For some reason I had never gotten around to seeing this film. Unusual for me since I have been a Guiness fan for many years. Now I find that I am rather sorry I bothered. It fails completely as comedy and can only have been reviewed favorably at the time of it's release due to the performances -- all good in a poor cause! The problem begins with a screen play that is strained at every turn. The major flaw is that the Guiness character is a totally unlikable sort. A selfish, petty little man who uses people with little care for them. Not even the great Alec Guiness can manage to make this fellow one that we give two hoots in hell about. The film suffers further from one of the very worst musical scores I have ever heard. It is loud, frantic, intrusive, and very ugly. In the final analysis this is one of the most tedious films I have ever sat through (and I love movies and have seen many in my seventy plus years). I note that a number of those commenting have attributed this film to Ealing Studios. It isn't. It was produced by London Productions (see the details on the main page for this film). For those of you who are fans of Sir Alec Guiness's work and who have not seen this film, my advice is to skip it. Watching it will simply disappoint you.
Review of The Captain's Paradise
