Capitaine Casse-Cou

This story was written by a famous writer Kenneth Roberts and this story takes place at the beginning of the War of 1812. An American merchant ship was sailing from Maine and was attacked by the British Navy and the captain was killed and his daughter, Corunna Dorman,(Louise Platt) took command of the ship and Corunna wanted her boyfriend, Daniel Marvin, (Victor Mature) to be the first mate, however, Dan had different ideas. Corunna then decides to make Dan jealous and becomes close to Lehrman Slade,(Bruce Cabot) who is a man that is self-centered and only cares about his own future and disregards anyone else on the ship. Leo Carrillo,(Lucien Argandeau) gives a great supporting role as a first mate to Daniel Marvin. There is plenty of cannons going off and ships colliding with each other and plenty of swords flashing. If you look real close, you will see a very young Alan Ladd playing a very minor role, but Hollywood was watching him and his next role would be "This Gun for Hire". Nice entertaining 1940 Class film.

This is one of a multitude of films (usually of the swashbuckling-adventure variety) whose title is “Captain” someone or other; its executive producer Hal Roach had himself just directed CAPTAIN FURY (1939) which, like the film under review, I should also be watching projected on a big screen in the near future. In fact, this is my third such venture to a private theater – which appointments are frequently organized by a mutual friend of the owner (a collector of classic films on 16 and 35mm) and mine – after THE SILVER CHALICE (1954) and THE VEILS OF BAGHDAD (1953); for the record, next up should be the similarly seafaring but Technicolored RAIDERS OF THE SEVEN SEAS (1953).

Victor Mature’s third film has him in dashing form as the rugged yet peace-loving navigator hero of the title (dubbed so by the heroine herself) who’s forced into action when his on-off fiancée’s captain father is killed in battle by the British Navy during the1812 War. The daughter, who also takes her father’s place on the ship and makes some unwise alliances, is played by Louise Platt – best-known as the child-bearing snob in John Ford’s STAGECOACH (1939) – and, while being fairly decent in the role, she evidently lacks the charisma and magnetism of a Maureen O’Hara (who would later make that kind of part her own).

The film (whose director would later also helm the Douglas Fairbanks Jr. vehicle SINBAD THE SAILOR [1947]) itself, while generally fast-paced and entertaining, is clearly below the standard of the far classier stuff Errol Flynn was concurrently filming at Warner Bros.; still, it strives to rise above these B-movie origins by packing as much action as it possibly can into the trim 85-minutes running-time – including a gladiatorial bout between Mature and a hulking, laughing brute aboard an English ship for the amusement of the aristocrats (actually serving as cover for an escape attempt below deck), and many energetic fistfights between sailors and pirates of opposing nations.

The characters are mostly caricatures – a duplicitous first mate, a stuttering stooge, a mandolin-playing immigrant, a womanizing Frenchman and his shrewish wife, a constantly grumbling old sea-hand, etc. – but the cast is interesting enough (Bruce Cabot, Leo Carillo, Roscoe Ates, Aubrey Mather and even a bearded Alan Ladd as a rabble-rousing prisoner) to keep one watching nonetheless. The condition of the print was (understandably) hardly optimal given the film’s age and status, with the hiss-filled soundtrack and some wobbly images being particular liabilities; however, as long as films of this vintage don’t appear on DVD (though TCM USA does occasionally screen such unassuming but undeniably fun fare), I’ll take any option that’s available to me.

When her father is killed by the British, his daughter (Louise Platt) and first mate (Victor Mature) take control of the ship to fight the British during the War of 1812.

Captain Caution comes across a sort of cheap version of The Sea Hawk. While Kenneth Roberts' most famous novel, Northwest Passage, was getting the MGM treatment in Technicolor, Captain Caution was being made by Hal Roach (of the Little Rascals fame) on a much smaller budget (and not in color). That's not to say Captain Caution is a bad film; it's completely average.

Victor Mature is suitably dashing as the hero, while Leo Carrillo provides good comic support. Louise Platt, fresh off her role in Stagecoach, is frankly annoying as the female lead, while Bruce Cabot is his usual dull self as the baddie. Alan Ladd was apparently in it as a sailor, but I didn't see him.

There's a couple good action sequences and some nice model work, but other than that, Captain Caution is completely undistinguishable from various other seafaring films in the 40s.

The first few minutes of this film hooked me and I had hopes that it would be an excellent film. After all, the idea of a film set during the War of 1812 was intriguing--this is a subject rarely talked about in movies. However, after a short time, it became obvious that the film was high on the anachronism factor--in other words, having people behaving totally uncharacteristically from that time period. The notion of a lady sea captain setting off to attack and punish the British just never would have or could have happened in 1812. While this was silly, it still didn't mean the film couldn't have been exciting. Unfortunately, even if you ignore this plot problem, about a half hour into the film it also became amazingly dull and talky. Instead of an Errol Flynn-style adventure film, it just all ground to an almost complete halt. Sure, it picked up for the rousing conclusion, but by then I had really lost interest and just wanted the whole thing to end due to poor writing. Plus, in this conclusion, it made fighting in a naval battle look FUN! This "fun" element is pretty stupid as well as a bit disturbing--and further evidence it is a mediocre film.

I had totally forgotten this adventure film made by the director of SINBAD THE SAILOR, another famous adventure film, but taking place in another period...Here, the story takes place in 1812 and the message is - what a surprise - a bit anti British, instead of being anti Nazi - or simply anti German. But the director Richard Wallace was a comedy film maker instead of action films and from time to time, we can feel it properly thru light touches that we would not have found in a Raoul Walsh or Michael Curtiz's film, for instance. But the most important, the action matter, are also effective and this all long the movie. I also forgot that Victor Mature had already begun in thee business in 1940, and in a lead role....