Wuchakk

In the mid-1800s, several children are transported from Jamaica to England when a pirate ship inadvertently apprehends them.

"A High Wind in Jamaica" (1965) is a cinematic version of the 1929 novel by Richard Hughes. It tackles challenging material that is difficult to pull off in film. However, if you pay attention to the subtle evidence, there are potent things to glean from the story.

For instance, it's clear that the pirate captain (Anthony Quinn) experiences long-buried tender feelings as the kids become his sort of substitute family, especially Emily (Deborah Baxter). You could say they're kindred spirits despite one being 49 years-old and the other 10.

James Coburn is effective as the first mate and best friend of the captain. The King of Cool would go on to star in "Our Man Flint" the next year.

One thing that arguably holds the film back is the frequent use of languages besides English, whether Spanish, Dutch or Creole dialects (I'm not sure which ones were used exactly). Yet this offers a sense of realism to the proceedings. Another element that is sort of off-putting is that the pirates come across as dirty, lawless and ignoble, but this can hardly be a criticism since pirate crews were the express opposite of the royal navies of Euro monarchies.

Despite the presence of the kids, the tone is similar to Quinn's "Barabbas" from four years earlier, just with the milieu of the open sea.

While not as compelling as "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1962) or "The Bounty" this is nevertheless a worthwhile ship movie from the Age of (Old) Imperialism.

It runs 1 hour, 43 minutes, and was shot in Jamaica and the waters nearby with studio work done just west of London.

GRADE: B/B-

After a tragic bombing during the Suez Crisis in November, 1956, an English lad is forced to flee Port Said, Egypt, and travel to Durban, South Africa, a journey of some 5000 miles. Along the way he runs into an Arab "guide," a concerned white woman tourist (Constance Cummings) and an old man hunter (Edward G. Robinson).

"A Boy Ten Feet Tall" (1963) is also known by the name of the 1961 novel it's based on, "Sammy Going South" (an inferior title). It's, thankfully, not a Disney kid's flick, but more along the lines of the future "The Black Stallion Returns" and, especially, "Duma," which happens to be the best of the lot. Both this movie and "Duma" feature a galago (bush baby) scene.

The director went on to do "A High Wind in Jamaica," which is cut from the same cloth, an exotic adventure featuring kids and adults.

It runs 1 hour, 53 minutes, and was shot at Shepperton Studios, just southwest of London, with location work done in Kenya (Mombasa), Uganda and Tanganyika, which is now Tanzania.

GRADE: B-

In the Badlands of North Dakota, 1890, a nun (Tiffany Cornwell) helps a wounded outlaw (Daniel Bielinski) and uses him to find a remote church facility, but the man's former boss, an arrogant sadist, doesn't take kindly to this (Andrew E. Wheeler).

"Sanctified" (2022) takes the basic premise of "Two Mules for Sister Sara" and mixes it with the gritty realism of life on the prairie in the Old West of "Bad Company" (1972). It's a morality tale that examines the toughest questions of life, such as 'Is there a God?' and 'If there is a God, why does he allow people to brutally suffer in a godforsaken world?'

It pulls no punches and is reminiscent of "The Proposition" in some ways.

It runs 1 hour, 29 minutes, and was shot in Medora in west-central North Dakota.

GRADE: B.