Les pirates de la nuit

Writer/producer/director John Gilling's story is set in 17th-century Cornwall when fishermen were hit by heavy taxes and turned to smuggling in order to supplement their income. Here, the village squire Trevenyan (Peter Cushing) puts together an army in order to wipe out smuggling from his community. However, the town is terrorised by a group of cut-throats lead by Black John (Bernard Lee) who force ships to land at Smugglers Bay and then ruthlessly murders their crews for the sake of their cargo. Unfortunately, Black John has a hold over Trevenyan and as a result, poor fisherman Francois Lejeune (George Coulouris) is charged for the shipwrecking as well as the smuggling he has done and is to be deported to a foreign colony. The squire's son Christopher (John Fraser) is in love with Lejeune's daughter Louise (Michele Mercier) and teams up with local highwayman known simply as the Captain (William Franklyn) in order to run Black John out of town and to prevent Lejeune's deportation.

All in all, FURY AT SMUGGLERS' BAY, is well enough done and entertaining enough while its on. I mean who could resist a film with such interesting credits. Bernard Lee as Black John who was soon to become famous as "M" in the Bond series, Peter Cushing as Squire Trevenyan and William Franklyn as the Captain. In addition, there's one of Britain's best known cameramen Harry Waxman behind the camera and John Gilling (an interesting British director who made such classics as THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES and THE VOICE OF MERRILL) is on hand to direct. Yet somehow after one's seen the film, the next morning there's nothing to remember.

This entertaining adventure drama about smuggling in late 18th century is somehow betrayed by its low budget, more evident in the ship wrecking scenes, under furious storms. It tells the story of a British coastal town laden with taxes, where almost everybody has turn to smuggling to make ends meet. The action never stops with good rhythm and precise dialogue, and the enjoyment is evident in the actors' faces. All the cast is very effective, with Peter Cushing as a magistrate with a secret that haunts him, Bernard Lee as the villain before playing M to Sean Connery's James Bond, John Fraser as a dashing young swordsman and William Franklyn as a highwayman that becomes a hero. With pretty Michèle Mercier as the love interest, June Thorburn as Cushing's daughter and Liz Fraser in one of her best early roles as waitress-spy, this is one of John Gilling's best contributions to period drama.

1960's "Fury at Smugglers' Bay" was among eight consecutive non horror roles essayed by Peter Cushing in the early 60s, but despite his top billing gets upstaged rather easily by several combative co-stars. Squire Trevenyan (Cushing) rules over a small seaside community in 1789 Cornwall (filmed near Fishguard Wales), seeking to discourage his son's romance with the pretty daughter of law abiding smuggler Francois Lejeune (George Coulouris), while ineffectually dealing with the treacherous Black John (Bernard Lee) and his band of pirate wreckers, luring passing ships to destruction before looting the goods for evil profit. Added to the mix is a rogue highwayman known only as 'The Captain' (William Franklyn), who seems to be in cahoots with Black John, but does what he can to help the persecuted Lejeune. Bernard Lee, recently a heroic pilot opposite Cushing in "Cone of Silence," relishes being cast against type, while the always welcome presence of Hollywood veteran George Coulouris demonstrates how the citizens tried to fight back against the King's malign taxation. Michele Mercier is well known to horror fans for her starring efforts in two Italian titles, 1963's "Black Sabbath" and 1970's "Web of the Spider," with Hammer veteran Miles Malleson granted only one short scene as the Duke of Avon. Peter Cushing enjoyed making this exciting 'British Western,' but his character's strained relationships with both of his children keeps the puzzled audience at a distance, whereas his next Hammer, "Night Creatures" aka "Captain Clegg" would offer him a far more challenging, and thus rewarding, swashbuckling adventure, played with more gusto and a twinkle in the eye. In the future, he would again work with both Bernard Lee ("Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell") and William Franklyn ("The Satanic Rites of Dracula"). This was the movie that Christopher Lee viewed one Saturday afternoon, after which he phoned his old friend Peter: "you rode the horse very well dear fellow, and the expression on your face when you died was exactly the same as it was when you were told what your salary was going to be!"

When the wreckers start operating in his local community, it falls to "Squire Trevenyan" (Peter Cushing) to try to stop this ruthless and brutal crime. Thing is, though, when his son "Christopher" (John Fraser) returns home one night with details of who is doing what to whom, his father is suddenly nervous, compromised - but why? Is it just because the lad has a crush on "Louise" (Michèle Mercier) or because he is afraid of her brute of a father "Black John" (Bernard Lee). Anyway, time to send for the Redcoats! It's a standard adventure film this with little jeopardy or anything new as it sails, predictably, towards it's conclusion. Some of the foliage looks a bit out of place - not sure we have palm trees here in the UK, but Cushing still has a little of the charisma needed and Lee makes for a good rumbustious brigand. Though I don't think i will ever recall it, I like the genre and I quite enjoyed this light-weight and busky costume drama.

Despite the presence of John Gilling as director and Peter Cushing as the main lead, this is not a Hammer film. If you check the production companies, you will notice something very strange.... A very independant movie which looks like - maybe because it is precisely the case - a very good film, splendidly made as were also the other British films showing cloak and sword plots, and made during this early sixties and late fifties period; for instance PIRATES OF BLOOD RIVER or HELLFIRE CLUB. Superb settings, photography, production design. This movie proves that John Gilling is a director who deserves to be discovered again, he not only shone in horror films, but also thrillers and here as a very efficient adventure - cloak and sword - film maker. Maybe not the Fritz Lang's MOONFLEET, but still quite effective.