235SCOPE
Arturo de Cordova was not Spanish, he was Mexican. His first language was Spanish, but that does not make him "Spanish." Mexican and Spanish are two different things.The film aired today on TCM. It was a rare showing of this movie, which I have been hunting down since reading about it in Mitchell Leisen's biography 43 years ago. It was then that I read and never forgot about the sumptuous Oscar-winning Technicolor cinematography. I was heartbroken to see it in an extremely washed-out transfer but anything is better than nothing. Would it be possible for Universal to place this on a list of important restorations, given its place in Oscar history?
MARIO GAUCI
Director Leisen, who started out as Cecil B. De Mille’s art director, was one of Hollywood’s supreme stylists throughout the 1930s and 1940s; unfortunately, his reputation has dwindled in recent years and, consequently, much of his filmography has so far been neglected on DVD (only DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY [1934], HANDS ACROSS THE TABLE [1935] and GOLDEN EARRINGS [1947] are available – with EASY LIVING [1937] and MIDNIGHT [1939] coming up)! While he’s best-known for sophisticated comedies in the vein of Lubitsch, Sturges, Wilder et al – all four, incidentally, worked most often at Paramount – he also dabbled in other genres (or mixed them with utmost confidence) and, this, in fact is a costumer/romance/swashbuckler all in one! The film is based on a novel by Daphne DuMaurier – very popular around this time, including two Hitchcock adaptations (JAMAICA INN [1939] and REBECCA [1940]); the latter had made a star of Joan Fontaine, who also fills the leading role here – throughout the decade, she would appear in a number of costumers (JANE EYRE [1944], IVY [1947], LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN [1948] and, later on, IVANHOE [1952] and CASANOVA’S BIG NIGHT [1954]). Lavishly-mounted (copping an Oscar for Hans Dreier’s production design) and shot in rich Technicolor (as was the case with THE Spanish MAIN [1945] by George Barnes and an Academy Award winner, incidentally, for the afore-mentioned REBECCA), Leisen is ably served by the fine cast he managed to assemble in this case.Even if he’s supposed to be French, Arturo de Cordova is a most interesting choice for the dashing and virile pirate; I acquired a soft spot the Spanish actor after viewing his impressively nuanced central performance in Luis Bunuel’s study of pathological jealousy EL (1952) – still one of the most fascinating character studies ever put on film! Basil Rathbone is a stalwart in this type of film, though he’s a lecherous aristocratic villain here rather than a rival swordsman for the hero; his startling death scene at the hands of Fontaine is an undeniable dramatic highlight. Cecil Kellaway is terrific as Fontaine’s amiable but mysterious butler, who’s eventually revealed to be a foremost member of de Cordova’s pirate entourage; the popular Australian character actor would soon after play the painter Gainsborough in another costumer by Leisen, KITTY (1945) – a variation on “Pygmalion” starring Ray Milland and Paulette Goddard which remains one of the director’s finest films. Smaller roles were given to Nigel Bruce, typically obtuse and pompous as an aristocratic pirate victim (interestingly, this is the only film he and Rathbone would make together outside of their classic, and long-running, “Sherlock Holmes” series) and Ralph Forbes in the role of Fontaine’s insufferably fey husband. Incidentally, being aware of Mitchell Leisen’s homosexual tendencies (together with those of executive producer David Lewis), one can hardly escape the film’s gay subtext: apart from the afore-mentioned character of Fontaine’s husband (who is clearly more interested in his best friend Rathbone), Fontaine herself dresses up as a cabin boy for a chunk of the movie, De Cordova is often seen bare-chested and surrounded by his handsome lieutenants, his crew gleefully dress up in the women’s clothing they’ve just pillaged, etc.With a not inconsiderable length of 112 minutes, the film’s first half – more akin to the so-called “woman’s picture” – is somewhat leisurely-paced and rather dreary. However, it eventually bursts into satisfying excitement and suspense – with such sequences as the pirates’ theft of a merchant ship from the docks, de Cordova’s decision to confront the nobility gathered at Forbes’ estate to plan his apprehension, the ensuing scuffle between the two factions and, finally, after the hero has been cornered and jailed, his shrewdly-organized flight from captivity with the help of the loving Fontaine and the devoted Kellaway. The CASABLANCA-like finale, in which the dutiful mother Fontaine sacrifices her own happiness to return to a repentant husband and their children, is unusual for this type of film and only adds to its already apparent value as a superior example of the genre(s).
bkoganbing
The absolutely gorgeous color cinematography and the Academy Award winning sets are the main reason that you should Frenchman's Creek today. The players definitely take second place to those outstanding features.The plot at least as it has been altered by the Code is handled with as much skill as the cast can muster covering up some glaring holes. Joan Fontaine is one unhappily married lady of the manor with two small children and a husband who seems more intent on advancing his career in Restoration Great Britain than in her. As was the fashion of that bawdy era husband Ralph Forbes even encourages his wife to pay attention to the courting of his rakish friend Basil Rathbone to Fontaine. When at court many men even pimped their wives for Charles II, this behavior in that era isn't surprising.Well Fontaine can't stand Rathbone so she and the kids take off for the summer place on the Cornwall coast. There's a servant there with a French accent, Cecil Kellaway and later she learns it's been inhabited discreetly by French pirate Arturo De Cordova. He's quite the charmer, if the film were done at Warner Brothers Errol Flynn would have had the part. Joan and Arturo as a couple look like they come right out of one of those romance novels. She even takes up the cutlass with him and she proves to be every bit the swordsman he is. The title of the film comes from a hidden cove near Fontaine's manor where De Cordova's ship lays anchor. Other more recent versions of the story by Daphne Du Maurier have been made that are closer to the original. I can't reveal it, but the ending makes absolutely no sense at all. And it is NOT as Du Maurier wrote it originally.Maybe that was part of the reason that Mexican film idol Arturo De Cordova never got stardom north of the border. He appeared in this film, in a supporting role in For Whom the Bell Tolls and another Paramount feature and then went back to Mexico where he was a leading figure in Latino cinema for the next quarter of a century. De Cordova reminds me a lot of his fellow countryman, Gilbert Roland.Rathbone is a nasty villain and there's also a nice performance by Nigel Bruce as a fatheaded earl who is a Cornwall neighbor. It's the only time that Basil and Nigel did a film together not as Holmes and Watson. Mitchell Leisen directed this film and did a good job given the Code restrictions he operated under. Leisen early in his career worked on several Cecil B. DeMille films and his photography and sets definitely have a DeMille look to them.If you like romantic tales, despite the problems, Frenchman's Creek is one for you.
Kirasjeri
My favorite pirate film was the "Black Swan" (and I didn't hate "Cutthroat Island", either!), but this is a close second even though there is less sea action and it's more ABOUT a pirate. The sets and acting are wonderful; the use of color is magnificent. This is a very enjoyable film with the gorgeous Joan Fonatine (Olivia deHavilland's estranged sister) acting up a storm and at her peak of pulchritude, and the magnificent Basil Rathbone demonstrating his soaring acting talent. The hilight of the film for me was one of the best fight scenes ever filmed - an all-out battle-to-the-death between Rathbone - and Fontaine!! A classic!
