Brissac (Vincent Price), but she gets freed thanks to the intervention of merchant sea captain Michael Fabian (Errol Flynn). Fabian has a score to settle with the Brissac family, but Lea sees George as her entry into posh society.

This odd movie doesn't really work, but I liked parts of it. Although a shirtless Flynn is featured in the promotional art, which combined with the title make this seem like a swashbuckler, he's really more of a supporting player, and this is Presle's film all the way (she was dating or married to the director at the time). To say that her character is complicated would be an understatement, as she's at times the most evil person in the movie, but then the script tries to make her actions seem justified. Many of the characters are morally dubious and hard to pin down.

The production values are excellent in some scenes, but amateurish in others. There's some nice (if obvious) miniature work, and some good crowd shots. Vincent Price is squirmy and entertainingly hammy, and Agnes Moorehead also chews the scenery as a Creole relative of Lea's. I also enjoyed seeing future European "B" movie staples Howard Vernon and Reggie Nalder in minor roles.

The production of this movie was troubled, with director Marshall being accused of incompetence and Robert Florey being brought in to shoot some scenes. Flynn himself is credited with the screenplay, although he was later sued by an associate who claimed to have worked on it. Speaking of litigation, there was more to go around, as Flynn sued Republic to try and get the film blocked from release (it would have violated his contract with Warner Brothers). It may not be good as in cohesive, but it is entertaining.

Despite being named after Errol Flynn's character, as several other writers have observed it's not remotely the Technicolor swashbuckler promised by the title but a gothic black & white melodrama complete with Vincent Price as the sort of good-looking weakling he played in 'Dragonwyck'. The film is actually 'about' proud Creole temptress Micheline Presle (who turns 97 next week, by the way) clawing her way up from an existence that began ignominiously with her mother being hanged, but who quickly loses our sympathy since having married money she immediately starts treating her servants just as badly as she herself had formerly been.

It's a tinny, unfocused affair with far too much talk and too little action for most of it's duration; but handsomely designed and photographed and added atmosphere by the occasional use of a theremin on the soundtrack. Agnes Moorehead's character turn as pipe-smoking Aunt Jezebel anticipates her eccentric supporting role in 'Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte' nearly fifteen years later; while for connoisseurs of sophisticated 60's cinema there are youthful cameos from Howard Vernon ('Alphaville'), Gilles Queant ('Last Year at Marienbad') and Reggie Nalder ('The Manchurian Candidate').