This ought to be better . . . or at least more fun. Charles Laughton is Captain Kidd, a real person who really did get a commission to hunt Madagascar Pirates, went rouge, got caught, got tried, got hung. But director Rowland V. Lee, with a knack for mounting swashbucklers on-the-cheap (COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO/’34; CARDINAL RICHELIEU/’35; TOWER OF LONDON/’39), can’t make a silk purse out of Benedict Bogeaus's sow’s-ear production. (Many a bumpy edit where a retake was needed!) Particularly threadbare topside (those dead cycloramas!), though lenser Archie Stout manages better in darkness below deck. Quite a good cast, considering: Henry Daniell, John Qualen, Gilbert Roland, John Carradine, and a standout comic turn from Reginald Owen as a Gentleman’s Gentleman, hired to lend couth to the Captain, chiding Laughton into underpaying him and show proper contempt toward underlings. Co-star Randolph Scott is hopelessly All-American as a Lord-in-hiding trying to win back the family title (he’s certainly in fine shape at 47!), if only faceless Lady Barbara Britton were worth saving. What can’t be finessed is Robert N. Lee’s script. Rowland’s brother, his buried treasure tropes, ship sabotage, kidnapings & thieves-without-honor has all the formal construction of a tossed salad. More miss than missed opportunity, it still can’t explain why Lee, only 53, never worked again.
DOUBLE-BILL: Laughton burlesqued the role in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET CAPTAIN KIDD/’52. (not seen here; does he use the same inspired lower-middle-class accent?) OR: KITTY, also out in ‘45, with Reginald Owen walking off with another 18th century yarn, this one meant to showcase Paulette Goddard. She’s good, too, third best after MODERN TIMES/’36 and AN IDEAL HUSBAND/’47.
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