Le faucon d'or

When I saw that Sam Katzman was the producer of THE GOLDEN HAWK, I really wasn't expecting much, given his reputation for turning out dozens of low-budget potboilers during his long career. In 1952 alone, the year of this film's release, he produced nine features (five of them in color) and three 15-chapter serials. Yet I was pleasantly surprised by THE GOLDEN HAWK. It had a much more intricate story than usual for Katzman's pirate "epics," boasted much better production values, and offered a more high-powered pair of leads-Sterling Hayden and Rhonda Fleming--than we usually got from him. I'm guessing that Katzman lavished more care on this because the source material-a best-seller by prominent historical novelist Frank Yerby-was more prestigious than anything he usually had to work with. Only one previous Yerby novel had resulted in a screen adaptation-THE FOXES OF HARROW, a lavish 1948 historical drama from 20th Century Fox which starred Rex Harrison and Maureen O'Hara-and only one subsequent work was adapted-THE SARACEN BLADE (1954), also produced by Katzman.

I was especially taken with Rhonda Fleming's character, who has more than one name in the course of the film, given the multiple identities she takes on. We see her most often as "Rouge," a notorious English pirate queen who is frequently at odds with the hero of the piece, French privateer Kit Gerardo (Hayden), despite the fact that they're in love with each other. She even shoots him at one point when he enters her bedroom and looms over her in her sleep. (It isn't what she thinks it is, but how was she supposed to know that?) Fleming has a dramatic scene where she lambastes Gerardo and his pirate crew for pillaging the land she'd successfully developed into a Caribbean plantation under a new identity during a long absence from the narrative. A bigger-budget Hollywood historical drama might have focused more on her character and the turn of events that created the plantation.

Helena Carter (INVADERS FROM MARS) is quite good as Bianca de Valdiva, a Spanish lady who falls for Gerardo but winds up marrying his chief nemesis, Captain Luis del Toro (John Sutton), a Spanish officer charged with ridding the region of French pirates and privateers. Carter has a regal quality about her as she deals with each of the characters in turn and sizes them up properly before deciding what course of action is best for her. She and Fleming have a heart-to-heart talk late in the film that's actually quite moving. It's the kind of thing we don't see often from women characters in these types of genre films. John Sutton as the Spanish captain is not the cardboard villain he was in so many of these films (e.g. CAPTAIN PIRATE, SANGAREE), but a fair-minded man with secret knowledge about Gerardo that invokes a compassionate response.

Hayden's pirate team consists of Paul Cavanaugh, Michael Ansara, and Raymond Hatton, and all three actors are in the film from beginning to end and seem to be having the time of their lives. Cavanaugh was 63 when he made this and Hatton was 64 (and usually playing old coots in westerns by this point), yet the characters are quite vigorous and the two performers engage in a lot of physical action. Speaking of which, Fleming and Hayden perform a lot of action as well. Hayden seems to do all of his own swordfighting in a duel early on with Cavanaugh (who's doubled in much of the scene), while Fleming does a swimming scene that looks pretty rigorous. There is a climactic battle between the French fleet at sea and the Spanish fortress at Cartagena which is pretty spectacular for a sequence chiefly involving miniatures and studio sets.

I can't vouch for the historical accuracy of the film, only for its entertainment value as a mid-range studio genre film with colorful sets and costumes, plenty of action, a fast pace, intriguing characters and lively, energetic performers. Finally, there's a sequence set in an island village that's worth singling out. A pair of dancers puts on quite a sexy show for the pirates, which sets the pulses racing for both Hayden and Carter, although they don't get to do much about it. However, I'd sure like to know who those dancers are. IMDB has no credit for either one of them.

I'm a fan of the genre - nothing better than a good swashbuckling adventure on the high seas. Well, actually there are plenty better than this rather poor effort. Sterling Hayden is certainly no natural as the eponymous privateer "Kit Gerardo" caught up in the Napoleonic war in the Caribbean. His marauding is perilous, though, particularly once he rescues the feisty "Rouge" (Rhonda Fleming) and discovers that she is also in his line of work - and out to avenge herself on the French. As the warfare hots up, the affianced of the Governor is also apprehended. "Bianca de Valdiva" (Helena Carter) takes a shine to our hero, but he has already taken a shine to "Rouge" but she in turn is trying to get the governor "del Toro" (John Sutton) to catch and hang the man! Still with me? Well, one further complication arises as we discover just why "Kit" is so determined to bring down the governor. To be fair, it does finish strongly with a good hearty battle, but the build up and relentless chatter robs the film of much pace or sense of peril and nobody at all in front of the camera is having a very good - or convincing - day. The production is a bit basic and stage bound which doesn't help, but at the end of the day this is just a let down that has little to redeem it.

Directed by a specialist of this kind of topics, Sidney Salkow already gave us RAIDERS OF THE SEVEN SEAS and PRINCE OF THE PIRATES too. Besides, Columbiia Pictures also provided such films: LAST OF THE BUCCANEERS. This is not at the scale as SPANISH MAIN, ANNE OF THE INDIES nor BLACKBEARD THE PIRATE, but it can esaily match AGAINST ALL FLAGS, BUCCANEER'S GIRL (Universal Pictures and CARIBBEAN (Paramount Studios). I was surprissed to see Rhonda Fleming here, she who was under contract - if I am right - with Paramount whilst Yvonne de Carlo was at Universal for this kind of material. So this film is a good surprise for pirtes movies buffs, despite the producer Sam Katzman whose it is one of his best efforts, compared to what he gave us with director Bill Castle for instance. Great scenes or fighting for such a low budget.

Kit Gerardo, also known as The Hawk, is one of Frances's most daring privateers, rescues Rouge from a Spanish ship. She is also a pirate, working to restore the fortune the French took from her. When Kit is captured by the governor of Cartagena, Luis del Toro, Rouge demands that he be hanged for piracy. Only one person knows it, but Kit is the governor's son.

The Golden Hawk has all the usual ingredients of a pirate romp: ship, adventures, sword fights, plots/counter plots and gunpowder explosions and of course romance - there's a little twist regarding the man Golden Hawk wants to kill. It's a bit melodramatic and sometimes talky but the sprightly sword fights and ship battles as well as the beautiful ladies like Rhonda Fleming uplifts this film. As for Sterling Hayden, he's an odd choice as a dashing pirate captain, a Casanova of the high seas, and largely he isn't too bad. He's a bit more alive than he's in other films. But someone like John Payne would've been a better fit.

Although Rhonda Fleming and Maureen O'Hara were both Titian-tressed beauties whom technicolor was seemingly invented, O'Hara was known for playing the kind of parts that she would have been playing in The Golden Hawk, that of a lady pirate. I wonder if Sam Katzman sent this script to the wrong redhead or he couldn't get O'Hara and settled for Rhonda Fleming.

As history I really couldn't quite figure out just when The Golden Hawk is taking place. We've got Spanish pirate John Sutton, French pirate Sterling Hayden, and English lady pirate Fleming. Add to that Helena Carter who is the promised bride of Sutton who Hayden holds for a ransom at one point. So we've got the nationalities straight, but I couldn't figure out the time and place historically for how these alliances seem to shift and change.

As for the casting these are all competent players, but Sterling Hayden is as French as Anna May Wong. As for Sutton, fine actor that he is why didn't Sam Katzman go get Gilbert Roland who would have been believable. Maybe he did and Roland turned him down.

The hidden plot gimmick is that there's something going on between Sutton and Hayden which I can't reveal. There are some nice battle sequences, but that's the best thing The Golden Hawk has to recommend it.

Maureen and Gilbert dodged a bullet with this one.