This movie begins with an American adventurer named "Captain Phillip Kent" (Rod Cameron) who is on his way to Monterey with a load of new rifles for the Mexican garrison stationed there to help them in their fight against pirates and Royalists who want control of the region known as Alta California. With him is his good friend "Sergeant Pio" (Mikhail Rasumny), who talks incessantly about the women he has already met and those who have yet to know him. Along the way, they observe a wagon traveling at high speed and carrying two women, which loses a wheel and overturns. Naturally, Captain Kent and Sergeant Pio ride to the scene to render assistance. It's at this time that Captain Kent meets the lovely "Senorita Marguerita Novarro" (Maria Montez), who tells him they are hurrying to catch the stagecoach to Monterey. Although that is the same destination Captain Kent and Sergeant Pio are headed for, they deliberately mislead Senorita Novarro because their mission is extremely secretive. However, being a gentleman, he offers her safe conduct to the nearby town of Los Angeles instead. Unfortunately, Sergeant Pio accidentally lets their destination slip, and this results in both Senorita Novarro and her companion "Filomena" (Tamara Shayne) sneaking into the wagon when Captain Kent heads out for Monterey in the morning. What neither Captain Kent nor Senorita Novarro quite realize is that there is trouble brewing at the garrison, and they are headed right into it. Now, rather than reveal any more of this film and risk ruining it for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that, unless one is well-read on the history of California, it might be somewhat difficult to understand everything that is going on. For example, the "pirates" aren't exactly the skull-and-crossbones type that many might expect. Instead, they are essentially mercenaries acting under the orders of the Royalists who seek to destabilize the entire region for both military and political reasons. That said, this is more of a "Western film" than a "Pirate movie." On that note, while I found this movie to be somewhat interesting, I must admit that I didn't care for the character of Sergeant Pio that much, as his constant warbling about women got to be rather annoying. On the other hand, I thought the presence of Maria Montes--and to a lesser extent that of Gale Sondergaard (as the Governor's wife "Senora de Sola"), was quite refreshing. Be that as it may, this turned out to be an okay Western movie, and I rate it as about average.
