Lloyd's of London (1936)

Simply A Masterpiece

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Film was all right, though a long time since I saw it.But in reference to the comment above from adamshl, British ships may or may not have carried 3.5 million slaves for sale to Americans, yet equally the Portuguese, French and Spanish carried three times that number. The American colonies only took 5% of the total trade.Since the trade was around 1% of British investment it is doubtful if Lloyds benefited from it as a primary source of income. Which is neither to whitewash the trade or Lloyds or the disgusting traders, since no profit, no matter how small, from sin is allowable.Virginia Field was very pretty.

I'm not particularly strong on this film, even though I have always admired Tyrone Power. And, this was Power's first significant film role...and although he is clearly the centerpiece of the film, he gets 4th billing beneath Freddie Bartholomew (child actor), Madeleine Carroll, and Guy Standing. Power is so young here (just 22) that you really might not recognize him. He does a fine job acting here.The most interesting part of the movie (to my surprise) may well be the opening section, where Freddie Bartholomew is the friend of the boy who will become Lord Nelson. Bartholomew will grow to become Tyrone Power's character -- influential in Lloyds Of London.Once Tyrone Power takes center stage, however, the film seems to struggle to decide what it's really about. There's a really dumb segment where Power is in France disguised as a priest (we're not told why), and saves fellow Brit Madeleine Carroll from being arrested by Napoleon's military as a spy by hiding with her in a huge barrel...and somehow that ends them up in a small boat, manned (no pun intended...she changes clothes behind the barrel into men's clothing...and together they pilot the boat across the English Channel through a storm...only for her to disappear. At least we learn why she disappears...she is married to, of all people, a very young and unpleasant George Sanders. That whole segment was rather unbelievable and could have been handled with other logic to make it realistic.We then move on to Powers' stand against Lloyds, who is attempting to use a large part of Lord Nelson's fleet to protect ships, rather than fight the French. Powers prevents that from happening, but Nelson dies...while victorious.I don't know...it's just a bit much to believe.The acting is reasonably good, particularly Guy Standing as Power's mentor. An excellent role.I found this film disappointing, but watchable. It won't find a spot on my DVD shelf!

Hollywood takes many liberties when combining History and the real life of great Englishmen. In this sea epic, based on an original story by Curtis Kenyon, the movie is called " Lloyd of London. " Combining the navel exploits of Horatio Nelson (1758-1805) with that of the Insurance Market, Lloyds of London (1688-1900). This is a fictional account of two boys Jonathan Blake (Freddie Bartholomew and Tyrone Power) and Horatio Nelson (Douglas Scott and John Burton) growing up through the ages culminating during the Napoleonic Wars. Realizing that wealth and snobbery go hand in hand, Blake is determined to become an integral part of English aristocracy and influence, while Nelson raises through the naval ranks to achieve notoriety against the French. The movie makes much between men at sea and the financial power in England, so too between lovers both unrequited and not. George Saunders plays Lord Everett Stacy the principal foil which Powers had to contend with. An interesting contest between loyalty and love and which becomes more adroit when it comes to dealing with life. Tyrone is superb and the cast makes this movie a good candidate to become a Classic among Black and White films. ****

In retelling this piece of history, the writers left out one item. Between 1688 and 1807 one of the prime sources of Lloyd's of London's revenue was by insuring ships engaging in slave trading.* This enabled Britian to establish itself very rapidly as the chief slave trading center in the Atlantic.British ships carried more than three and a quarter million humans into slavery. This shocking statistic casts a deep pall on Lloyd's of London. It may be have been an embarrassment to the writers to include this in their screenplay; still a fact of this magnitude can be considered a sad omission.The rest of the film is well presented with beautiful acting and production values. Both Bartholomew and Power are excellent, as are Carroll and Sanders. _______________ *According to Wikipedia Enclycopedia "Lloyds in London...was a popular place for ship owners...especially those involved in the slave trade....Historian Eric Williams notes 'Lloyds insured slaves and slave ships...and quickly obtained a monopoly on maritime insurance related to the slave trade and maintained it up through the early 19th century.' "