BY FRED BLOSSER
Thanks
to cable and digital TV channels, Yvonne de Carlo (1922-2007) is probably best
known today, even and maybe especially among youngsters, from endless reruns of
“The Munsters.†As Lily Munster, it’s a
safe bet that de Carlo will outlive all the rest of us for decades to come, if
not centuries. But long before Lily, de
Carlo was a sultry, exotic leading lady in dozens of costume epics, film noirs,
and Westerns from the late 1940s through the 1950s. One such vehicle, the 1950
Universal-International picture “Buccaneer’s Girl,†is now available on Blu-ray
from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. De
Carlo plays Deborah McCoy, a singer and dancer who stows away in boy’s clothing
on a ship out of Boston, owned by a wealthy New Orleans businessman, Narbonne
(Robert Douglas). Narbonne’s archenemy
is the pirate Baptiste (Philip Friend), whom she meets when the buccaneer
attacks and seizes the ship. Debbie
presently slips away from the pirates and makes her way to New Orleans, where
she’s given room, board, and job leads at a “School for Genteel Young Ladiesâ€
run by Madam Brizar (Elsa Lancaster). Entertaining at a soiree, Debbie again encounters Baptiste, this time in
his respectable secret identity as the dashing Captain Robert Kingston, who has
been commissioned to capture Baptiste. It’s been a long chase. “He’s
always one step ahead of me,†Kingston says wryly. “Maybe you should try standing still,†Debbie
rejoins. As Baptiste, Kingston’s motives
are pure in the honored tradition of Zorro and the Scarlet Pimpernel. To avenge his late father, who was bankrupted
by Narbonne, he preys only on Narbonne’s ships. The stolen booty is laundered into a fund to support unemployed mariners
who were forced out of their jobs by the ruthless businessman when he bought
their ships and installed his own crews. Thanks to his weaselly spy Patout (Norman Lloyd), Narbonne secures
evidence to identify and arrest Kingston as Baptiste. In the meantime, Debbie’s fledgling romance
with the pirate metaphorically hits rough waters when she learns that Kingston
is engaged to the socially prominent and snooty Arlene (Andrea King), the
governor’s daughter.
Directed
by Frederick de Cordova, who later became Johnny Carson’s longtime confidant
and producer, “Buccaneer’s Girl†is the sort of harmless, old-time escapism
that Johnny and his Mighty Carson Art Players would eventually lampoon on the
“Tonight Show.†Today, in a similar
set-up, you’d wait to see when or if the woman, once discovered, will avoid
rape. But Debby is befriended by
Baptiste’s salty crew much like the new kid on the block who wanders over to
the playground and gets accepted into the other 10-year-olds’ softball
team. The leader of the crew is first
mate Jared- no relation to Kushner-played by Jay C. Flippen, who’s given to exclamations like “Well, lower me
jib!†Jared’s last name might be but
probably isn’t Kushner. The movie is so
family-friendly that nobody is killed in the brawls and sword fights, and Madam
Brizar’s business seems to be a combination finishing school and talent agency
for real, and not a euphemism for . . . well, you know . . . as we might expect
in our more cynical era. As film
historian Lee Gambin remarks on his audio commentary for the KL Studio Classics
Blu-ray, de Carlo invests her role with “great gusto and flair.†She’s equally adept at taking pratfalls,
romancing Kingston, bopping bad guys on the head, and exercising her claws in a
catfight when Debbie finally puts up with enough from Arlene. Action fans may wish her three musical
numbers had been reduced to one to make more room for pirate-type stuff,
especially since the old-school FX for the battles between Baptiste’s ship and
Narbonne’s are nicely done, but then again, the movie is designed as a showcase
for de Carlo, and the title is ‘Buccaneer’s Girl†and not “Buccaneer.†As Baptiste, Philip Friend engagingly looks
and sounds a lot like Rex Harrison at a fraction of Harrison’s going rate, even
in 1950.
The Kino Lorber
Studio Classics disc frames the movie at its proper 1.37:1 aspect ratio and
delivers Russell Metty’s Technicolor cinematography with gorgeous clarity and
richness. Besides Lee Gambin’s
informative commentary, extras include a theatrical trailer and clear SDH
subtitles.
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(Fred Blosser is the author of "Sons of Ringo: The Great Spaghetti Western Heroes". Click here to order from Amazon)