El capitán escarlata

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.

Captain Scarlett is a very entertaining and enjoyable swashbuckler, I was shocked to see the low ratings (4.7/10!) as I thought it great fun.

Richard Greene is perfect as the fast talking Captain Scarlett, with an equally quick blade along with the lesser known Leonora Amar as Princess Maria (the love interest) and Nedrick Young as Pierre DuCloux (the sidekick), they both do good jobs in their roles and have good chemistry with Greene.

The plot's the usual swashbuckler standard, although there are a few interesting points such as subverting the damsel in distress trope with Princess Maria initially rejecting Captain Scarlett's less than subtle advances, and he even teaches her to swordfight remarking that "I've always wondered why Princesses weren't taught something useful like duelling". Excitingly a lot of the film is action based with many swordfights and it's only 75 minutes long so little time to get bored, whilst the swordfighting isn't as good as Errol Flynn or the like it's still well choregraphed with good sound effects, and more to the point is entertaining.

7/10: A good swashbuckler, I suggest finding the colourised version. A joy for Richard Greene fans

I really do not know if the commentator who gave this joint of ham 10/10 had seen the same film as the rest of us or was indulging in a strong piece of "ironic narrative". My views accord mostly with the comments of all the other reviewers. Richard Greene makes a passable central figure/hero, (in fact, given the time the film was made - just three years before Greene began the long-running British TV series, "The Adventures of Robin Hood", starring in the central role himself, of course, - I felt at times that I was almost watching a 'dress rehearsal' for the TV series and wondering if there was any connection between the two, e.g. did Lew Grade's talent scouts see this film and think of Greene for the green tights role as a result?)Unlike another commentator, I also found the sword fight scenes quite well done, (again conjuring up visions of 'Robin Greene' swashbuckling with the Sheriff of Nottingham's 'baddies'), and the Technicolour could not be any 'lusher' at all. That is as far as it goes, though. The 'plot', (if you can find it), is less than you would have got in any weekly comic of the period, the rest of the acting is somewhere between insipid and atrocious and, in particular, the music score must be one of the worst ever composed/inflicted on a cinema audience. A shame, really. Some improvements in any of the latter regards would have made the film reasonably enjoyable and worth a second viewing. On the other hand, if someone worse than Greene had been in the lead, it would have had a very good chance indeed of being rated as a truly toe-curling, cringe-inducing 'Golden Turkey' of all time. As it is, one for viewing while ironing on a windy winter afternoon and then forgetting.

I fear that other reviewers have failed to recognize this movie for what it is: a fine example of a 1950s Saturday afternoon double feature film. The principal actors are obviously enjoying themselves, and we should too. Yes, there's lots of filler, yes much is predicable. That's why I just relaxed and enjoyed it. Here's an analogy from another movie: Errol Flynn is in Queen Elizabeth's castle. An enormous piece of dark cloth hangs on a bare stone wall near the top of a steep stone stairway. The cloth serves no purpose that an Elizabethan interior decorator would accept. A few scenes later, Mr. Flynn is about to descend these stairs when he sees three miscreants with drawn swords waiting for him. What does Mr. Flynn do? Why he grabs hold of that cloth, swings down upon those extras, and …

Besides, as a student of history I learned several things about France after Napoleon's defeat. Day and night switched back and forth unpredictably. As one was pursued by horsemen this might happen several times during a single pursuit. Small orchestras accompanied these horsemen but never interfered with the pursuit. (This, of course, was also true in the Old West, but Restoration France's orchestras were slightly larger.) Clothing never got dirty, even though one wore it day after day. Expensive seeming scarlet (a.k.a. scarlett) cloaks were so readily available that at least six of them could be lent to local villagers who sought to imitate our hero. As is still sadly true, men (well, one man … our hero) pursued women who never would become properly submissive wives and whose conversation would cease to be interesting after a very few years. Men who had pistols usually forwent their use in order to fight each other with dueling swords. (For some reason this wise practice didn't continue in the Old West, despite that one almost never hit anyone no matter how many shots one fired at them from Old West pistols, whereas with a trusty sword …)

Internet Archive offers this film free. As a still-loyal member of ABCDEFGHI, I recommend it for late-evening viewing. ("What's this alphabet stuff?" American Boys Concerned to Defend Errol Flynn's Good Honorable Intentions, that's what!)

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.