L'avventuriero di New Orleans

I saw this on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) channel.

This 1951 melodrama, with its Gothic overtones stars a dashing, if rather old looking Errol Flynn and a caddish Vincent Price. Lead actress is the French Micheline Presle and she's a dark haired gypsy looking type of seductress, falling for mariner Flynn, of the title.

It seems set in the early 19th century, has stilted and corny dialogue that only the movies could endure and is, frankly, fairly slow and boring. One wonders why a movie with such a cast is not available on DVD, at least not on Amazon, not even as a region 1 and maybe that one has discovered a long lost gem. I've not heard of director William Marshall before and I won't be rushing to track down his other work.

Those craving to own everything that the three leads have ever appeared in are the likeliest to get some enjoyment out of it, but it's difficult to find anything here for an everyday, modern audience. It's not actually terrible but when one often wonders what else one should be doing instead, that's not a good sign.

There is a myth perpetuated by film buffs that a film can be so bad that it's good.

This is absolute nonsense of course as there is no such animal.

Even allowing for the directorial inexperience of 'actor' William Marshall this lamentable opus is just plain bad.

The leading lady is Micheline Presle(here billed as Prelle so as not to challenge non-European viewers!) It is hard to believe that she had previously appeared in 'Diable au Corps' and 'Les Jeux sont faites'. Being married at the time to Marshall was probably her excuse although her role as a Creole femme fatale no doubt looked good on paper.

Agnes Moorhead and Victor Francen are wasted and Vincent Price's character is so obnoxious as to be almost unwatchable. This was not a happy experience for Price as he was obliged to sue for 'unpaid salary'.

The score by Rene Cloerec is atrocious and the screenplay, allegedly written by leading man Errol Flynn, is aimed at the slowest-witted person watching.

The professional relationship between Flynn and Marshall was short-lived and doomed from the outset, resulting in a legal dispute over a semi-documentary pacifist piece called 'Hello God'.

Watching Flynn in this is a sad spectacle indeed. An actor in his prime who has simply ceased to care.

Ten years were to elapse before Marshall was again let loose on a film set resulting in 'The Phantom Planet' which is no doubt yet another that falls into the category 'so bad it's good'!

Micheline Presle stars as Lea Mariotte, a Creole maid in 1860 New Orleans. She gets accused of murder in order to cover up the misdeeds of local wealthy scion George Brissac (Vincent Price), but she gets freed thanks to the intervention of merchant sea captain Michael Fabian (Errol Flynn). Fabian has a score to settle with the Brissac family, but Lea sees George as her entry into posh society.

This odd movie doesn't really work, but I liked parts of it. Although a shirtless Flynn is featured in the promotional art, which combined with the title make this seem like a swashbuckler, he's really more of a supporting player, and this is Presle's film all the way (she was dating or married to the director at the time). To say that her character is complicated would be an understatement, as she's at times the most evil person in the movie, but then the script tries to make her actions seem justified. Many of the characters are morally dubious and hard to pin down.

The production values are excellent in some scenes, but amateurish in others. There's some nice (if obvious) miniature work, and some good crowd shots. Vincent Price is squirmy and entertainingly hammy, and Agnes Moorehead also chews the scenery as a Creole relative of Lea's. I also enjoyed seeing future European "B" movie staples Howard Vernon and Reggie Nalder in minor roles.

The production of this movie was troubled, with director Marshall being accused of incompetence and Robert Florey being brought in to shoot some scenes. Flynn himself is credited with the screenplay, although he was later sued by an associate who claimed to have worked on it. Speaking of litigation, there was more to go around, as Flynn sued Republic to try and get the film blocked from release (it would have violated his contract with Warner Brothers). It may not be good as in cohesive, but it is entertaining.

This is not an adventure film as the title might suggest, but a slow moving melodrama, with some good scenes. The film was made independentley in France, and from the beginning there was to have been two versions, one english and one frenchspeaking. Director Robert Florey, was hired to helm the frenchspeaking version, but it was never made. Instead Florey stayed on as uncredited assistant director to William Marshall, some scenes show his influence, and he directed most of the final dockside fight. It was also Florey who brought in actors Victor Francen and Jim Gerald, as well as art director Eugene Lourie to the project. The film is good to look at, photography(by Marcel Grignon) and settings are intriguing, but the direction is to slow to really keep intrest, but a few scenes near the end are well made. The acting is ok, Agnes Moorehead gives a fine performence, and Errol Flynn is interesting as a rough seacaptain, a toned down role in comparision with Micheline Presles flambouyant creole girl. Vincent Price is properly slimy as a spineless dandy and Victor Francen is seen to briefley as his grim uncle. The story is very old fashioned, a little "Monte Cristoish" in style, and have some curiosity value. This film must unfortenatly go down as a missed opportunity, although an interesting one, like Vincent Price later said: this should have been a very good film". Altough the film has flaws, its visually interesting also the music by Rene Cloerc has its moments. if you like oldfashioned, romantic melodramas, this could be worth watching and the final scene is inspired.

As stated in another review, bit of a slow mover this one. Not one of Flynn's best. Although Flynn is credited with writing this, it is believed the he didn't actually write any of this. In his biography "My Wicked, Wicked Ways", he stated that he did. But others from the time dispute that claim. Who knows, Flynn did author 2 books on his own, and would have preferred to be remembered as a good writer. But, all in all, this movie is good, not the best, but good and entertaining. Vincent Price does an excellent job, Anges Morehead, is as usual very dependable and shows why she is one of the better character actors in Hollywood. Errol Flynn, to me, appears half asleep though this movie. Strange, considering he boasted he wrote it. Not much of an adventure film.. But for Flynn fans, a good film, and should be seen..