A mighty epic of the sea thunders to the screen !
1952-03-05
N/A
77 min
Early in the War of 1812, Captain James Marshall is commissioned to run the British blockade and fetch an unofficial war loan from France. As first mate, Marshall recruits Ben Waldridge, a cashiered former British Navy captain. Waldridge brings his former gun crew...who begin plotting mutiny as soon as they learn there'll be gold aboard. The gold duly arrives, and with it Waldridge's former sweetheart Leslie, who's fond of a bit of gold herself. Which side is Waldridge really on?
The Americans get drawn into a much bigger confrontation between Napoleonic France and the British and their allies in this rather shallow (no pun intended) maritime yarn that sees "James Marshall" (Mark Stevens) tasked with running a blockade to fetch some gold from a France who had supported US Independence to frustrate the UK rather than for any more laudable democratic reasons. He recruits the recently cashiered RN Captain "Waldrige" (Patric Knowles) and when they collect their prize - and Angela Lansbury, the scheming "Leslie" who used to be Knowles' girlfriend - we embark on a some plotting, counter-plotting peppered by the odd sea battle. It's history is all over the place, and as an action adventure it falls short with way too much faux intrigue and nowhere near enough action. Not one of Philip Jordan's better stories. Colourful, but dull!
