Customer Reviews

Captain Kidd

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Not the Sea Hawk or Captain Blood by any means,but still enjoyable.With a cast like Laughton,Carradine and Scott it can't be too bad.Historicaly not very accurate and a little hokey.But then again it doesn't claim to be factual.Laughton is great as the scheaming Kidd and Scott as the hero is his usually heroic self.If you are a fan of this type of film,and i am,you will enjoy this picture.

The low rating reflects the very poor job Roan did on this film. This was advertised as being from a 35mm original print. To begin with it was a re-issue by Lippert with all references to the original distributor, United Artists, removed. Even worse, it has been edited approx. 6 minutes and has splices 3 times during which bits of dialogue are missing. Having compared this to another print with the missing footage and correct titles on a 50-movie pack, I would advise staying away from the Roan edition until something better can be found.

There's never going to be a pristine version of this movie til it's remastered...presuming that original negatives are available and
that's even possible...until then this is the best version of the movie I've seen...it's watchable...even on a big screen TV...and you
are able to suspend belief and watch Laughton create another in his seemingly endless supply of historical characters bigger than life.
I'd forgotten what a stone face Randolph Scott was. Taking great liberties with the historical facts this is a very entertaining
movie in its own right. If you don't expect hi-def clarity and know the limitations of the original medium you won't be disappointed.

My husband wanted this movie on DVD for Xmas and found it with this vendor. He has already watched it and will probably do again soon. Thanks

This is one of those, "I can't believe I never saw this before" movies. Charles Laughton is hilarious as the cynical and villainous Captain Kidd and seems to be having real fun in the roll. The rest of the cast is solid.

Kidd is captain of a British ship, but unknown to the king, a pirate. His crew are, like him, a bunch of cutthroats, ready to sell anyone out for a bit of treasure - Kidd is just better at it than the rest. Scott is the hero and as good in this roll as I've ever seen him.

Although this film isn't as exciting as Captain Blood, The Sea Hawk, or Treasure Island, it's still very good and lots of fun.

The dvd quality is average for a public domain film - far from pristine, but perfectly good for those of us who don't mind.

If you enjoyed Charles Laughton in Mutiny on the Bounty, you will probably enjoy this movie. It's not as good as `Mutiny', but it's enjoyable. And Charles Laughton is great.

It's been awhile since I've seen it, but if my memory is accurate, in this movie, Charles Laughton is the captain of a pirate ship named the `Stinky Princess'. His crew is a band of ruthless hooligans that he rescued from execution off the shores of Madagascar. His mission is to capture and pillage a ship carrying King George himself. In addition to the royal crown and jewels, the treasures on board include, but are not limited to; The Mona Lisa, Frankincense, 10,000 quid, 5000 pesos, and 12,000 dollars in unmarked 20 dollar notes. But there are many obstacles standing in his way...

The solid company of CAPTAIN KIDD includes New Yawker Sidney Sheldon. He played the racetrack tout on Jack Benny's radio and television shows and produced many famous TV series in the 1960s.

Charles Laughton, who was Lt. William Bligh in MGM's MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935) is cast as a fictionalized version of privateer William Kidd. Laughton portrays this Scotsman as a Cockney-accented social climbing scenery chewer who hires valet Reginald Owen hoping to be civilized by this genteel fellow.

This story is awash with pirate clichés and cliché pirates, yet an ample sprinkling of action and Laughton's eyebrow-waggling presence overcome such deficits as a lack of continuity and a woefully miscast Randy Scott.

Swashbuckler fans won't be disappointed here. Sticklers for historical accuracy on the other hand...


Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 imdb viewer poll rating.

(6.4) Captain Kidd (1945) - Charles Laughton/Randolph Scott/Barbara Britton/John Carradine/Gilbert Roland/John Qualen/Sheldon Leonard/William Farnum/Henry Daniell/Reginald Owen

"Captain Kidd" was made in the mid 40s when pirate films were at their peak. We had the great "Treasure Island" (1934), Errol Flynn's film debut in Captain Blood" (1935), "The Buccaneer" (1938), Errol Flynn's "The Sea Hawk" (1940), Tyrone Power's "The Black Swan" (1942), and "Reap the Wild Wind" with John Wayne and Paulette Goddard.

The film stars the great Charles Laughton with Randolph Scott, Barbara Britton, and John Carradine.

Laughton was one of the true giants of the big screen. He won the Oscar for "Henry VIII" (1933) and was nominated twice more for "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935) and "Witness for the Prosecution" (1957). These 3 performances alone are among the top 25 performances ever captured on the big screen, but in addition he gave us such compelling characters as police inspector Javert in "Le Miserables" (1935), Quasimodo in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1939), Herod in "Salome" (1953), and Senator Cooley in "Advise and Consent" (1962). In "Kidd" he does a less than wonderful job. Indeed he does a much better job when he reprised the role in "Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd" (1952).

Randolph Scott started in silent films and his early career involved playing a variety of characters in a variety of films - "My Favorite Wife" (1940), "To the Shores of Tripoli" (1941), "Home Sweet Homicide" (1946) - but by the 50s he was appearing exclusively in B westerns - "Sugarfoot" (1951), "Carson City" (1952), "The Bounty Hunter" (1954), "7th Calvary" (1956), "Westbound" (1958) - most of which were directed by Budd Boetticher (7 films) or Andre de Toth (6 films). His final film, "Ride the High Country" was made in 1952 and was the first film directed by Sam Peckinpah. Scott had amassed a fortune from California real estate investments, and he retired from film making because he considered his performance in "High Country" to be a good note to go out on. Scott was a good actor and his heroic side is clearly in view in "Captain Kidd", even if he is a little boring in this film.

Barbara Britton plays Scott's love interest. This was her first film with Scott and they would make two more - "Gunfighters" (1947) and "Albuquerque" (1948). She made a few dozen films, and eventually made the transition to TV where she is best remembered for the "Mr. & Mrs. North" series (1952-1954) opposite Richard Denning. Britton is attractive and reads the lines well enough, but clearly not Olivia deHaviland.

John Carradine was a terrific character actor. He was a part of John Ford's Stock Company and gave memorable performances in "Prisoner of Shark Island", "Stagecoach" (1939) and "The Grapes of Wrath" (1940). He's best known to us today for his continuing role as Serenity Johnson in son David's TV series "Kung Fu" (1972-1975).

Also featured are Sheldon Leonard, John Qualen, Gilbert Roland and Reginald Owen.

- Sheldon Leonard was the quintessential gangster. His crooked face and New York accent were perfect for the criminals he played in films like "Guys and Dolls" (1955) and "Jinx Money" (1948). Leonard made a successful transition to TV as an actor and later as a major producer and director ("Andy Griffith Show", "Danny Thomas Show", "Dick Van Dyke Show, "I Spy", etc.). He's a bit of an embaressment in this film as a pirate.

- John Qualen is best known as one of the John Ford Stock Company players, appearing in such memorable roles as the crazed but determined Muley in "The Grapes of Wrath" (1940), Jose in "Tortilla Flats" (1942) and Lars Jorgensen in "The Searchers" (1956). But Qualen didn't only work for Ford, and racked up an incredible 200+ roles in his career from 1931 to 1974. He is completely wasted in "Captain Kidd."

- Gilbert Roland was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1953 for playing a Mexican ("The Bad and the Beautiful") and in 1965 for playing an Indian ("Cheyenne Autumn"). During his long career (1925 - 1982) he would play a Greek, a French-Canadian, an Italian, and most memorably, "The Cisco Kid" in a variety of films from 1946 to 1947. He does a decent job as a pirate in this film, but this is uncharacteristically a very small role for Roland.

- Reginald Owen is terrific as the tutor to Laughton. Owen was a distinguished actor who appeared in over 100 films including playing Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol" (1938), Admiral Boom in "Mary Poppins" (1964) and General Teagler in "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" (1972). He had the distinction of playing both Sherlock Holmes ("A study in Scarlet") and Dr. Watson ("Sherlock Holmes") and played King Louis XV in 3 different films.

The film is directed by Rowland Lee who specialized in costume dramas like George Arliss' "Cardinal Richelieu" (1935) "The Three Musketeers" (1935), and "The Son of Monte Cristo" (1940). "Captain Kidd" was his last film. It's unclear what went wrong, but the film has been pieced together in such a manner that the narrative is difficult to understand. Moreover, the scenes are static, as is the camera, making the film difficult to watch as a swashbuckling pirate movie.

The film's budget is over $1 million, but you won't see that price reflected in the production values. The models are obvious and there are very few scenes of naval battles.

If you're looking for pirate films, look elsewhere. If you want to see Laughton, there are much better films than this. Indeed, none of these fine actors turns in a bravura performance.

Captain Kidd (1945) The always interesting Charles Laughton takes on the title role, one he played at least one other time (in Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd). This time though it's a little more serious as the wily pirate captain lies, cheats, steals, and murders his way through a big portion of the supporting cast, all in the pursuit of being recognized as a nobleman by English king Henry Daniell. Luckily, wronged nobleman's son Randolph Scott has managed to join Kidd's crew and plans to put a stop to the pirate's nefarious doings. Laughton is terrific here, playing Kidd as a lower class Britisher whose yearnings to go up in station lead him to all sorts of wicked deeds. He is ably supported by a fine cast, including the always welcome Daniell, my fave John Carradine, and Barbara Britton, absolutely luscious as the damsel in distress. Scott may be the only wrong note in the cast as he is a little too old for his part and a little miscast, but he provides star power and I'm glad he got to get away from the Westerns for a while. Director Rowland V. Lee (Son of Frankenstein) was obviously working with a relatively low budget, and while there is no big sweeping action in this movie, with hundreds of pirates swarming over enemy ships, there are a couple of good swordfights, and the ships are realized through some charming miniature work. If you like a good old fashioned movie with smatterings of drama, action, suspense and romance, I recommend this one, me hearties!

Charles Laughton was unparalleled as a character actor and "Capt. Kidd" is just one of his masterpieces. Even after more than 50 years this performance and this film hold up well and entertain. Too bad more of his films are not readily available.