Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

zardoz-13 "Subterfuge" director Peter Graham Scott's period piece "Night Creatures" (aka "Captain Clegg") qualifies as a rare Hammer film that is neither about supernatural demons nor larger-than-life monsters. Basically, "Night Creatures" concerns British smugglers at war with the Royal Navy. This suspenseful, atmospheric epic came out a year before the Walt Disney picture "Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow" with Patrick McGoohan. Indeed, the uncredited source of John Elder's screenplay with Barbara S. Harper's supplemental dialogue is Russell Thorndike's novel "Dr. Syn." The two films cover roughly the same subject matter, but "Night Passage" director James Neilson's Disney version with McGoohan ranks as the better of the two. Hammer avoided a copyright infringement law suit with Disney by changing the protagonist's name from Dr. Syn to Reverend Blyss. Nevertheless, Hammer serves up an interesting version of its own that ranks as far more realistic. The ending is not as rosy as "Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow" and morality plays an important part in the unhappy conclusion."Night Creatures" unfolds with a prologue set in the year 1776 aboard a sailing ship in the tropics. A stocky mulatto seaman (Milton Reid of "The Spy Who Loved Me") is punished for "willfully and maliciously" attacking the wife of the ship's captain, Captain Clegg, and he is sentenced to have both ears slit and his tongue cut out. Furthermore, the Mulatto is abandoned on the nearest uninhabited shore and left tied to a cross with neither food and water and left to die. Mind you, Scott doesn't provide a reversal shot during the sentencing scene so we never know what Captain Clegg looks like, but the Mulatto remembers him as he pleads for mercy. The scene shifts to a church back in England in the year 1792. A narrator provides the following exposition: "The Romney Marshes,--flat and desolate,--was the land of a proud and independent people. Their shores faced the shores of France--and many was the shipload of wine and brandy smuggled across the sea in defiance of the King's revenue men." The narrator pauses and continues, "Many legends have come from this corner of England--but none so widely believed or widely feared,--as the legend of the Marsh Phantoms--who rode the land on dark, misty nights--and struck fear into the hearts of all who crossed their paths . . ." The Royal Navy dispatches Captain Howard Collier (Patrick Allen of "The Wild Geese") to search for French wine that has been smuggled into England without a tax levied on it. Indeed, somebody is violating the trade embargo against Revolutionary France and Collier and his able-bodied seamen march into a remote British town and turn it upside down. Dr. Blyss (Peter Cushing of "Horror of Dracula") is the village vicar of Dymchurch, a tiny English coastal village, and he welcomes Collier and his men with open arms. Meantime, the people in the village who earn extra income from smuggling set about hiding what is left of what they have. They have created ingenious passageways between various buildings where they have stashed away the untaxed alcohol. The British couldn't have arrived at a worse time because Blyss and company have a rendezvous. Collier, who has been pursuing Clegg on the high seas for years, has brought the Mulatto with him. Collier rescued the mute and plans to use him as a blood hound to sniff out untaxed stores of wine. Blyss and the villagers have their hands full trying to distract Captain Collier. At one point, a frightened villager (Jack MacGowran of "The Exorcist") distracts them while Blyss and company sell their contraband liquor. Eventually, the suspicious Collier threatens to kill the frightened villager if he doesn't take them to the smugglers. Reluctantly, the frightened villagers complies, but Blyss' men have staked out scarecrows as sentinels. Actually, some of the smugglers masquerade as scarecrows to provide an early warning system for their comrades. Meantime, one of the conspirators, an innkeeper Mr. Rash (Martin Benson of "Goldfinger") cracks up and stabs a sailor to death after Blyss has warned him repeatedly not to resort to violence.

MartinHafer This is a very odd film in that practically the same film was made in the States starring Patrick MaGoohan for the Disney company just a year later ("Dr. Christopher Syn"). Also, both films were remakes of a 1937 film which starred George Arliss ("Dr. Syn").The film is about a small town along the English coast that is jam-packed full of smugglers. Their leader is actually the kindly vicar (Peter Cushing)--a great cover for an ex-pirate and smuggler! Most of the film concerns the efforts of Captain Collier to figure out who is the leader of the smugglers AND put a stop to it. Little does he know that Cushing is actually Captain Clegg--a pirate hung for piracy a decade earlier.Along the way are some very capable actors--including a dashing young Oliver Reed. All the performances are competent and I have no real objections to this rousing adventure film, though I must admit it was very pleasant but not especially memorable. It's hard to say exactly why, but the scenes involving the phantoms on skeletal horses looked pretty cheesy, so that sure didn't help.An interesting film and perhaps, if your curiosity is piqued, you'll try to see the other versions as well.

Woodyanders 1776: The stern Captain Collier (excellently played by Patrick Allen) and his sailors arrive at an English coastal community to investigate reports of "marsh phantoms" who terrorize the countryside at night. Collier suspects that the local reverend Dr. Blyss (a splendidly lively and witty performance by the great Peter Cushing) knows more than he's telling about both the "marsh phantoms" and the liquor smuggling that's been going on in the area. Ably directed by Peter Graham Scott, with a robust, rousing score by Don Banks, a snappy pace, handsome, vibrant color cinematography by Arthur Grant, a flavorsome evocation of the 18th century, a colorful script by Anthony Hinds and John Temple Smith, a few nice creepy touches (those skeletal "marsh phantoms" are genuinely spooky), and a strong central theme about redemption, this radical change-of-pace picture from renowned horror outfit Hammer Films makes for tremendously fun and stirring grand entertainment. The top-notch acting from a first-rate supporting cast qualifies as another substantial plus: Yvonne Romain as ravishing bar maid Imogene Clegg, Oliver Reed as the dashing Harry Cobtree, Michael Ripper as wily, acid-tongued coffin maker Jeremiah Mipps, Martin Benson as craven, hot-headed saloon keeper Mr. Rash, Milton Reid as a hulking, brutish mulatto, and Derek Francis as the hearty Squire Anthony Cobtree. Offbeat and original, this fine feature overall rates as a real corker.

José Luis Rivera Mendoza (jluis1984) Hammer Films, the British studio famous for their horror films of the 50s and 60s, produced "Captain Clegg" based on Russell Thorndike's novel, "Doctor Syn: A Tale of the Romney Marsh". An atypical choice for Hammer, this swashbuckling melodrama had the bad luck of being produced the same year as Disney's version of another Dr. Syn novel ("The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh"), which forced Hammer to change the names of the characters to avoid legal issues. Disney's competition and the fact that it was not exactly a horror movie (despite being called "Night Creatures" in the U.S.) contributed to send the film to oblivion for several years. After being lost in limbo, "Captain Clegg" is finally available again, and now it's possible to see this wonderful lost treasure in all its glory.Set back in the 18th-century, the Royal Crown suspects that smuggling is being done near Dymchurch, so Captain Collier (Patrick Allen) and his crew to investigate. After they arrive, they learn of the legends of the ghosts of Romney Marsh and the curse of the pirate Captain Clegg, but Collier believes that it's all superstitions, and continues his investigations. Collier suspects that the kind village priest, the Reverend Dr. Blyss (Peter Cushing) knows more about the smuggling that what it seems and he'll do whatever is necessary to discover the truth. Even if that means to face the curse of Captain Clegg."Captain Clegg" is a wonderful and sadly forgotten film that mixes everything that made Hammer famous in the horror genre with the classic swashbuckling adventures of old. The amazing and beautiful sets and costumes, the cleverly written plots, and the brilliant performances of the cast combine to create a terrific and very enjoyable film. The fact that its director, Peter Graham Scott had a lot of experience with drama and ensemble casts definitely was a defining factor in the result, and while certainly different than most of other Hammer films, the movie retains that certain magic the Studio gave to everything it did.The film is a better adaptation to Russell Thorndike's novel than Disney's mainly in the fact that the screenplay (by John Temple-Smith) retains the character's anti-hero status, and plays with his dubious morality. Forecasting the renewal of cinema of the 60s, the film has not a definite good and evil, it's all gray scales and the very well constructed characters move from one side to the other in a very realistic manner. The film also makes an interesting point of how our past actions can affect us in the future. Like they did with the horror genre, Hammer modernizes the swashbuckling melodrama with great power and superb care.The acting is the film's strongest feature and basically every member of the cast is remarkably good. Hammer regular Peter Cushing gives one of his best performances ever and he seems to enjoy the whole movie. It's a joy to watch him in a more complex character than his usual heroic Van Helsing or his wickedly evil Victor Frankenstein. Oliver Reed is also present and his performance as young Harry Cobtree is quite effective. Along with Yvonne Romain they form the romance side of the film and both of them have great chemistry. Patrick Allen and Michael Ripper complete the cast with equally good performances as the script gives everyone a chance to shine.The film is near perfect and very enjoyable, as it delivers its mix of action, well-handled suspense and old school melodrama blends together smoothly delivering high doses of entertainment. However, some of its scenes at first sight seem definitely outdated (as always happen), later they become part of the film's charm and add to the fun of the story. It was near tragic that the film nearly got lost due to its legal problems and probably bad marketing, as while its American title and its Hammer pedigree suggest Horror, it's far from being in the genre which may turn off viewers expecting a scare-fest."Captain Clegg" is a very enjoyable film that modernizes swashbuckling films and gives the chance to watch a different side of Hammer and a wonderful performance by Peter Cushing. It's definitely a must-see and fans of period films filled with suspense and adventure will feel right at home here. A wonderful lost treasure that finally sees light again. 9/10