Product: Captain Kidd
Rating: 3.0
Yo Ho Ho and an Inexpensive DVD!
Captain Kidd (1945) The always interesting Charles Laughton takes on the title role, one he played at least one other time (in Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd). This time though it's a little more serious as the wily pirate captain lies, cheats, steals, and murders his way through a big portion of the supporting cast, all in the pursuit of being recognized as a nobleman by English king Henry Daniell. Luckily, wronged nobleman's son Randolph Scott has managed to join Kidd's crew and plans to put a stop to the pirate's nefarious doings. Laughton is terrific here, playing Kidd as a lower class Britisher whose yearnings to go up in station lead him to all sorts of wicked deeds. He is ably supported by a fine cast, including the always welcome Daniell, my fave John Carradine, and Barbara Britton, absolutely luscious as the damsel in distress. Scott may be the only wrong note in the cast as he is a little too old for his part and a little miscast, but he provides star power and I'm glad he got to get away from the Westerns for a while. Director Rowland V. Lee (Son of Frankenstein) was obviously working with a relatively low budget, and while there is no big sweeping action in this movie, with hundreds of pirates swarming over enemy ships, there are a couple of good swordfights, and the ships are realized through some charming miniature work. If you like a good old fashioned movie with smatterings of drama, action, suspense and romance, I recommend this one, me hearties!