Superb adaptation of Richard Hughes' novel about a group of British children being sent home to England from Jamaica, and inadvertently ending up as uninvited guests aboard a pirate ship. Set in the period of about 1880, much humor arises from the proper Victorian English children's fascination with their reluctant babysitters. The crew of scalawags is made up of various Latin American and African men, with most of their conversation in untranslated Spanish. The irony of the unexpected situation is due to two factors: the kids' parents had sent them home because their mother was appalled at the way they were growing up wild and uncivilized, absorbing the voodoo superstitions and folk tales of the islanders, instead of being raised as proper English children. The other factor was that the inept pirates had not realized that the children had snuck on board the pirate ship, seeing it as a great adventure, and the buccaneers had sailed away, with no idea that the kids were shut in the ship's hold, having totally forgotten about them.
Anthony Quinn is marvelous in a great comic role, as the unwilling father figure to the curious and innocent bunch of kids he's been stuck with. The sight of Quinn chasing some young English children around the ship, hollering " Hey, give me back my hat!", while his crew laughs uproariously, is truly funny. James Coburn is the voice of reason as a sly ,articulate pirate, who stands between the bumbling captain and his restless crew. The presence of the children on the ship becomes more and more problematic, as they inadvertently cause all kinds of problems just by being around, and the men begin to see them as bad luck.SPOILERS AHEAD: A little girl puts a man's coat on backwards, and covers her face with her hair, and stalks toward the terrified sailors, declaring in a spooky voice that she's a Duppy, an evil spirit with its head on backwards. The grown men look scared, and try to hide from this small child, who is fully aware of what she's doing, until Quinn orders her to stop fooling around, because it's bad luck for the ship.
An already complicated situation turns deadly ,when the pirates think they will be able to finally safely rid themselves of the kids, by leaving them with a friendly brothel madam in Tampico. One of the older boys sneaks ashore,and is enjoying the sight of rowdy behavior in the street from the vantage point of a high window, but he suddenly falls, and is killed. The tragic situation is made worse by the news that English patrol vessels are looking for them, because it is mistakenly believed that they murdered the children, after the kids didn't return to their outward bound ship, and the English captain and crew assumed the worst.
No more of the plot will be revealed here, except to say that an unpredictable series of events causes disaster for all involved. The very ending is one of the most poignant scenes I've ever seen in any film.
Direction, acting, shipboard scenes, period detail, script,cinematography ,are all excellent. The children are totally believable, with a standout performance by Deborah Baxter as Emily. This is a wonderful film that should be watched over and over again. Heartbreak and hilarity have seldom been better matched.
Anthony Quinn is marvelous in a great comic role, as the unwilling father figure to the curious and innocent bunch of kids he's been stuck with. The sight of Quinn chasing some young English children around the ship, hollering " Hey, give me back my hat!", while his crew laughs uproariously, is truly funny. James Coburn is the voice of reason as a sly ,articulate pirate, who stands between the bumbling captain and his restless crew. The presence of the children on the ship becomes more and more problematic, as they inadvertently cause all kinds of problems just by being around, and the men begin to see them as bad luck.SPOILERS AHEAD: A little girl puts a man's coat on backwards, and covers her face with her hair, and stalks toward the terrified sailors, declaring in a spooky voice that she's a Duppy, an evil spirit with its head on backwards. The grown men look scared, and try to hide from this small child, who is fully aware of what she's doing, until Quinn orders her to stop fooling around, because it's bad luck for the ship.
An already complicated situation turns deadly ,when the pirates think they will be able to finally safely rid themselves of the kids, by leaving them with a friendly brothel madam in Tampico. One of the older boys sneaks ashore,and is enjoying the sight of rowdy behavior in the street from the vantage point of a high window, but he suddenly falls, and is killed. The tragic situation is made worse by the news that English patrol vessels are looking for them, because it is mistakenly believed that they murdered the children, after the kids didn't return to their outward bound ship, and the English captain and crew assumed the worst.
No more of the plot will be revealed here, except to say that an unpredictable series of events causes disaster for all involved. The very ending is one of the most poignant scenes I've ever seen in any film.
Direction, acting, shipboard scenes, period detail, script,cinematography ,are all excellent. The children are totally believable, with a standout performance by Deborah Baxter as Emily. This is a wonderful film that should be watched over and over again. Heartbreak and hilarity have seldom been better matched.