Anne of the Indies (1951)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Jacques Tourneur

Writers:

Arthur Caesar (writer)
Philip Dunne (writer)

Release Date:

18 October 1951 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Romance

Plot:

LaRochelle, a former pirate captain, is caught by the British. To get his ship back, he works as a spy against other pirates...

Plot Keywords:

Pirate | Slave Market | Wig | Eye Patch | Sea Battle

Cast

Jean Peters	...	Capt. Anne Providence
Louis Jourdan	...	Captain Pierre François LaRochelle
Debra Paget	...	Molly LaRochelle
Herbert Marshall	...	Dr. Jameson
Thomas Gomez	...	Blackbeard
James Robertson Justice	...	Red Dougal
Francis Pierlot	...	Herkimer
Sean McClory	...	Hackett

Runtime:

81 min | USA:87 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

West Germany:16 (f) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Goofs:

Continuity: The direction of the rowing boat when Captain Blackbeard leaves the beach with his escort. (orientation changes too fast between shots hardly changing the position of the boat)

Soundtrack:

Ann of the Indies

Pirate nonsense with tomboyish Jean Peters swaggering with a sword...

Fox must have had a lot of left-over sets from Tyrone Power's THE BLACK SWAN (and a trunkfull of period costumes on hand) when they decided to film ANNE OF THE INDIES. It provides JEAN PETERS with a flashy role as a lady pirate (a la Ann Boney), but her swagger seems more like the pose of a well-rehearsed actress willing to submit herself to a pirate film totally lacking originality aside from starring a lady pirate.

All the clichés are here, including the black-hearted Blackbeard the Pirate (THOMAS GOMEZ) given the hammy, tongue-in-cheek style usually reserved for such an outgoing villain. This time the captive is not a beautiful woman but a handsome Frenchman (LOUIS JOURDAN) who, naturally, catches the eye of the tomboyish heroine and makes her wish she looked more like a woman. What she doesn't know is that he does indeed have a wife (DEBRA PAGET) who fills the role of conventional beauty nicely.

Some of it is actually fun to watch and it's a no-brainer that, given the standards of the 1950s, the ending will conclude the way it does. I like JEAN PETERS very much, but this is one role that would have served MAUREEN O'HARA better. O'Hara had a more convincing way with a sword and the fiery temperament to go with the role.