This colorful sea action yarn of shipwreck and illegal salvage in 1840s Key West was directed by Cecil B. De Mille so you shouldn't expect subtlety. When a woman is supposed to look "frightened," her eyeballs extrude as she claps her hands to her cheeks and gasps. A man who is "mean" looks like a Turkish pederast.
It isn't slow, though. It zips along, plowing through the seas, charging through the courtroom scene, brawling through fist fights, lacking anything like pauses for character, humor, or whimsy, as bloodless as if drained by a vampire.
The model work is pretty good for the period. It's true that the texture gradient is ignored, so that a distant splash of sea water throws up spray with drops as big as basketballs, but compared to a contemporary movie like "The Sea Hawk" it's convincing enough. And the color photography is above average. In some of the model shots, the many-masted rigs seem to sail under lenticular lavender clouds glowing with underbellies of a soft rose in the setting sun. The seas scintillate. The image is as pretty as a travel poster. Take Your Next Vacation In San Placebo, Getaway Of The Stars!
It's taken from a story in the magazine founded by Benjamin Franklin, "The Saturday Evening Post." The weekly magazines were the source of many stories made into screenplays. "Stagecoach," for another instance, was from an Ernest Haycox story in "Collier's" magazine. The public used to READ MAGAZINES in the 1940s! I no its hard 2 believe.
John Wayne has the role known as second male lead in this one -- second to star Ray Milland -- and it's just as well. Wayne would shortly turn into a serious performer but he wasn't there yet in 1941. Milland doesn't walk around in a cloud of pheromones either but he's animated, hits his marks, and delivers his lines with vigor.
The two principal Southern ladies -- the charming and innocent Susan Hayward and the spirited, unconventional Paulette Goddard, whose character owes a lot to Scarlet O'Hara -- are amusing on screen together. Hayward was from Brooklyn and Goddard was born in Queens. They never forgot their New York background. Goddard left most of her estate to New York University when she died.
The racial relations remain as stereotyped as ever. May I mock them? If Goddard resembles Scarlet, Louise Beavers resembles Mammy -- always shaking her head, mumbling about voodoo drums and scolding her charge -- but she's a pale imitation. De black folk, day neber called "slaves." Day be de friends of de buckra who hob de ballroom full wit people dat be dancin round in circles called de waltz in de Big House. I done forgit who be the darkie wit de big white eyes but he ain't de same booger who say in annudder movie, "Feets, don't fail me now!"
One of the most memorable lines occurs when the indefatigable Ray Milland is pursuing the spunky young Goddard and she slaps him or something and he says, "You're very desirable when you're angry." That translates as, 'You're cute when you're mad," in case you missed it.
It's not often that John Wayne plays a heavy, even a confused one, but he does here. He sells his integrity to spite Milland, whom he has been led to believe is his enemy. Wayne pays the price the code of the time demanded.
Despite the portentous narrative introduction by De Mille himself, there isn't much in the way of spiritual nourishment to be had from this flick but you're not likely to be bored. It's designed specifically to prevent that from happening.
It isn't slow, though. It zips along, plowing through the seas, charging through the courtroom scene, brawling through fist fights, lacking anything like pauses for character, humor, or whimsy, as bloodless as if drained by a vampire.
The model work is pretty good for the period. It's true that the texture gradient is ignored, so that a distant splash of sea water throws up spray with drops as big as basketballs, but compared to a contemporary movie like "The Sea Hawk" it's convincing enough. And the color photography is above average. In some of the model shots, the many-masted rigs seem to sail under lenticular lavender clouds glowing with underbellies of a soft rose in the setting sun. The seas scintillate. The image is as pretty as a travel poster. Take Your Next Vacation In San Placebo, Getaway Of The Stars!
It's taken from a story in the magazine founded by Benjamin Franklin, "The Saturday Evening Post." The weekly magazines were the source of many stories made into screenplays. "Stagecoach," for another instance, was from an Ernest Haycox story in "Collier's" magazine. The public used to READ MAGAZINES in the 1940s! I no its hard 2 believe.
John Wayne has the role known as second male lead in this one -- second to star Ray Milland -- and it's just as well. Wayne would shortly turn into a serious performer but he wasn't there yet in 1941. Milland doesn't walk around in a cloud of pheromones either but he's animated, hits his marks, and delivers his lines with vigor.
The two principal Southern ladies -- the charming and innocent Susan Hayward and the spirited, unconventional Paulette Goddard, whose character owes a lot to Scarlet O'Hara -- are amusing on screen together. Hayward was from Brooklyn and Goddard was born in Queens. They never forgot their New York background. Goddard left most of her estate to New York University when she died.
The racial relations remain as stereotyped as ever. May I mock them? If Goddard resembles Scarlet, Louise Beavers resembles Mammy -- always shaking her head, mumbling about voodoo drums and scolding her charge -- but she's a pale imitation. De black folk, day neber called "slaves." Day be de friends of de buckra who hob de ballroom full wit people dat be dancin round in circles called de waltz in de Big House. I done forgit who be the darkie wit de big white eyes but he ain't de same booger who say in annudder movie, "Feets, don't fail me now!"
One of the most memorable lines occurs when the indefatigable Ray Milland is pursuing the spunky young Goddard and she slaps him or something and he says, "You're very desirable when you're angry." That translates as, 'You're cute when you're mad," in case you missed it.
It's not often that John Wayne plays a heavy, even a confused one, but he does here. He sells his integrity to spite Milland, whom he has been led to believe is his enemy. Wayne pays the price the code of the time demanded.
Despite the portentous narrative introduction by De Mille himself, there isn't much in the way of spiritual nourishment to be had from this flick but you're not likely to be bored. It's designed specifically to prevent that from happening.