TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Cooktopi The acting in this movie is really good.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

MartinHafer When you see this film, you'll probably think Angela Lansbury plays her most detestable character. Well, considering all the horrible people she played before her nice old lady roles, this is NOT the case! Her mother from "The Manchurian Candidate" makes her character from "Mutiny" seem like Mother Theresa! But it's still entertaining to watch her seethed in wickedness during this otherwise mediocre film.The film is set during the War of 1812. Two Captains are serving with the US Navy, but oddly the more experienced is demoted to first mate--and this part of the film made little sense. Both men are sent on a secret mission to France to get gold needed for the war, but the demoted man has a serious handicap--his girlfriend is evil Angela. She and the men on board learn about the gold and she is determined to get her hands on it one way or the other--and it might include getting her sweetie to become a traitor. And, the lovely lady also encourages him to kill the Captain--nice lady, huh? Well, he does not--but he does lead a mutiny and takes the ship. You KNOW however, when he does cast the Captain adrift that it will come back to haunt him in the end. As for the end, it has a nice scene where Angela gets hers, but other than that, it's pretty clichéd--with the traitor redeeming himself (naturally) at the end.The film is pretty bland and aside from Lansbury, there isn't a lot to recommend it. While not a bad film and it is nice to see a film about this seldom talked about war, it is totally uninspired from start to finish.

MARIO GAUCI This low-budget swashbuckler (albeit filmed in murky color) proved somewhat better than anticipated – given that the Leonard Maltin Film Guide deemed to slap it with a measly *1/2 rating! To begin with, it's bolstered by such imposing credentials as scriptwriter Philip Yordan, composer Dmitri Tiomkin and, of course, director Dmytryk. Incidentally, this was the latter's first American film after his unfortunate stint as one of "The Hollywood Ten" – which saw him imprisoned and then exiled for non-collaboration in the McCarthy witch-hunts; however, within two years Dmytryk would renounce Communism and turn friendly witness, which is how he got back into Hollywood's A-list and eventually helmed such high-profile titles as THE CAINE MUTINY (1954) and THE YOUNG LIONS (1958). With this in mind, the political subtext regarding the character of Patrick Knowles – aping his frequent co-star Errol Flynn as a disgraced naval captain who's forced to serve as First Mate to a younger officer (an unlikely yet effectively cast Mark Stevens) – can hardly be a coincidence!Interestingly, the only woman involved (played by Angela Lansbury) is depicted as a femme fatale and Knowles' opportunistic lover – who goads him into usurping Stevens' leadership, and even connives with the crew (led by hook-handed Gene Evans and Rhys Williams) to steal the ship's cargo, a camouflaged 'treasure' intended for the U.S.A.'s 1812 war effort! At only 77 minutes, there's more talk than action – but the latter does come in at the climax, where it's both efficient and versatile: following the mutiny itself, we get the expected sea battle culminating in the deployment of an archaic form of submarine (which, in turn, leads to Knowles' self-sacrifice).In the end, I would have liked to add MUTINY to my collection – but had to forego any such intention due to the substandard quality (typified by intermittent picture fuzziness) of the print utilized for Platinum's budget DVD release.

classicsoncall Not a bad little actioner here for a movie that doesn't go feature length. It doesn't start out as a pirate adventure but turns into one when Hook (Gene Evans) and Redlegs (Rhys Williams) learn of plans to smuggle ten million dollars worth of gold back to the States during the War of 1812. Captain James Marshall (Mark Stevens) is commissioned to run a British blockade and head off to France to pick up the privately funded stash, and takes along disgraced former seaman Ben Waldridge (Patric Knowles). The film really gets going when Waldridge stows his paramour Leslie (Angela Lansbury) aboard the Concord, setting up a tension that sails on for the rest of the story.The surprise of the film for me was Lansbury, never realizing she was as pretty as she appears here. That's balanced by how totally despicable her character is, a gold digger who'll use Waldridge and anyone else in her path to live a life of luxury. Her 'ten million or nothing' ultimatum to rogue Waldridge hints at a suitable demise for her character when it's time, and this viewer found himself counting the minutes. But not before she attempts to write a little murder of her own into the script.The film's finale makes use of an early hand crank wooden submarine that's almost comical in it's concept except for the fact that it works. It provides the dubious opportunity for Captain Waldridge, in a redemptive moment, to go down with the ship.I picked up this film as part of a ten movie/three DVD compilation simply called "Pirates" from St. Clair Vision. The print of the film I viewed addresses the concerns of two other reviewers for the movie on this site. It appeared to be a pretty good print without the scratchy quality attributed to it, while also appearing in it's original Technicolor format. For a lazy rainy morning, it was just the ticket.

addicks1947 Watch this for Angela Lansbury burning up the screen. Mark Stevens and Patric Knowles are fine but once she appears the film takes off. Dymytryk's direction whips along and the narrative is sufficiently novel to hold the attention. Lansbury is really a noir villainess on the high seas - using her man to get to the cash. One warning - the print shown on Matinée movies is grim - scratched, out of focus and the technicolor down to almost two strip. The film is an independent production - King Brothers - which means that it is a bit of a rarity and may account for the quality of the print. Is there a decent neg or print anywhere or is this it?