Captain Kidd (1945)

So much average

One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Absolutely Brilliant!

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This film is a fictional story of a real man in history: Captain William Kidd. The real Captain Kidd lived from c. 22 January 1645 – 23 May 1701 (death by hanging for piracy) but that is another story.Captain Kidd (1945) is a worthy sea adventure - a pretty good drama. Great casting lead by Charles Laughton as William Kidd, supported by John Carradine as Orange Povey, Randolph Scott as Adam Mercy & Barbara Britton as Lady Anne Dunstan.The film is what you would expect from a film of this nature: gold, swashbuckling fight scenes, sunken ships, back-stabbing, treachery, stormy seas, stealing -- just an all around fun adventure film.8/10

Robert N. Lee wrote the story of " Captain Kidd " and when it got to the Silver Screen became a must see movie. The film which followed is very interesting and the leading man of the tale is none other that Charles Laughton who plays Capt. William Kidd with relish and is quite convincing in the role. As to whether the movie is based on fact is poor at best. Modern Historians contend that Kidd was unjustly hanged and displayed as an example to others in England 1701. The movie on the other hang is active, enjoyable and well done. The pirate's exploits garners the audiences' attention and the adding of some of Hollywood's' actors makes for a spirited adventure. One however questions the addition of Randolph Scott as Adam Mercy as he most apt to play Westerns. Others like John Carradine, Gilbert Roland, Sheldon Leonard and Reginald Owen are well placed. Eye candy is provided by Barbara Britton as Lady Anne Dunstan and in addition, the movie is filmed in Black and White. However, it's a good feature movie and does prove to become a Classic in many ways. In retrospect, the movie like the Legend of Captain Kidd is often misunderstood. Recommend to Charles Laughton fans. ****

This low-budget swashbuckler starts on Magadascar where Captain Kidd (Charles Laughton)attacks the vessel called ¨twelve apostles¨. London, 1699, Captain Kidd receives a card from the King William III(Henry Daniell): ¨Upon the solicitation of my Lord Bellomont, his Majesty is graciously pleased to order to attend up him at Hampton court , upon the morning of November 13, at nine of the clock , captain William Kidd, ship master, of New York, with intent to discuss a voyage of portent to the waters of India and Magadascar¨.Then Kidd is assigned by King William III to escort on the high seas a ship plenty of treasures from Calcuta until England. As he enlists a misfit crew(Scott, Roland,Qualen, among others) formed by thieves and killers, including to Orange Poverty(John Carradine) who had previously abandoned on an island of Magadascar.Charles Laughton made an excellent acting as Kidd, a roguish, sly, ironic and traitor pirate, lookalike his character of ¨Jamaica Inn¨ by Hitchcock. Later he retook this role in farce style with ¨Abbot and Costello meet captain Kidd¨ by Charles Barton. However the starring Randolph Scott is miscast because is usually in Western and here he's out. Good secondary cast formed by prestigious secondaries as John Carradine,Henry Daniell,John Carradine, John Qualen, Reginald Owen and Gilbert Roland. the motion picture is professionally directed by Rowland V Lee.The story is partially based on real events , the actual deeds happened of the following manner : Kidd was born 1865, Scotland. The military staff hires him to command the ship called ¨Blessed William¨ during the war of nine years(1688-1697) between England and France. Then Kidd sacks the vessel Marie Galante and numerous French warships.After gets license from British admiralty for exercise as buccaneer, commanding the ¨Adventure Galley¨ with 34 cannons and 80 men. He decides to plunder the ¨Quedagh Merchant¨a galley full of treasures and another ships of various countries. Then the captain found himself held capture and transported to England where he was condemned to death penalty in 1701. He was hung but the rope broke itself two times. His corpse was charged in chains throughout of river Thames as warning and punishment.Another films about this historical character are : ¨Double crossbones¨(1950) by Charles Barton with Alan Napier as Kidd; ¨Against all flaggs¨(1952) with Robert Warwick as Kidd; ¨Great adventures of Captain Kidd¨ with John Crawford; and ¨Kidd and the slave girl¨(1954) by Lew Landers and Anthony Dexter as the famous pirate.

It's a very basic story – Laughton plays Kidd, a merchant captain who cons the King of England (Henry Daniell) into allowing him to take to the sea to recover a lost treasure and escort a ship back to London. And old fellow conspirator who he thought dead (John Carradine) and a mysterious young man (Randolph Scott) manage to get on board and cause problems for Kidd.The production values are quite decent actually, but the photography is relatively straightforward (it had also deteriorated a lot in the copy I saw on DVD). Quite a lot of good use is made of the ship sets. The costumes are pretty well done – I'm used to seeing very flamboyant and extravagant costumes in these "period" pictures but this one had some resemblance to what I'd imagine to be real period fashions, even down to Scott's ridiculous (but fitting) Samuel Adams bobbed hairstyle.The cast really makes this one stand out from the pack – Scott is a very sturdy and believable hero, and Laughton just reeks of immorality and that very British concept of "low" birth. Carradine never cut a finer figure than he does here.Only real complaint would be that the direction and the photography were rather quaint – I hadn't seen the date on the print and I really thought I was seeing a film from about ten years earlier than when this one was actually produced. There was even a shot – when Scott and the heroine (Barbara Britton) land on the small island – that I think was probably done with front projection, possibly glass mattes from photographs or paintings. Those are kind of nice touches for the fan, but it speaks to how old-fashioned this film was even at the time of its release. It offers the kind of loose romantic thrills that you would hope it to, and I expected nothing more of the film.