Fortunes of Captain Blood

source: Fortunes of Captain Blood

Trailer—Fortunes of Captain Blood

Fortunes of Captain Blood

Following his banishment from England for aiding an injured enemy, physician Peter Blood (Louis Hayward) resorts to piracy, becoming captain of a notorious crew of buccaneers. Sent to capture Blood is the Marquis de Riconete (George Macready), a brutal man willing to do whatever it takes to bring in the wanted swashbuckler. After Riconete finally catches Blood's crew on an island, Blood must go incognito to rescue his men, all with the help of Riconete's niece Isabelita (Patricia Medina). Another entertaining swashbuckler with Hayward on top form, swishing and swashing his sword and speaking with a Spanish accent. He's complimented by George Macready as the villain ( what else?) and the ravishing Patricia Medina. The black and white picture adds to the film with its grey shadows; the scene in the prison hallway is a great example. There's intrigue, action - a grand ship battle finale - and romance. Just how I like them.

Louis Hayward stars in this tale of Captain Blood, not a remake of the Errol Flynn movie, but an altogether separate story with the same fictional hero. This involves an episode where Blood has to free six of his men who were captured and enslaved as pearl fishermen -- a lethal line of work considering the sharks. Under the able direction of Gordon Douglas this movie was far better than you'd expect -- actually much better than the cocaine-inspired junk they make in 2008. Now in DVD. In 1950, good adventure movies were commonplace, so this movie was given some extra hype by Columbia Pictures pairing it double feature with "Beauty on Parade" a semi-sexy saga about beauty contests and how the girls get abused. Odd that I'd remember this second feature after 58 years; not on DVD, cable, or anywhere.

I enjoy movie. I thought Louis Hayward was very charming with his witty humor and tongue to get himself in and out of trouble and to speak with a Hispanic accent. In this movie, Louis Hayward and his first mate remember very easy about their horrible times as slaves (they were sold into slavery by the English) which is why Hayward had to go back to and release his men even though it might cost him his life. It also seems that Louis raid the Spanish colonies while in the Errol Flynn raided both the English and Spanish colonies. George Macready did play an excellent role in the movie. I recognize his voice, but not his name. The women were also very funny as well as full of pride.

The previous poster is mistaken if she remembers seeing Hayward in glorious color--this is a black and white movie---and a less glorious B&W than that supplied Warner Brothers' Captain Blood by Ernest Haller and Hal Mohr. In fact, Fortunes often looks like a TV production--and not just because of the poor model work. What isn't typical of a TV movie is the surprising amount of violence--Blood's crew is bludgeoned mercilessly when they are captured, whipped by the Marquis and his overseers, and forced to listen to Alfonso Bedoya's idiosyncratic line readings. I remember seeing Louis Hayward in The Black Arrow when I was about 10, and thinking that movie a great swashbuckler. Yet when I read the posts about it on IMDb, I wonder if my memory is playing tricks on me as well. Watching a bit of Fortunes on TCM, I rather suspect it is--this movie is pretty tepid, with the chief excellence being Hayward's performance, even though he gets no help from the script or director.

Gordon Douglas at the time was redoing Erroll Flynn's adventures movies :for instance "rogues of Sherwood" showed Robin Hood's son (!)battling against his wicked uncle ;Hayward was sluggish but Mc Ready was delightful as the villain. Another character portrayed by Flynn (gloriously) :another Hayward /McReady pairing and another battle.Six men from captain Blood's crew have been sold as slaves and they have got to dive for pearls in waters infested with sharks (too bad,those scenes are not shown;it would have added some suspense to a story which is terribly in need of it) The story is barely entertaining ,compared to the great Blood of Flynn and De Havilland (replaced by Patricia Medina who tries her best but who is not Olivia )

I was in love with Louis Hayward and there is no more ardent love than a seven year old for a Pirate. I saw every film with Louis Hayward that came to the local cinema and I imagined I was the heroine of course! We had American friends and they had a home cinema and I saw this film and thought it was wonderful. 53 years later, what would I think - I hope it would transport me back over the years when the handsome Louis Hayward would be as dashing and romantic as he was when I first saw him. Good swashbuckling adventure. Must have made an impression when I remember it after 53 years. I know Errol Flynn was the original "Peter Blood" in talking movies but Louis Hayward was the actor whom I saw in the 1950's in glorious colour. Yes, the colours in those movies in the 1950's were wonderful breathtaking after so many black and white movies.

I'm writing this in response to the plea for a review; if anyone has seen it more recently, please chime in. I saw this a decade or two ago on TV, and remember rather liking it, but being disappointed that it didn't follow Sabatini's book more closely. It wasn't quite as weak as I'd expected from a sequel, and Louis Hayward wasn't as weak as I'd expect from a replacement for Errol Flynn. All in all, a reasonably good standard-issue pirate movie; sorry I can't be more definite than that. There was also a sequel to the sequel, based on Sabatini's _Captain Blood Returns_, entitled for some reason _Captain Pirate_, which I remember as being, surprisingly, somewhat better than this one.