La ley del pirata

Cool effort at a big-budgeted retro-adventure about a highly regarded pirate , who results to be a woman : Anne Bonnie , or Captain Providence , a notorious sea-dog lady . Thrilling and moving adventure about pirates of the Caribbean with Anne Bonnie (Jean Peters) , a pirate woman on the high seas who navigates along with his crew : her second-in-command (James Robertson Justice) , a drunk doctor (Herbert Marshall) and other underlings . During a ship attack , Anne ¨Providence¨ meets the French Pierre LaRochelle (Louis Jourdan) , but she spares his life from walking the plank . Rochelle teams up with the group of pirates , as he signs on as a seaman and she is increasingly drawn to him , a feeling that seems to be mutual . When famous Captain Blackbeard (Thomas Gomez who has a high old time and steals the show as the fearsome buccaneer), her preceptor in the ways of pirating , sets eyes on LaRochelle he recalls him as a French navy officer and then things go awry . Shortly after , Anne is double-crossed and she , then , seeks vengeance in the Dead man's cay .

Storming , moving spectacular saga of history's fabulous pirate queen with lots of derring do . This lusty pirate drama has plenty of punch and pace , emotion , as well as amusement . The action and fencing scenes are choreographed with an unity and surge of which all the best Hollywood filmmakers would have been proud . Combination of overwhelming battle ships , sword-play and full of villainy , romance , swashbuckler and heroism . ¨Anne of the Indies¨ contains enough swashbuckling for half-a-dozen pirate films . This picture is fast-moving , exciting , stirring and thrilling right up to the almost climatic final confrontation between two fabulous ships captained by Anne and Blackbeard . Intelligently budgeted using miniature sets and ship shots from other films when possible . Enjoyable script by Philip Dunne and Arthur Caesar who give several stirring and buccaneering elements , including a love story , jealousy , treason and subsequently , revenge . Nice acting by Jean Peters as the dashing and highly regarded heroine figure , a gorgeous lady buccaneer who stands up in this rousing adventure . Jean Peters sadly lost to the big screen when she married billionaire-recluse Howard Hughes ; she starred some successful films as ¨Apache¨, ¨Broken lance¨ and ¨Niagara¨. Fine , handsome Louis Jourdan as a former captain who uses his cunning in order to recover his ship impounded by the British . Debra Paget is given the opportunity to show both spirit and a lovely wardrobe . Very good support cast in this historical/pirate/adventure tale of heroism and swordplay , standing out the followers support actors : Thomas Gomez as a really villainous buccaneer , James Robertson Justice , Sean McClory Carleton Young and special mention for Herbert Marshall as good-natured but drunken doctor . Furthermore , this bright and lively swashbuckler packs an evocative cinematography by Harry Jackson . Admirable Technicolor photography is effective particularly in the breathtaking naval battle scenes . This story of piracy in the Caribbean displays an original and impressive musical score by Franz Waxman .

This sparky pirate adventure was well directed by talented filmmaker Jacques Tourneur . Production Company Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation achieved a considerable hit to match the pace and technical standard of the best Hollywood pirate movies . This film turns to be a classic pirate movie along with other vintage movies , such as : ¨Captain Blood¨ by Michael Curtiz with Error Flynn , ¨Sea Hawk¨ by Curtiz with Errol Flynn , ¨The black swan¨ by Henry King with Tyrone Power , ¨Treasure island¨ by Victor Fleming with Wallace Beery , ¨Blackbeard¨ by Raoul Walsh with Robert Newton , among others . Rating : 7/10 , above average pirate movie , entertaining as well as stirring stuff that provides audience amusement . Enjoyable production packs enough thrills , breathtaking sea battles , tempestuous romance and exciting situations for a good time . It will appeal to pirate movies aficionados .

This is one of several period sea-faring yarns of its era, which has the added distinction (although not in itself unique) of a female buccaneer at its center. At first, both leads – Jean Peters and Louis Jourdan – might seem miscast but they grow nicely into their roles eventually, thanks no doubt to the talented players (Herbert Marshall, Thomas Gomez and James Robertson Justice) who support them. Velvety-voiced Marshall is uncharacteristically cast as the ship’s obligatory philosophical lush of a doctor, and Gomez is suitably larger-than-life as Blackbeard The Pirate.

The cast is completed by Debra Paget as Jourdan’s wife, who incurs the jealous rage of the tomboyish titular character in whom Jourdan instills the first pangs of love (which, however, does not spare him the occasional flogging or sword-wound); incidentally, the film was the second exotic teaming of Jourdan and Paget in one year, following Delmer Daves’ BIRD OF PARADISE. The direct result of this unexpected softening of Anne’s character is her falling out with Blackbeard’s crew, and her unlikely climactic sacrifice in order to save the lives of the stranded Jourdan, Paget and Marshall.

While the film is not a particularly outstanding example of its type, Jacques Tourneur’s energetic direction and Franz Waxman’s grandiose score ensure an above-average effort that moves along at a brisk pace; incidentally, Tourneur had already done service in the genre with the superior Burt Lancaster vehicle, THE FLAME AND THE ARROW (1950). As usual with vintage Technicolor productions, the cinematography gives the film a sumptuousness that is invigorating. By the way, differing running-times are given for this film (81 or 87 minutes) and, for the record, the version I watched was the shorter one.

The usual trappings of a pirate movie are here: sailing ships, Caribbean waters, firing cannons, powdered wigs, floggings, gold doubloons, sailors with peg-legs and eye patches, damsels in distress, etc. However, the captain of the pirate ship is a woman, which would seem to provide an opportunity for a fresh slant on an old genre. Unfortunately, Jean Peters seems uncomfortable in this part and her "toughness" never becomes more than a pose. Also, in a concession to the attitudes of the time, she isn't allowed to triumph but instead must "pay" for her usurpation of a male role by moving aside for the properly feminine Debra Paget. The result is a disappointingly conventional affair which, nonetheless, still delivers a passable hour-and-a-half of entertainment.

Like Jean Peters, Louis Jourdan seems miscast since his trademark brand of Continental charm and elegance doesn't fit a role that calls for a dashing athleticism. His physique also seems a bit too thin and pale to make him a suitable subject for a shirtless flogging -- perhaps the only flogging in mainstream movies in which the victim appears to be unconscious from beginning to end. (This scene ranks 95th in the book, "Lash! The Hundred Great Scenes of Men Being Whipped in the Movies.")

In Anne of the Indies, and not for the first time, Jacques Tourneur takes a fairly clichéd genre (a swashbuckling adventure film doesn't seem particularly flexible) and moulded it to his whim. Other examples include the lesbian subtext of Cat People and critique of populism in Canyon Passage.

And as with these two films, Anne of the Indies' genre bending and most of Tourneur's other semi-studio oddities, it works a charm.

This film is essentially a battle between the feminine and the masculine. Starring Jean Peters as the female-but-hardly pirate Captain Providence, Tourneur uses expectations of gender roles and genre to explore Providence's struggles with her sexual identity. In fact, she remains almost asexual - whilst she shows little interest in men, or only as sexual objects, she is similarly ambivalent (or downright hostile) to women, or "wenches".

Although the cinematography and lighting lacks the stylistic force that is inherent in so many of Tourneur's other films (Cat People, I Walked With A Zombie and Out of the Past most notably), the film is almost thematically flawless. Though these stylistic concerns are to the film's detriment, the script and Tourneur's ability to play strongly to subtle subtexts overcome such problems.

This movie was much better than I expected. ++++ Jean Peters actually does a passable job as a pirate and does decent work in her sword fights. (To the extent she may have a double doing the action, it's hard to tell...but Peters herself obviously is doing a good deal of it, and doing it well.) ++++ With a good and serious script, this could have been an excellent film. But it's basically cheesy. Still entertaining however. ++++ Not up to a regular Jacques Tournier film, but definitely above a regular Jean Peters film. Color is typical of this '50s time period, ie. too garish and not realistic. The actors for Blackbeard and her first mate and the drunken doctor were good. Louis Jordan was a bit weak. I don't think Debra Paget was right either. But certainly Jean Peters and Debra Paget were probably the two best looking female stars in the '50s.