La taverne de la Nouvelle-Orléans

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.

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.

Micheline Presle stars as Lea Mariotte, a Creole maid in 1860 New Orleans. She gets accused of murder in order to cover up the misdeeds of local wealthy scion George Brissac (Vincent Price), but she gets freed thanks to the intervention of merchant sea captain Michael Fabian (Errol Flynn). Fabian has a score to settle with the Brissac family, but Lea sees George as her entry into posh society.

This odd movie doesn't really work, but I liked parts of it. Although a shirtless Flynn is featured in the promotional art, which combined with the title make this seem like a swashbuckler, he's really more of a supporting player, and this is Presle's film all the way (she was dating or married to the director at the time). To say that her character is complicated would be an understatement, as she's at times the most evil person in the movie, but then the script tries to make her actions seem justified. Many of the characters are morally dubious and hard to pin down.

The production values are excellent in some scenes, but amateurish in others. There's some nice (if obvious) miniature work, and some good crowd shots. Vincent Price is squirmy and entertainingly hammy, and Agnes Moorehead also chews the scenery as a Creole relative of Lea's. I also enjoyed seeing future European "B" movie staples Howard Vernon and Reggie Nalder in minor roles.

The production of this movie was troubled, with director Marshall being accused of incompetence and Robert Florey being brought in to shoot some scenes. Flynn himself is credited with the screenplay, although he was later sued by an associate who claimed to have worked on it. Speaking of litigation, there was more to go around, as Flynn sued Republic to try and get the film blocked from release (it would have violated his contract with Warner Brothers). It may not be good as in cohesive, but it is entertaining.

This is not an adventure film as the title might suggest, but a slow moving melodrama, with some good scenes. The film was made independentley in France, and from the beginning there was to have been two versions, one english and one frenchspeaking. Director Robert Florey, was hired to helm the frenchspeaking version, but it was never made. Instead Florey stayed on as uncredited assistant director to William Marshall, some scenes show his influence, and he directed most of the final dockside fight. It was also Florey who brought in actors Victor Francen and Jim Gerald, as well as art director Eugene Lourie to the project. The film is good to look at, photography(by Marcel Grignon) and settings are intriguing, but the direction is to slow to really keep intrest, but a few scenes near the end are well made. The acting is ok, Agnes Moorehead gives a fine performence, and Errol Flynn is interesting as a rough seacaptain, a toned down role in comparision with Micheline Presles flambouyant creole girl. Vincent Price is properly slimy as a spineless dandy and Victor Francen is seen to briefley as his grim uncle. The story is very old fashioned, a little "Monte Cristoish" in style, and have some curiosity value. This film must unfortenatly go down as a missed opportunity, although an interesting one, like Vincent Price later said: this should have been a very good film". Altough the film has flaws, its visually interesting also the music by Rene Cloerc has its moments. if you like oldfashioned, romantic melodramas, this could be worth watching and the final scene is inspired.

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').