Les boucaniers de la Jamaïque

"Yankee Buccaneer" is a variation on the demented Arabian Nights fetish that Universal Pictures seemed to have in the late '40s and early '50s, the difference being that this one doesn't take place in the days of Ali Baba. It's the 1840s, and a U.S. Navy ship is ordered to disguise itself as a merchant vessel and sail to the waters off North Africa to put a stop to pirates preying on American ships. The action scenes are handled well, Jeff Chandler fits the part of the dashing American naval officer, the women are fetching, the cast is full of familiar faces (including Jay Silverheels, who played Tonto in the "Lone Ranger" series), the story doesn't venture past the realm of possibility and it moves along at a good clip. All in all, a neat little B picture--not the best of the lot, but far from the worst.

Yankee Buccaneer is a pretty good action at sea movie. I had just recently seen it on AMC. I thought that Jeff Chandler played a brilliant part in the movie. Has some action and some good acting. I think you will like this movie and should give it a chance. On a scale of 1-10 I give it an 8.

An enjoyable swashbuckler about a ship captain who has another identity , disguising as a pirate during the first half of the 19th century. One of those colourful thrilling 90 minute adventure tales which Universal-International Pictures rolled out with such expertise and regularity in the Fifties . Agreeable Pirate movie dealing with Captain David Porter (Jeff Chandler) of the fledgling American Navy on the seas , versus powerful Count Domingo Del Prado (Joseph Callleia) , as well as other nasty pirates and finding romance with a beautiful girl (Suzan Ball) along the way . It deals with an United States Navy ship , under the command of Captain David Porter (Jeff Chandler) , is expecting to put ashore after a year overseas ; but the arrival of one of Porter's ex-students, now as a second-in-command : David Farragut (Scott Brady) , brings a dangerous assignment : to pose the ship and crew as a pirate ship and help the Navy locate the thieves who have been robbing America's merchant fleet. Meanwhile, they stumble upon an international conspiracy formed by various countries : Spain , Portugal , Brazil . Universal-International's Fiery Swashbuckling Adventure! .Stand-by to Board! Terror Cry of the Spanish Main!

Conventional and standard sea adventure movie from Universal International Studios . Amusing pirate movie , plenty of action-packed , land rescues , thrills , sea battles , colorful cinematography , luxurious costumes and paced in lighthearted style . It is a blending of adventures , romance , action , exciting naval battle scenes , and swashbuckler . Although the story has been told before , tight filmmaking and nice acting win out . The flick takes parts of the plot developed in ¨Against all flags¨ by George Sherman and ¨Rifle springfield¨ by André De Toth . The picture moves along in stirring as well as agressive style , it is fast-moving , exciting and thrilling right up to the final climatic confrontation . Average-budgeted film by Universal Pictures , using appropriate ship shots and miniature sets when possible . Universal took advantage of the unused sets in ¨Against all flags¨ by George Sherman with Errorl Flynn , Anthony Quinn by scripting and shooting a hastily assembled B picture . ¨Yankee Buccaneer¨ belongs to Pirate or Swashbuckling sub-genre along with ¨Captain Blood¨, ¨The Sea Hawk¨ , ¨Long John Silver¨, ¨Anne of the Indians¨, ¨Buccaneer's girl¨, ¨Adventures of Captain Fabian¨ , ¨The Crimson pirate¨ and ¨Against all flags¨ . Stars Jeff Chandler who receives orders to masquerade as a privateer in order to corral some Caribbean pirates .It results to be one of Jeff Chandler's swashbuckling best though hasn't achieved the same classic status . Jeff Chandler provides stature to the role , delivering sincerity and bravura . Chandler was known , until his early death , for playing Indian chief Cochise , a dignified portrait well shown in : ¨Broken arrow¨ (50) by Delmer Daves , that was the first time the Red Indian was depicted as a human being rather than a brute savage merely to bite the dust at the hands of the US cavalry , as well as ¨Battle of Apache Pass¨ (1952) and ¨Taza , son of Cochise¨ (1954) by Douglas Sirk , this latter Jeff/Cochise is briefly glimpsed as a dying man at the beginning and handing over the reins of power to Rock Hudson as Taza . Although Chandler also played all kinds of genres , such as : ¨Return to Peyton Place¨(drama) , ¨Flame of Araby¨ (adventure) , ¨Merrill's marauders¨ (wartime , in his last film, he died while its shooting) , until his early death at 42-year-old . And gorgeous Suzan Ball as hot-tempered Countess Margarita La Raguna , she is given the opportunity to show both spirit and a handsome wardrobe . Suzan signed a contract with Universal and in 1952 she was proclaimed "The New Cinderella Girl of 1952". She had a fleeting romance with Scott Brady, who she met on the set of Denbow (1952), and they planned to marry. She then filmed City beneath water (1953) and fell for Anthony Quinn, who was still married , finally she married Richard Long . While rehearsing a scene for an episode of Climax! (1954), she collapsed and was rushed to the hospital , doctors found that the cancer had spread to her lungs. In 1955, Suzan died of cancer, only six months after her 21st birthday .There stands out a great support cast made up with familiar faces such as : Scott Brady , almost starring , as a willful and independent Lieutenant whose disobedience threatens the safety of the crew , Joseph Calleia , George Mathews , Rodolfo Acosta , Jay Silverheels , Michael Ansara , Joseph Vitale ,Rodolfo Acosta and you can spot the famous ¨Fugitive¨, a very young David Janssen.

This is a good-natured Technicolor romp with splendid cinematography from Russell Metty and Richard Metty that make the movie a constant pleasure to look at and being particularly effective in the spectacular naval battle set pieces . And evocative and atmospheric musical score by Joseph E. Gershenson and Milton Rosen , though uncredited . The motion picture was well directed by Frederick De Cordoba , a craftsman and action specialist who had already filmed other adventures .He spent much of his career at Universal Pictures, where he turned out medium-budget westerns, comedies and musicals. In the mid-'50s he turned his main focus to television, directing and producing The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show , The Jack Benny Program and December Bride . He shot decent films as Frankie and Johnny , I'll take Sweden , Here come the Nelsons , Bedtime for Bonzo , For the love of Mary . Rating : 6/10 , acceptable pirate movie , wonderful stuff . It will appeal to Jeff Chandler fans .

The best, if not exactly satisfying, of the three seemingly randomly-chosen swashbucklers by Universal to accompany the above-average Errol Flynn vehicle AGAINST ALL FLAGS (1952) is this unusual entry in the genre.

As the title has it, lead Jeff Chandler is a U.S. naval officer who's ordered to carry out acts of piracy in order to ferret out the real culprits behind the sinking of American ships. These prove to be an amalgamation of Brazilian, Portuguese and Spanish villains (led by our own Joseph Calleia hiding under the respectable guise of the Spanish governor – whose appearance is delayed until the last half-hour, but he's as reliable as ever…and like the Robert Douglas of BUCCANEER'S GIRL [1950], from the same director, is allowed to go free after being made to walk the plank).

Chandler himself – who would later star in the similarly-titled genre outing YANKEE PASHA (1954) – is a bit of a martinet, with rebellious first-mate and ex-student Scott Brady usually at the receiving end of his ire; when he tries to make up for his errors behind the captain's back, by fixing the ship's rudder at night, Brady's attacked by and kills a shark! This animosity eventually intensifies when the latter comes back from a scouting expedition to the Indies with a Portuguese countess (luscious Suzan Ball, whose debut this was: she had a brief and tragic career, dying in 1955 at the tender age of 21!).

Though the film is far from a classic, slightly marred by the resistible comic antics of George Mathews and featuring little traditional action before the last reel, it's a reasonably enjoyable romp nonetheless – with a rousing score by an uncredited(!) Milton Rosen and shot in glorious Technicolor by the distinguished Russell Metty.

Universal and Paramount Pictures were two fantastic studios in terms of adventures movies, see for instance CARIBBEAN, WAKE OF THE RED WITCH, SMUGGLER'S ISLANDS, CAPTAIN CHINA, CROSSWINDS, AGAINST ALL FLAGS, and many more films that I can't put down here...This one is enhanced by Jeff Chandler's and Scott Brady's presence, for an excitjng story, directed by Frederic de Cordova, for whom adventure yarns were not the main trademark, but instead comedies and some cheap musicals. I recommend it as a very good little adventure, pirates, bucaneer scheme. Technicolor is wonderfully used and the production design totally adequate.