BY FRED BLOSSER
Kino
Lorber Studio Classics has released “Against All Flags,†a 1952 pirate movie
from Universal-International, in a new Blu-ray edition. In the opening scene, British naval Lt. Brian
Hawke (Errol Flynn) endures a shipboard flogging in front of a stern-faced
audience of enlisted men and fellow officers. It isn’t clear what crime he’s charged with. Cowardice? Disobeying orders? Breaking into
the admiral’s rum supply? Not that it
matters, because as we quickly learn, the whipping is only a cover story. Publicly, Hawke is a disgraced man. Privately, he’s assigned to infiltrate a
troublesome pirate stronghold on Madagascar. There, posing as disgruntled turncoats, he and two loyal subordinates
will covertly locate and disable the camouflaged batteries of cannon that
protect the island. This will clear the
way for a British warship to safely swoop in and get rid of the
miscreants. One of Hawke’s assistants is
played by busy 1950s character actor John “Basher†Alderson. You may be excused if you mistake Alderson
for the equally prolific Bruce Glover from “Diamonds Are Forever†(1971) and
“Chinatown†(1974). The two actors
looked remarkably alike.
On
Madagascar, Hawke insinuates himself into the pirate brotherhood even though
one of the senior captains, Roc Brasiliano (Anthony Quinn), continues to
question his motives. Roc’s distrust of
the newcomer is further fueled by jealousy. Red-haired lady pirate Spitfire Stevens (Maureen O’ Hara) has resisted
the buccaneer’s heavy-handed advances, but she’s reluctantly attracted to
Hawke, and the chemistry is mutual. Then
Spitfire’s temper flares when the lieutenant takes an interest in a young
princess (Alice Kelley) captured during a raid on a treasure ship. Hawke tries to keep the situation platonic --
he watches over the girl to make sure she isn’t abused by the pirates -- but Spitfire interprets his motives as
sexual. The sheltered Princess Patma
wishes they were, dreamily insisting “Again,†after she coaxes a kiss from
Hawke. The lieutenant’s dilemma is
played for laughs, with an obvious wink-wink-nudge-nudge for viewers aware of
Errol Flynn’s offscreen reputation in the bedroom. In 1952, that would have been everybody in
the movie theater. Hollywood is a lot
more skittish about such things today, justifiably so. Hawke enlists the aid of the princess’ tutor
(Mildred Natwick) to hide Patma’s identity, lest the pirates use her as a royal
hostage. Thus, the lieutenant has to
juggle several tricky tasks at once as Spitfire fumes and Roc watches for an
excuse to tie Hawke to a stake at low tide to be eaten by crabs. (Did Ian Fleming take notes for “Doctor
No�)
The
Kino Lorber Studio Classics Blu-ray edition of “Against All Flags†restores the
movie’s ravishing Technicolor in a notable upgrade over previous home-video
releases, not to mention decades of inferior TV prints. As film historian Stephen Vagg notes in his
audio commentary, Technicolor and the A-list casting of Flynn, O’Hara, and
Quinn are the production’s distinguishing virtues. Otherwise, at the standard screen aspect of
1.37:1 and a thrifty running time of 84 minutes, it doesn’t particularly stand
out from the dozens of other pirate adventures that emerged from
Universal-International, Columbia, 20th Century Fox, and RKO in the late 1940s
and early 1950s. At that, O’Hara’s flaming
tresses had already been on Technicolor display in “The Black Swan†(1942) and
“The Spanish Main†(1945). Vagg’s
engaging commentary covers a wide range of topics, including the careers of the
three stars, the history of pirate movies, and the real-life buccaneers
represented in the picture, including a Black pirate captain portrayed by
Emmett Smith. A Black character as a
peer among white equals would be unremarkable casting now, but it was a
progressive statement on racial equality for its time. Fans will be pleased that Vagg gives a shout-out
to “Swordsmen of the Screen,†Jeffrey Richards’ rousing 1977 study of
swashbuckling cinema. The Kino Lorber
release also includes the movie’s theatrical trailer.
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(Fred Blosser is the author of "Sons of Ringo: The Great Spaghetti Western Heroes". Click here to order from Amazon)