Yankee Buccaneer (1952)

Captain David Porter of the fledgling American Navy receives orders to masquerade as a privateer in order to corral some Caribbean pirates.

Director:

Frederick De Cordova (as Frederick de Cordova)

Writers:

Charles K. Peck Jr. (screenplay), Charles K. Peck Jr. (story)

Stars:

Jeff Chandler, Scott Brady, Suzan Ball

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jeff Chandler	...	Cmdr. David Porter
Scott Brady	...	Lt. David Farragut
Suzan Ball	...	Countess Margarita La Raguna
Joseph Calleia	...	Count Domingo Del Prado
George Mathews	...	Chief Petty Officer Link
Rodolfo Acosta	...	Poulini
David Janssen	...	Beckett
Joseph Vitale	...	Scarjack
Michael Ansara	...	Lt. Romero
James Parnell	...	Redell
Jay Silverheels	...	Lead Warrior

Storyline

A United States Navy ship in the first half of the 19th century, under the command of Captain David Porter, is expecting to put ashore after a year on the seas; but the arrival of one of Porter's ex-students, the willful and independent Lieutenant David Farragut, brings a new mission: to disguise the ship and crew as a pirate ship and help the Navy locate the criminals who have been robbing America's merchant fleet. But as Farragut's disobedience threatens the safety of the crew, they stumble upon an international conspiracy.

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Plot Keywords:

pirate | conspiracy | privateer | u.s. navy | bare chested male | 

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Taglines:

SEA ADVENTURE! (original print ad - all caps)

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Genres:

Adventure | History | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 April 1953 (Finland)

Also Known As:

Bucaneros del Caribe

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

While Errol Flynn (I) was recovering from a broken ankle while filming Against All Flags (1952), Universal took advantage of the standing sets for that film by putting together this modest epic during the hiatus.

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Goofs

Porter was stepfather to Farragut, not just another junior officer, and they did not serve on the same ship during the West Indian campaign.

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Quotes

Cmdr. David Porter: I don't envy you, Mr. Farragut. You win't be the most popular nan after we ride out this storm - if we ride it out.

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Connections

Referenced in Face of the Frog (1959)

User Reviews

Step-brothers

The real David Dixon Porter and the real David Glasgow Farragut are portrayed in Yankee Buccaneer by Jeff Chandler and Scott Brady. The film is concerned with a wholly fictitious incident involving about a US Naval vessel going undercover as a pirate ship to find out where these seemingly organized pirates are headquartered. In real life Porter and Farragut were more than teacher and pupil, in fact they were step-brothers.

Yankee Buccaneer also has them involved in a way that the film does not make clear with the Portugese dynastic situation in the 19th century in the person of Suzan Ball. The Braganza family was exiled to Brazil during the Napoleonic Wars which is a whole film in itself, but not terribly germane to the plot here.

Anyway Joseph Calleia is a Spanish governor of one of the few islands in the Caribbean left to Spain. But that's his day job, by night he's the ringleader of the pirate activity and he's a slick article.

This naval film plays like one of those old B westerns where real historic people are involved in fictitious situations. Yankee Buccaneer doesn't play fast and loose with history, it just rewrites it to suit the fans of Chandler and Brady. George Matthews has a nice part in this film as the CPO of the ship.

A few others might like it as well as the fans of the leads.