Capitaine Scarlett

This is a film best viewed on Saturday mornings, right after the cartoons. It works best as a comedy for children. Follows similar themes in other movies. The acting is not convincing, it appears the actors are just doing it for laughs.

I really do not know if the commentator who gave this joint of ham 10/10 had seen the same film as the rest of us or was indulging in a strong piece of "ironic narrative". My views accord mostly with the comments of all the other reviewers. Richard Greene makes a passable central figure/hero, (in fact, given the time the film was made - just three years before Greene began the long-running British TV series, "The Adventures of Robin Hood", starring in the central role himself, of course, - I felt at times that I was almost watching a 'dress rehearsal' for the TV series and wondering if there was any connection between the two, e.g. did Lew Grade's talent scouts see this film and think of Greene for the green tights role as a result?)Unlike another commentator, I also found the sword fight scenes quite well done, (again conjuring up visions of 'Robin Greene' swashbuckling with the Sheriff of Nottingham's 'baddies'), and the Technicolour could not be any 'lusher' at all. That is as far as it goes, though. The 'plot', (if you can find it), is less than you would have got in any weekly comic of the period, the rest of the acting is somewhere between insipid and atrocious and, in particular, the music score must be one of the worst ever composed/inflicted on a cinema audience. A shame, really. Some improvements in any of the latter regards would have made the film reasonably enjoyable and worth a second viewing. On the other hand, if someone worse than Greene had been in the lead, it would have had a very good chance indeed of being rated as a truly toe-curling, cringe-inducing 'Golden Turkey' of all time. As it is, one for viewing while ironing on a windy winter afternoon and then forgetting.

A rather paunchy Richard Greene treads water in this lively little swashbuckler shot in feverish colour with Mexico standing in for southern France before trading in his scarlet cloak (which does rather make him stand out) for Lincoln green and taking his crusade on behalf of the underdog to Sherwood Forest.

Brazilian leading lady Leonora Amar is a feisty Maid Marian wielding a sword in blouse, britches and boots; while given the theme sidekick Nedrick Young and writer-producer Howard Dimsdale were not surprisingly both soon blacklisted.

This should have been a classic swashbuckler in the tradition of Zorro, Robin Hood, and Captain Blood. It has a good, traditional, premise (young nobleman returns home to find his home and land taken over by the bad guy, and then tries to get back his land, right wrongs, and free the oppressed, all while making loyal friends and falling in love), but the poor acting, directing, and way too cheesy script (so bad it's funny) ruin this movie for the sophisticated viewer. I loved this film as a child, however (the poor acting and super cheesy script did not bug me then), especially the fact that he teaches the girl (Princess Maria) how to sword fight (in one of the few good lines in the film he comments that no one has taught her anything useful - her skills up to that point being embroidery, dancing, etc).

I really wish Disney or some other company would remake this movie in to something better, instead of remaking good old films into something worse. Saddly, I fear this film has been forgotten by the big studios and that I will have to content myself with the fact that many of the things I enjoyed in the movie as a child (like the sword fighting Princess, and the way they trick the bad guys in by all dressing as Captain Scarlet) have been used since in other, better made movies.

"Following the defeat of Napoleon, France was in a state of unrest. Many of the Royalists who had fled to England returned to exact vengeance for their real and fancied wrongs. Some turned the situation to their personal advantage...becoming Tyrants and Petty Dictators...."

Set in France but filmed in Mexico, Captain Scarlett is a hum-drum swashbuckler short on thrills, spills and originality of story. Richard Greene stars as the titular Scarlett, who sets about righting wrongs as he gathers supporters and catches the eyes of the babes. It's a sort of low rent Robin Hood, the Gallic version, Greene is dandy as usual, the costuming pleasing and with it running at just 75 minutes it moves along fast enough and doesn't outstay its welcome. But it's all pretty stale and way down on the list of swashbucklers to see before you die. 4/10