(There are Spoilers) Recreation of the Pilgrims dangerous voyage to the new world, America, on the good ship Mayflower in the summer and fall of 1620 AD.
Put in charge of the Mayflower by England's Virginia Company's Mrs. Weston, Rhys Williams, is that old salt and pragmatic Capt. Chris Jones, Spencer Tracy, who's only in it for the money and nothing else. It's when Weston gives Jones, under the table, an added bonus of 200 English pounds to steer the Mayflower to the north and uninhabited-by the white man- Cape Cod region of New England that he decides to trick his passengers and crew, all 102 of them, into thinking that he was taking them some 500 miles south to Jamestown Virginia that already had an established English colony.
The greedy and criminal minded Mr. Weston was trying to pull a fast one on his employer by buying up all the worthless stock of the almost defunct England's New England Company and cash it in when a colony is established on it's territory with him being the only stock holder. As things turned out, as history shows up, the trip north made it possible for the future establishment, in 1776, of the United States of America!
The dangerous voyage across the almost uncharted Atlantic Ocean had the Mayflower and its passengers and crew face dangers and horrors far worse then they ever dreamed of in their wildest nightmares. Capt. Jones while keeping the ship together and his man, who were on the verge of mutiny, in line soon gets the hots, in her being one of the few women on board, for the very religious pretty and saintly Dorothy Bradford, Jene Tierney, who's husband William, Leo Genn, was also one of the ship's passengers. This sinful and forbidden romance, with Capt. Jones doing most of the romancing, between Capt. Jones and Mrs. Bradford is the most interesting part of the movie even though in real life it never really happened. Dorothy later feeling that she cheated on her husband, by just allowing the slobbering Capt. Jones to kiss her, and broke her marriage vowels ended up drowning herself. The depressed and guilt-ridden Dorothy offed herself just as the Mayflower finally reached land after it's more then three month sail across the wind and storm swept Atlantic Ocean.
It's Dorothy Bradford's tragic death that woke the narrow minded and people hating, on the Mayflower, Capt. Jones up to the humanity that he always either denied or kept from himself. No longer the cynical and Godless person that he once was the "Captain" decided to stay with the Pilgrim settlers, whom half of them were to died because of illness and starvation, throughout the harsh and bitter winter of 1620-1621 until spring, and the spring harvest, arrived. Now a new man with love and understanding in his heart for his fellow human beings Capt. Jones in an act of honesty and forgiveness,for himself, finally confessed to Dorothy's husband William that in fact he did try to break up, by him being the other man, their marriage! But in the end it was Dorothy in her eternal love for William, feeling that she was giving in to Capt. Jones' advances would rather kill herself, that too a mortal sin, then betray her husband!
Beautiful ocean scenery with a very convincing Mid-Atlantic Ocean storm as well as amazing spacial effect-for 1952-adds to the movie's great acting and historical content. Still it was the fictitious relationship between Capt. Jones and Dorothy Bradford that overshadowed all the true events that were depicted in the film "Plymouth Advanture".
Put in charge of the Mayflower by England's Virginia Company's Mrs. Weston, Rhys Williams, is that old salt and pragmatic Capt. Chris Jones, Spencer Tracy, who's only in it for the money and nothing else. It's when Weston gives Jones, under the table, an added bonus of 200 English pounds to steer the Mayflower to the north and uninhabited-by the white man- Cape Cod region of New England that he decides to trick his passengers and crew, all 102 of them, into thinking that he was taking them some 500 miles south to Jamestown Virginia that already had an established English colony.
The greedy and criminal minded Mr. Weston was trying to pull a fast one on his employer by buying up all the worthless stock of the almost defunct England's New England Company and cash it in when a colony is established on it's territory with him being the only stock holder. As things turned out, as history shows up, the trip north made it possible for the future establishment, in 1776, of the United States of America!
The dangerous voyage across the almost uncharted Atlantic Ocean had the Mayflower and its passengers and crew face dangers and horrors far worse then they ever dreamed of in their wildest nightmares. Capt. Jones while keeping the ship together and his man, who were on the verge of mutiny, in line soon gets the hots, in her being one of the few women on board, for the very religious pretty and saintly Dorothy Bradford, Jene Tierney, who's husband William, Leo Genn, was also one of the ship's passengers. This sinful and forbidden romance, with Capt. Jones doing most of the romancing, between Capt. Jones and Mrs. Bradford is the most interesting part of the movie even though in real life it never really happened. Dorothy later feeling that she cheated on her husband, by just allowing the slobbering Capt. Jones to kiss her, and broke her marriage vowels ended up drowning herself. The depressed and guilt-ridden Dorothy offed herself just as the Mayflower finally reached land after it's more then three month sail across the wind and storm swept Atlantic Ocean.
It's Dorothy Bradford's tragic death that woke the narrow minded and people hating, on the Mayflower, Capt. Jones up to the humanity that he always either denied or kept from himself. No longer the cynical and Godless person that he once was the "Captain" decided to stay with the Pilgrim settlers, whom half of them were to died because of illness and starvation, throughout the harsh and bitter winter of 1620-1621 until spring, and the spring harvest, arrived. Now a new man with love and understanding in his heart for his fellow human beings Capt. Jones in an act of honesty and forgiveness,for himself, finally confessed to Dorothy's husband William that in fact he did try to break up, by him being the other man, their marriage! But in the end it was Dorothy in her eternal love for William, feeling that she was giving in to Capt. Jones' advances would rather kill herself, that too a mortal sin, then betray her husband!
Beautiful ocean scenery with a very convincing Mid-Atlantic Ocean storm as well as amazing spacial effect-for 1952-adds to the movie's great acting and historical content. Still it was the fictitious relationship between Capt. Jones and Dorothy Bradford that overshadowed all the true events that were depicted in the film "Plymouth Advanture".