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UCFC Movie Reviews Captain Kidd Year: 1945 Director: Rowland V. Lee Sword Master: Unknown Starring: Charles Laughton, Randolph Scott, John Carradine, Barbara Britton Review by V. Bjerreskov (02 07 10) There are some people that don't like black and white movies. I am not one of them. Just because a movie is old does not mean that it is bad. Just because a movie is in colour does not mean that it is good. This movie, however, falls into neither category. Simply put, it's boring. Although less than an hour and a half long, we nearly shut it off, until we realised that it was much more fun to laugh at the stilted script and acting, low-budget sets, and the overreaching stereotypes. The film details Captain Kidd's drive to become an English nobleman, from hiring a grammar and etiquette coach in the form of a butler, to methodically killing off those that stand to share in his prior plunder. While this does not seem to be a complex story, the film leaves out several essential story points (i.e. what happened to Kidd's ship when the Twelve Apostles went down, when did Povey get marooned, how did Mercy and his manservant stay together, even in prison), leaving the audience to piece together the sequence of events from hints dropped throughout the film. I guessed who Adam Mercy was long before it was revealed in the film, so suspense and mystery were not the strong points. The romance might have saved the film, but very little was made of it, save that Adam Mercy and Ann Dunstan are engaged at the end of the film. As actors go, it wasn't cast terribly. Charles Laughton might not have been the best choice for Captain Kidd; he is a little rotund, and I believe life at sea is not very condusive to excess body fat. Randolf Scott plays the tortured Mercy quite well. Barbara Britton does wide-eyed, innocent, and trustworthy to a T, but I expect more intelligence from an ambassador's daughter, even back then. The supporting cast blended into the background, and it was very hard to tell one crewman from another. As for fencing, there were two scenes, though the first hardly counts. It occurs when Captain Kidd has his audience with the King, in order to secure the job of escorting precious treasures home from India. It was an amusing scene, where Kidd tells his opponent to come at him as though he means to kill him; it implies that Kidd does not know a thing about offense, and only knows defensive moves. The fact that he disarms the other man in two moves raises his measure in the King's eyes, but that seemed to be the plan. The second scene occurs towards the end of the film, when Mercy walks in on Lorenzo attempting to *ahem* have his way with Ann. Longer, and ranging through a couple of rooms, I'm sure it is a prime example of the movie fencing of the time (I say "I'm sure" because I've never seen an Errol Flynn film, though I intend to soon). It seemed a little stilted, as though the attacker would extend his arm and pause, and the defender would then parry, but the actual mechanics seemed to be right. There were several good actors in the film, and the subject matter is very interesting. If only this movie weren't so... boring! Back to Movie Reviews Home  |  About Us   |  About Fencing   |  Links  |  Photo Gallery Image Bank  |  Reviews   |  Fencing Fun  |  Contact Us