Fortunes of Captain Blood
Fortunes of Captain Blood | |
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Directed by | Gordon Douglas |
Written by | Michael Hogan Frank Burt Robert Libott |
Produced by | Harry Joe Brown |
Starring | Louis Hayward Patricia Medina George Macready Curt Bois |
Cinematography | George E. Diskant |
Edited by | Gene Havlick |
Music by | Paul Sawtell |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates | May 19, 1950 (premiere) June 1950 |
Running time | 91 min. |
Language | English |
Fortunes of Captain Blood (1950) is a pirate film directed by Gordon Douglas. Based on the famous Captain Blood depicted in the original novel and subsequent collections of stories written by Rafael Sabatini, Fortunes was produced by Columbia Pictures as yet another remake about the notorious swashbuckler. The film is complete with daring sword fights, sensational sea battles, intrigue, and a vivacious love interest. It later spawned a sequel from the same cast and crew only two years later entitled Captain Pirate.
Synopsis
The film follows the standard story about Captain Blood: arrested and sentenced to slavery for his treatment of a wounded rebel during the Monmouth Rebellion, Dr. Peter Blood, with a group of fellow slaves, has escaped and become a feared buccaneer on the high seas. King Charles II of Spain calls upon the Marquis de Riconete, the governor of Rio de La Hacha, to capture the elusive Captain Blood and end his attacks upon Spanish ships.
Blood is safe until he tries to resupply his ship; when a party of his men go ashore, they are betrayed by their supplier and captured by the slave trader George Fairfax, who sells them to the Marquis. After revictualling and rearming at Tortuga, Blood then secretly returns to La Hacha disguised as a fruit seller to find and rescue his loyal crew, who even while being tortured by the Marquis have refused to reveal the location of their captain. During his search, he befriends Pepita Rosados, a beautiful flirt who reveals to Blood that many of Fairfax's slaves are dying. Blood then confronts Fairfax about the deplorable situation, and finds that Fairfax is having troubles with Isabelita Sotomayor, the niece of the Marquis. The Marquis then decides to arrest Fairfax for his supposed involvement with Blood, so his troops secretly follow Isabelita to his house. She pleads with Fairfax to alleviate her boredom with the island, offering him money to carry her to Spain. After their discussion, the troops enter and a fight ensues.
Still disguised as a fruit seller, Blood treats the wounded Fairfax in a nearby tavern and offers Isabelita passage to Spain if she convinces her uncle to pardon Fairfax. She agrees, and using his newfound insider information Blood discovers the seal of the Marquis. Unfortunately, he mistakes the forgery and after revealing his mistaken note to the prison guard a battle ensues. Blood and his men escape, however the Marquis is not willing to abandon his search.
Isabelita is shocked to discover that her uncle plans to torture the local tavern owner to find the captain, so she reveals Blood's location, thinking he has already set sail. Unfortunately, the incoming tide has prevented his escape, and the Marquis confronts Blood at sea. A fiery battle ensues, with the flaming ship of the Marquis ultimately trying to ram Captain Blood. Luckily, Blood and his crew manage to destroy the vessel before the deadly flames could reach them. After the pirates' victory, Blood sails away and Isabelita vows to stay on the island and create a new government without slavery.
Cast
- Louis Hayward as Capt. Peter Blood
- Patricia Medina as Isabelita Sotomayor
- George Macready as Marquis de Riconete
- Alfonso Bedoya as Carmillo
- Dona Drake as Pepita Maria Rosados
- Lowell Gilmore as George Fairfax
- Wilton Graff as Capt. Alvarado
- Curt Bois as King Charles
Ι Ι - Lumsden Hare as Tom Mannering
- Billy Bevan as Billy Bragg
- Harry Cording as Will Ward
- Duke York as Andrew Hardy
- Sven Hugo Borg as Swede
- Martin Garralaga as Antonio Viamonte
- James Fairfax as Nat Russell
External links
- Fortunes of Captain Blood at IMDb
- Fortunes of Captain Blood at the TCM Movie Database (Includes a trailer)