Capitaine Scarlett

A rather paunchy Richard Greene treads water in this lively little swashbuckler shot in feverish colour with Mexico standing in for southern France before trading in his scarlet cloak (which does rather make him stand out) for Lincoln green and taking his crusade on behalf of the underdog to Sherwood Forest.

Brazilian leading lady Leonora Amar is a feisty Maid Marian wielding a sword in blouse, britches and boots; while given the theme sidekick Nedrick Young and writer-producer Howard Dimsdale were not surprisingly both soon blacklisted.

"Following the defeat of Napoleon, France was in a state of unrest. Many of the Royalists who had fled to England returned to exact vengeance for their real and fancied wrongs. Some turned the situation to their personal advantage...becoming Tyrants and Petty Dictators...."

Set in France but filmed in Mexico, Captain Scarlett is a hum-drum swashbuckler short on thrills, spills and originality of story. Richard Greene stars as the titular Scarlett, who sets about righting wrongs as he gathers supporters and catches the eyes of the babes. It's a sort of low rent Robin Hood, the Gallic version, Greene is dandy as usual, the costuming pleasing and with it running at just 75 minutes it moves along fast enough and doesn't outstay its welcome. But it's all pretty stale and way down on the list of swashbucklers to see before you die. 4/10

This should have been a classic swashbuckler in the tradition of Zorro, Robin Hood, and Captain Blood. It has a good, traditional, premise (young nobleman returns home to find his home and land taken over by the bad guy, and then tries to get back his land, right wrongs, and free the oppressed, all while making loyal friends and falling in love), but the poor acting, directing, and way too cheesy script (so bad it's funny) ruin this movie for the sophisticated viewer. I loved this film as a child, however (the poor acting and super cheesy script did not bug me then), especially the fact that he teaches the girl (Princess Maria) how to sword fight (in one of the few good lines in the film he comments that no one has taught her anything useful - her skills up to that point being embroidery, dancing, etc).

I really wish Disney or some other company would remake this movie in to something better, instead of remaking good old films into something worse. Saddly, I fear this film has been forgotten by the big studios and that I will have to content myself with the fact that many of the things I enjoyed in the movie as a child (like the sword fighting Princess, and the way they trick the bad guys in by all dressing as Captain Scarlet) have been used since in other, better made movies.

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

Set in France in the years following the fall of Napoleon, Captain Scarlett seems to have been very much inspired by the legends of Robin Hood and Zorro. Captain Scarlett (Greene) returns to France to discover that his lands have been seized by an unscrupulous nobleman. After saving Princess Maria (Amar) and being joined by a man named Pierre (Young) who has also lost his lands, the group proceeds on a series of adventures in the fight for justice.

Sadly, "Captain Scarlett" is a highly flawed film. Its villains are incompetent bumblers, the music score is often out of place, the fight scenes often poorly done, and acting generally weak. Some scenes shot on soundstages are particularly poorly done. Overall, the film is mediocre at best. Nevertheless, die hard fans of classic adventure films and swashbucklers might want to give this one a chance. Be warned, however, that "Captain Scarlett" has the feel of a comic book and that plausibility is largely lacking.