Capitão Cauteloso

VICTOR MATURE was an actor on the rise in the early '40s and here he gets his star turn in what is essentially a "B" picture, more lavish in its appearance than most low-budget films, and interesting because it gives us a glimpse of the early ALAN LADD in the background. LOUISE PLATT is too demure in appearance to play the spitfire type the script designates, as the feisty daughter of slain sea captain ROBERT BARRAT.

BRUCE CABOT and LEO CARRILLO are among the Americans that get caught up in the skirmish aboard ship when the British attack during the War of 1812. The action sequences are robust enough but sub-standard in presentation. Cabot plays his usual role as a scheming villain with romantic notions about the captain's daughter and Carrillo is supposed to serve as comedy relief but gets on the nerves with his accent and obvious comic ways.

With plot complications that are typical of Kenneth Roberts' historical novels, none of it stirs more than ordinary interest--routine film-making at best from the Hal Roach studios.

Summing up: Action film ruined by a boring cast of cardboard characters not worth caring about and a very miscast leading lady.

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.

An early Victor Mature effort, CAPTAIN CAUTION tells the tale of a merchant vessel assaulted by the British at the start of the War of 1812. The vessel's captain is killed and his daughter (so-so actress Louise Platt) assumes command. She decides to pursue the British and is given the choice of Mature or Bruce (KING KONG) Cabot for first mate. The spot goes to Cabot, who turns out to be a privateer in the employ of the highest bidder, in this case the British. He convinces her to head for France rather than America, and once in port, the ship is taken. She unwisely stays with Cabot, who is now planning to sail for America, while Mature and his loyal followers are held prisoner. With the help of a very young Alan Ladd, Mature and the boys escape and pursue Cabot's ship. As you can imagine, the action never stops and the battle scenes are eye-popping even in black and white. Taken from a Kenneth Roberts novel, CAPTAIN CAUTION is a forgotten mini-masterpiece that only falls down whenever the leading lady takes center stage. But the young Victor Mature is pretty impressive in his two-fisted role and Cabot plays his traitor role just subtly enough to convince even the most jaded moviegoer. Plus the wonderful Leo (CISCO KID) Carillo is aboard for comic relief. Too bad the film wasn't shot in color.

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.

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.