Le faucon d'or

This Sam Katzman production is actually pretty good, considering the talent in front of the camera and the botched story. Sterling Hayden shows some life as a French privateer and, considering the by-the-numbers acting -- which seems to concentrate more on the clarity of the words than the subtlety of the emotions -- even Rhonda Fleming as another pirate captain with whom he is in love, is pretty good.

The best part of the movie, however, is provided by William Skall's cinematography. A Technicolor specialist, he keeps the camera moving in a lively fashion throughout and seems to have settled on 17th Century Dutch painting, with frequent Rembrandt-like dark backgrounds and muted tones for a lot of shots. This was something you could do with Technicolor, playing around with the chroma of the prints, that was lost when Technicolor fell out of fashion, that has only recently been restored to modern movies by computer techniques.

There isn't much that will surprise anyone familiar with pirate movies, but the overall effect is worthwhile.

Directed by a specialist of this kind of topics, Sidney Salkow already gave us RAIDERS OF THE SEVEN SEAS and PRINCE OF THE PIRATES too. Besides, Columbiia Pictures also provided such films: LAST OF THE BUCCANEERS. This is not at the scale as SPANISH MAIN, ANNE OF THE INDIES nor BLACKBEARD THE PIRATE, but it can esaily match AGAINST ALL FLAGS, BUCCANEER'S GIRL (Universal Pictures and CARIBBEAN (Paramount Studios). I was surprissed to see Rhonda Fleming here, she who was under contract - if I am right - with Paramount whilst Yvonne de Carlo was at Universal for this kind of material. So this film is a good surprise for pirtes movies buffs, despite the producer Sam Katzman whose it is one of his best efforts, compared to what he gave us with director Bill Castle for instance. Great scenes or fighting for such a low budget.

It doesn't help that neither Sterling Hayden nor Rhonda Fleming are my fav actors, but I thought I'd check the movie out anyway, and am guessing it was the inspiration for many a sappy historical romance novel.

Are we really supposed to believe that Captain Hawk's hated enemy, Luis del Toro, is really his father, and that his young stepmother has fallen for him? And are we also supposed to accept that a spoiled society girl is at the same time a notorious female pirate, La Rouge?

Is the Brooklyn Bridge for sale? Did Santa Claus give the Easter bunny a ride on his sleigh? Will your lottery numbers come out a winner every day for the next four years?

You get the idea!

I'm a fan of the genre - nothing better than a good swashbuckling adventure on the high seas. Well, actually there are plenty better than this rather poor effort. Sterling Hayden is certainly no natural as the eponymous privateer "Kit Gerardo" caught up in the Napoleonic war in the Caribbean. His marauding is perilous, though, particularly once he rescues the feisty "Rouge" (Rhonda Fleming) and discovers that she is also in his line of work - and out to avenge herself on the French. As the warfare hots up, the affianced of the Governor is also apprehended. "Bianca de Valdiva" (Helena Carter) takes a shine to our hero, but he has already taken a shine to "Rouge" but she in turn is trying to get the governor "del Toro" (John Sutton) to catch and hang the man! Still with me? Well, one further complication arises as we discover just why "Kit" is so determined to bring down the governor. To be fair, it does finish strongly with a good hearty battle, but the build up and relentless chatter robs the film of much pace or sense of peril and nobody at all in front of the camera is having a very good - or convincing - day. The production is a bit basic and stage bound which doesn't help, but at the end of the day this is just a let down that has little to redeem it.

Kit Gerardo, also known as The Hawk, is one of Frances's most daring privateers, rescues Rouge from a Spanish ship. She is also a pirate, working to restore the fortune the French took from her. When Kit is captured by the governor of Cartagena, Luis del Toro, Rouge demands that he be hanged for piracy. Only one person knows it, but Kit is the governor's son.

The Golden Hawk has all the usual ingredients of a pirate romp: ship, adventures, sword fights, plots/counter plots and gunpowder explosions and of course romance - there's a little twist regarding the man Golden Hawk wants to kill. It's a bit melodramatic and sometimes talky but the sprightly sword fights and ship battles as well as the beautiful ladies like Rhonda Fleming uplifts this film. As for Sterling Hayden, he's an odd choice as a dashing pirate captain, a Casanova of the high seas, and largely he isn't too bad. He's a bit more alive than he's in other films. But someone like John Payne would've been a better fit.