Sangue Rebelde

When I started watching "Captain Lightfoot", I was taken aback when I saw that Rock Hudson was playing an Irish highway man! But, after getting over the shock, I realized that Hudson wasn't 100% terrible...at least when he remembered to use his Irish accent! But, as I just noted...he often sounded like Rock Hudson and only sometimes remembered the accent. I really don't blame him so much....it was the director's job to notice these sorts of things. Amazingly, it was directed by the very well respected Douglas Sirk....who made some of Douglas' best films. It also was a big budget production...filmed on location in Ireland and in color.

When the story begins, Michael Martin (Hudson) is a cheap and rather dim highwayman along with his friend. But they aren't very good at it and soon end up in really serious trouble with the law when one of their victims pulls Michael's mask off. So, he needed to go into hiding and is rescued by a traveling priest....or at least someone PRETENDING to be a priest. The man turns out to be the infamous Captain Thunderbolt (Jeff Morrow)...a combination Irish patriot, gambler and highwayman. But unlike Michael, he has class and common sense and soon Thunderbolt dubs Michael 'Captain Lightfoot' and makes him his second in command.

A bit later, Thunderbolt is shot and injured during one of his incursions. While in hiding and recovering, he asks Lightfoot to take command of his gambling house AND his household...including his headstrong daughter, Aga (Barbara Rush). You just KNOW that this means sooner or later, the pair will become lovers (I am referring to Aga and Lightfoot, not Thunderbolt and Lightfoot). What's next for these folks? See the film.

Despite being about highwaymen and crime, this film turned out to be a costume drama. Much of the time, folks are wearing colorful fancy outfits, dancing and living in luxury...not the sort of thing you might expect in a film about Irish patriots/bandits. Again, you could see that Universal really pulled out the stops with this one...with a large budget and lots of gloss.

So is it any good? Yes...very good...but not great. The acting is generally good (apart from a few missing accents...not just from Hudson), the locations lovely and the story engaging.

While Douglas Sirk won't be everybody's cup of tea, which was as true then as to now, he was an interesting director. Perhaps best known for the last of his three primary periods which consisted namely of melodramas, that were always very well made and mostly well acted too but were either intense and moving or pure soap and unintentional camp. Another main reason for seeing 'Captain Lightfoot' was for one of his main lead actors Rock Hudson, who gave some of his best work under Sirk (with him being one of not many directors to fully understand Hudson's strengths).

'Captain Lightfoot', made when Sirk was nearing the end of his middle period, is not among the best films of either of them or one of the best of its genre. Sirk did better with especially 'Imitation of Life' and 'All That Heaven Allows'. As far as his filmography goes 'Captain Lightfoot' is around middle of the pack level. Hudson though comes off better and one can see why he was a popular leading man at the time and in Sirk's, who again really knew what to do with him and what he particularly excelled in, films.

Hudson is an immensely likeable lead, with such an endearing good nature and the charm and charisma factors are there. Barbara Rush is alluring and not too sugary, her chemistry with Hudson is sensitively charming and even if it is very cliched it didn't feel too rushed. Jeff Morrow is even better than the two of them, his performance brimming with authority. The supporting cast are not exceptional but are sturdy enough. Sirk's direction has skill and has some energy.

The film looks great, being very lavishly produced and the photography is very sumptuous. The music has the right amount of heroism, sensitivity and edge. Enough of the writing amuses and charms and the story likewise in parts.

At other points though, the story seemed a little uneventful and could have done with more oomph pace-wise. With the pacing sometimes being rather dull and not containing enough excitement. The script would have been better than it turned out if time constraints were kinder to it, there was a rushedly-written feel to it and with not enough time to give any depth to the characters or what goes on. Which all felt underdeveloped, with some vague politics, and some real credulity straining.

Sirk's direction has moments but he didn't seem in full command of the story, some of it came over as routine.

Overall, worth the look but not great. 6/10

Very unusual for a 1950's Universal costume adventure, Captain Lightfoot sports expensive, elaborate production values. It benefits greatly from extensive location shooting, beautifully photographed, and fancifully but tastefully colorful sets and costumes.

Hudson and Rush are excellent as dashing hero and his spitfire lady.

There's an effective mix of action, romantic comedy, and melodrama--all well staged.

Too bad the script is weak; often the character relationships and decisions characters make stretch credibility to the point of distraction.

Contrary to what a couple of other reviewers here said, I thought most of the supporting cast so-so, Abby Players or not. None of the fun, charisma, and panache that British-Hollywood baddies like Basil Rathbone, Claude Raines, and Henry Daniel brought to similar material.

Universal in the early Fifties was a decidedly second rate studio in desperate need of a star of their own. Director Douglas Sirk spotted Rock Hudson in a bit role and sensed star potential. Sirk almost single handedly coached and groomed Hudson towards stardom, which was achieved with the wildly successful "Magnificent Obsession" (1954). They would make eight movies together, "Captain Lightfoot" being the fourth, and the first in which Hudson would appear as an established star.

Hudson's newfound stardom is palpable throughout the movie. He exudes a boyish confidence as yet unseen in his work making this the joyful romp that Sirk intended. He is matched by a feisty Barbara Rush who played opposite him in the inferior "Taza, Son of Cochise" and supported by an cast of Irish players vastly superior to the bit players Universal would have supplied had the movie not been shot in Ireland.

Sirk's Hollywood career can be divided into three phases. First, the early years in a new country, finding his feet with some solid, if unexciting movies. The middle period was characterized by light weight comedies and trying his hand at different genres such as the western, the costume and historical dramas. Finally, would be his golden period of the melodramas for which he became famous. "Captain Lightfoot" signals the end of the middle period.

While extremely enjoyable, it lacks sufficient substance to make it memorable. Sirk fans would naturally not want to miss this, but Rock Hudson fans in particular should seek this out. He seldom seemed to be truly having such a good time as here when flexing his new grown wings of stardom.

This is not really a drama;this is not a story of sound and fury either. Sirk's swashbuckler is a bit tongue-in -cheek .He often makes a fool of his hero (Rock Hudson ,his favourite actor ,he will be featured in many other Sirk works including the stunning "magnificent obsession" and "written on the wind" ): he tries to help captain Thunderbolt to escape and ends up himself in prison;on the roof he unintentionally rings the bell.Barbara Rush (another Sirk's favourite:she will team up with Hudson again in " Taza" and "obsession")gets a good whacking.The political side remains vague and neither the Irish nor the English seem to take it seriously although it's not really a comedy.But the main interest is the splendid cinematography ,the marvelous landscapes :the scene when Lightfoot and Regis try to escape and end up in the river is masterfully filmed.There's something nonchalant ,which makes "captain Lightfoot" a distant cousin of "a scandal in Paris" (1946) in Sirk's filmography.

That said,it's entertaining but I do not think that it ranks with the director's best films.