Aventuras do Capitão Fabian

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'!

As one reviewer has already pointed out...not an adventure film. But it is a film filled with intrigue and treachery that stands up fairly well even in today's treacherous world. I found it on an old VHS tape...the leader had broken, and I had to break into the cassette housing to repair it and make it playable. It turned out to be well worth the effort. I had never seen it before, but I will be watching it again. There are definite flaws in the storyline, but the well written script by Errol Flynn helps compensate for some of those shortcomings. It's a story about lust, and greed and arrogance, and I think anyone who hasn't seen the film will find it very watchable and quite entertaining. Flynn, Aggie Moorhead and Vincent Price are, alone, worth the price of admission. Ms Moorhead was somewhat cast against type in this one, but she has the full character range that helps her to pull this off in somewhat believable fashion. In old New Orleans, just before the outbreak of the Civil War, the passions were already high, and it gets steamier--in the dramatic sense--as this film goes on. A good film that had greatness in its potential, an above average script, and some very compelling performances all combine to make this a film that I can recommend without hesitation.

Despite being named after Errol Flynn's character, as several other writers have observed it's not remotely the Technicolor swashbuckler promised by the title but a gothic black & white melodrama complete with Vincent Price as the sort of good-looking weakling he played in 'Dragonwyck'. The film is actually 'about' proud Creole temptress Micheline Presle (who turns 97 next week, by the way) clawing her way up from an existence that began ignominiously with her mother being hanged, but who quickly loses our sympathy since having married money she immediately starts treating her servants just as badly as she herself had formerly been.

It's a tinny, unfocused affair with far too much talk and too little action for most of it's duration; but handsomely designed and photographed and added atmosphere by the occasional use of a theremin on the soundtrack. Agnes Moorehead's character turn as pipe-smoking Aunt Jezebel anticipates her eccentric supporting role in 'Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte' nearly fifteen years later; while for connoisseurs of sophisticated 60's cinema there are youthful cameos from Howard Vernon ('Alphaville'), Gilles Queant ('Last Year at Marienbad') and Reggie Nalder ('The Manchurian Candidate').

When the 1950s rolled around, Errol Flynn's fortunes in Hollywood began to dry up. While he still had a few good American films left in him, most of his later films were international productions, where the out of favor actor found a new lease on life. "The Adventures of Captain Fabian" is a film made in France...which is unusual because it's set in New Orleans. It's also VERY unusual because Flynn himself wrote the screenplay himself!

George Brissac (Vincent Price) is a pusillanimous weasel...albeit a rich one from a powerful family. Early in the film, he ducks out on his fiancee to have a good time with his plaything, Lea (Micheline Presle). But when they are confronted, the witness ends up being killed...and George promises to fix everything. Using his family influence, he ends up framing this servant for the murder...knowing his family who run the local court will make it stick. Unfortunately for George, Captain Fabian (Errol Flynn) is in town...and he knows enough dirt about the Brissacs that the court agrees to toss out the case in order to keep him quiet.

After arranging for her freedom AND buying Lea her own business, Captain Fabian leaves. Soon, Lea is kissing up to George again....and he's too dumb to see it's all a set-up. But George makes it easy for Lea when he murders his uncle, the family patriarch. She's witnessed it and insists he marry her instead of the rich and well-connected woman he's supposed to marry. Now this former servant is going to be the lady of the household...and one of the most powerful women in New Orleans. What's next? And, will Captain Fabian have anything more to do in this film since it IS named after him?!

Well, the name of the film is unfortunate. There really are no adventures to speak of and Flynn is actually more of a supporting character throughout much of the film. In fact, he doesn't even appear until 18 minutes into the movie is is rarely seen until late in the story. No, it's much more the story of the conniving Lea and how she fits in with or destroys the horrid Brissacs....as well as if George can possibly get away with yet another murder!

So is this film any good? Well, the characters certainly are interesting...particularly Lea. And, since the actress has a French accent already, she's pretty convincing as a resident of New Orleans. Odd, though how Price and many other Louisianans don't have such accents! Back in 1860, most well connected folks in the town would have had such accents. But there also are a couple problems with the picture...particularly when Lea declares her love for Fabian. This made little sense...especially since up until then she seemed more like a total sociopath. The other problem, though minor, was Agnes Moorehead's make-up. What was with THAT?!

By the way, I noticed a lot of low scores for this. Could this be because it is more unlike one of his films than almost any I'd seen up to this point in his career?