Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Better Late Then Never

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

There have been many movies about pirates, some better than others. This is certainly one of the all-time silliest and most farcical. Randolph Scott looks a bit like a stuffed shirt version of Errol Flynn. His buddy, John Qualen, doesn't have much to say. He usually plays Scandinavians with a funny accent. He was the Norwegian in Casablanca. Henry Daniell was quite convincing as William III, and looked the part. There was a pretty girl, who had almost nothing to do. Otherwise the story, the script and the performances were truly laughable: so bad they were good. Only missing were Abbott and Costello, and I believe they turned up in a later version. Sample dialogue. Last pirate alive on Laughton's hilariously hidden hitlist says: "You can't kill me. I've left a letter with my lawyer, to be opened if I don't come back to London." Captain Laughton: "Spoil sport." Wink, wink, blink. I kid you not! Reminds me of "The Outlaw".However, there is one brief scene which I've watched over and over. Just about 20 minutes into this total nonsense (a better title would be "Carry on Pirating"), a gang of dirty, filthy pirates have been told to get cleaned up, and they are waiting their turn in the hot tub. One of those in the queue is a bloke with a towel round his nether parts. Stap me vitals, and shiver me timbers if this shipmate ain't Charlton Heston! Features --- both face and physique --- are a perfect fit. All that bothers me slightly is the hair, but his hair, if it was his, always did seem to sit a little oddly on his head.This film was made in 1945. In that year, according to Wikipedia, Chuck Heston had just left the army and got married, and was doing some modelling work. It does look as if he picked up a few more pennies as an extra. Can someone confirm or refudiate the possibility? It's one of the main reasons for watching this shipwreck. Three stars for the laughs.

This low-budget swashbuckler starts on Magadascar where Captain Kidd (Charles Laughton)attacks the vessel called ¨twelve apostles¨. London, 1699, Captain Kidd receives a card from the King William III(Henry Daniell): ¨Upon the solicitation of my Lord Bellomont, his Majesty is graciously pleased to order to attend up him at Hampton court , upon the morning of November 13, at nine of the clock , captain William Kidd, ship master, of New York, with intent to discuss a voyage of portent to the waters of India and Magadascar¨.Then Kidd is assigned by King William III to escort on the high seas a ship plenty of treasures from Calcuta until England. As he enlists a misfit crew(Scott, Roland,Qualen, among others) formed by thieves and killers, including to Orange Poverty(John Carradine) who had previously abandoned on an island of Magadascar.Charles Laughton made an excellent acting as Kidd, a roguish, sly, ironic and traitor pirate, lookalike his character of ¨Jamaica Inn¨ by Hitchcock. Later he retook this role in farce style with ¨Abbot and Costello meet captain Kidd¨ by Charles Barton. However the starring Randolph Scott is miscast because is usually in Western and here he's out. Good secondary cast formed by prestigious secondaries as John Carradine,Henry Daniell,John Carradine, John Qualen, Reginald Owen and Gilbert Roland. the motion picture is professionally directed by Rowland V Lee.The story is partially based on real events , the actual deeds happened of the following manner : Kidd was born 1865, Scotland. The military staff hires him to command the ship called ¨Blessed William¨ during the war of nine years(1688-1697) between England and France. Then Kidd sacks the vessel Marie Galante and numerous French warships.After gets license from British admiralty for exercise as buccaneer, commanding the ¨Adventure Galley¨ with 34 cannons and 80 men. He decides to plunder the ¨Quedagh Merchant¨a galley full of treasures and another ships of various countries. Then the captain found himself held capture and transported to England where he was condemned to death penalty in 1701. He was hung but the rope broke itself two times. His corpse was charged in chains throughout of river Thames as warning and punishment.Another films about this historical character are : ¨Double crossbones¨(1950) by Charles Barton with Alan Napier as Kidd; ¨Against all flaggs¨(1952) with Robert Warwick as Kidd; ¨Great adventures of Captain Kidd¨ with John Crawford; and ¨Kidd and the slave girl¨(1954) by Lew Landers and Anthony Dexter as the famous pirate.

The adventure movies' is a high art, this is obvious. Look at the annoyingly many failed attempts. KIDD is not a good movie,it fails to deliver what it promises; and in fact not only it is not a good movie—this is euphemistically stating it; it's rubbish. It begins as an adventure movie—pirates, a treasure, but it changes into something considerably less appealing and also less interesting. What we are nonetheless left with is Laughton's verve, his considerable instinct for the picturesque. In a quite large role, R. Scott is insipid.What the movie lacks are style, pace, gusto. It can only offer a few melodramatic leftovers. It looks cheap, ugly, tern, stupid. Laughton was good beyond belief, in any role, I suppose. Such a staunchly reliable actor.

Fictionalized account of Captain Kidd has him looking to gain entry into favored English society after tricking the king to commission him as escort to a ship coming from India loaded with treasure. Of course, Kidd (here played with gusto by Charles Laughton) has his eyes set firmly on gaining much of said treasure for himself without the king even realizing what's he done.Despite Laughton's best efforts and boisterous acting performance and an all star cast including Randolph Scott, Barbara Britton, John Carradine and even Henry Daniell in a short role as the King, this never rises above being just average at best. In terms of a swashbuckler, this has one sword fight that's much too short. In terms of action of the high seas, the sea battles prove all too brief. Mostly this features talking between characters to further advance the plot. In short, there's way too much posturing and talk and nowhere near enough action. Overall, it's surprisingly dull.