Fortunes of Captain Blood (1950)

Director:

Gordon Douglas

Writers:

Frank Burt (writer)
Michael Hogan (writer)

Release Date:

19 May 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure

Plot Keywords:

Swashbuckler | Beautiful Woman | Foreign Language Adaptation | Based On Novel | Character Name In Title

Cast

Louis Hayward	...	Capt. Peter Blood
Patricia Medina	...	Isabelita Sotomayor
George Macready	...	Marquis de Riconete
Alfonso Bedoya	...	Carmilio, Prison Overseer
Dona Drake	...	Pepita Maria Rosados
Lowell Gilmore	...	George Fairfax
Wilton Graff	...	Capt. Alvarado
Curt Bois	...	King Charles II
Lumsden Hare	...	Tom Mannering
Billy Bevan	...	Billy Bragg (as William Bevan)
Harry Cording	...	Will Ward
Duke York	...	Andrew Hardy
Sven Hugo Borg	...	Swede
Martin Garralaga	...	Antonio Viamonte
James Fairfax	...	Nat Russell

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Quotes:

Marquis de Riconete: It is bad enough that I should have business dealings with vermin. I don't wish them to infest my family. Senor Fairfax, if you attempt to see my niece again, I shall have the distinct pleasure of watching you being torn apart by the sharks.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Captain Pirate (1952)

Memory--can we trust it?

The previous poster is mistaken if she remembers seeing Hayward in glorious color--this is a black and white movie---and a less glorious B&W than that supplied Warner Brothers' Captain Blood by Ernest Haller and Hal Mohr. In fact, Fortunes often looks like a TV production--and not just because of the poor model work. What isn't typical of a TV movie is the surprising amount of violence--Blood's crew is bludgeoned mercilessly when they are captured, whipped by the Marquis and his overseers, and forced to listen to Alfonso Bedoya's idiosyncratic line readings.

I remember seeing Louis Hayward in The Black Arrow when I was about 10, and thinking that movie a great swashbuckler. Yet when I read the posts about it on IMDb, I wonder if my memory is playing tricks on me as well. Watching a bit of Fortunes on TCM, I rather suspect it is--this movie is pretty tepid, with the chief excellence being Hayward's performance, even though he gets no help from the script or director.