This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

This movie is one of those films over shadowed when it was released because of the top films of 1939. It is a solid "B" feature, a swash buckling adventure attempt from the Hal Roach studios to make a film like 1938's Robin Hood, using a different setting and black and white film. It succeeds more than one would realize.While the list of stars in this one is not A List, a fair amount of the cast worked for careers in films ranging from Titanic (1953) to The Quiet Man (1952) and others. One of the strengths of this movie is the cast as they really do a great job acting on a solid script.It is quite easy to recognize the Culver City, California western sets which are being used as Australia here. The story of Blokes in Australia and the history of the British sending their prisoners to the Island to get rid of them is pretty accurate, and the minds of a couple of very capable screenwriters put this script together well. The reason the history is covered and feels well is due to Grover Jones work as he very a very adept screen writer. A year later, another of his screen plays based on some real history, Dark Command, Republics only teaming on screen of John Wayne and Roy Rogers proves where things would move on from here.There is one sequence with Kangaroos which is put in to try and give the Australian feel to this. The cast does a good job selling this is actually happening in that country. This film and Raoul Walsh's Dark Command are both films which have Western Casts doing something different. The difference is this one has a much lower budget and a B cast from the Roach studios. This film does hold it's own quite nicely, though it is a bit dated now.Prisoners helping settler's whose freedom is being threatened is a Robin Hood type of plot. In this instance, pretty well done.

Hal Roach who more often than one would think as his reputation has come down today sometimes left the two reel comedies and occasional feature films for Laurel&Hardy and did some big budget stuff. One of his biggest was this 18th century costume drama Captain Fury. It even snagged an Oscar nomination for Art settings.This story which borrows most liberally from the legend of Robin Hood casts Brian Aherne as Irish convict who was fighting for independence in Ireland which activities got him arrested and sent to Australia which as we know was a penal colony in those days.He's indentured to a most cruel and rapacious landowner George Zucco who treats the army of convicts in his charge like slaves. He's our Sir Guy of Gisborne in this tale. It doesn't take long for Aherne to escape with a few good men and take up his rebel ways once again. In the process he wins June Lang away from her puritan father Paul Lukas.Lukas's mittel europa accent is easily explained when one realized that the King of Great Britain had some considerable real estate in the heart of Germany. The Hanover dynasty were first Electors of the Palatine. Lots of settlers from there migrated to all kinds of British colonies so Lukas by no means would have been out of place.His is a strange character, a great example where one can get truly warped overindulging in religious doctrine. He doesn't like Zucco and his cutthroats, but can't get past Aherne's criminal activity.The film also features Victor McLaglen just being his charming self. That's enough for a lot of people to watch the film.Even without McLaglen's oafish ways, Captain Fury is a fine and dashing action/adventure film. I'm sure the parallels with The Adventures Of Robin Hood which came out the year before could not help being noticed by the movie going public.

Although lower-tier Hollywood mogul Hal Roach is deservedly best-known today for nurturing many legendary comedians over the years (especially the greatest comic duo in film history, Laurel and Hardy), his production company also made other types of movies – with the TOPPER movies (2 of which I have recently watched) and the celebrated original version of OF MICE AND MEN (1939; which I have just acquired) being arguably their best 'extracurricular' ventures. To a much lesser degree, Roach was a director himself and the well-crafted and, in hindsight, unjustly forgotten adventure film CAPTAIN FURY is perhaps his finest personal effort; for the record, I have recently also come across the prestigious prehistoric epic ONE MILLION B.C. (1940; starring Victor Mature and Lon Chaney Jnr.) and, on account of my positive experience with the film under review, plan to check it out presently. Anyway, CAPTAIN FURY may not strictly be swashbuckling fare but it is clear that Roach was following the classic Robin Hood/Zorro templates in this story of the titular Irish rebel (Brian Aherne) exiled to an Australian penal colony headed by a brutish landowner (George Zucco) who is also harassing the nearby settlers. Bonding with the fellow inmates – particularly incorrigible, thuggish thief Victor McLaglen and a sickly philosopher John Carradine – Aherne soon escapes to rouse the settlers against their oppressor. The excellent cast rounded up for this action-packed and amiable romp (that, for a 70-year old movie, features at least one extraordinary stunt involving a horse leaping down a waterfall!) is completed by the familiar faces of top-notch character actors like Paul Lukas (as a religious fanatic initially opposed to Aherne for setting sights on his daughter), Douglas Dumbrille (as Zucco's henchman), Charles Middleton, Claud Allister, Lumsden Hare, Mary Gordon, Edgar Norton, Billy Bevan, etc. Like the film itself, Aherne is a largely forgotten actor nowadays – despite having portrayed the legendary figure of King Arthur twice on screen in PRINCE VALIANT (1954) and LANCELOT AND GUINEVERE aka SWORD OF LANCELOT (1963) – but, seeing him cutting such a dashing figure here in the Errol Flynn mould, made me want to check out more of his work…and, indeed, his Oscar-nominated turn as Emperor Maximilian in William Dieterle's star-studded biopic JUAREZ (released just one month prior to CAPTAIN FURY) should be just around the corner! It is always so refreshing to take these nostalgic trips to the lightweight entertainment Hollywood provided during its Golden Age and, as in previous occasions, I have the former sexton friend (and renowned film buff) to thank for introducing me to this rare gem via his personal (and understandably hazy) 16mm print.

The best way to describe this film is by saying it's like an Australian version of ROBIN HOOD. In this case, the film is set during the penal colony days in Australia. George Zucco plays an unscrupulous jerk who buys up all the prisoners to be his indentured servants (though he treats them like his ranch is Devil's Island). In addition, he's power-mad and wants to force all the small nearby farmers to run away by having his thugs attack them one at a time. However, Brian Ahern plays an Irish patriot who was banished to the land down-under and he won't live like a slave, so he leads a small rebellion. With his group of suddenly free men, they embark on a campaign to unify and protect the small nearby farms from the evil Zucco.Brian Ahern, not a familiar leading man, does a fine job and he is very ably assisted by Victor MacLaglen in a semi-comedic role. The film is exciting and fun, though a tad predictable--much like a Saturday morning B-adventure film from the era.