writers_reign
Having tried his hand successfully at most other genres Jacques Tourneur, son of the great Maurice, moved to swashbucklers in 1950 via the Burt Lancaster vehicle The Flame And The Arrow. Having enjoyed a huge international success with Flame he followed it with a fictionalized account of Anne Boney, a lady pirate who became Anne Providence for the movie. Shot in the old (and best) three-stripe Technicolor Tourneur gets the movie off with a bang as Anne's ship captures another and quickly disposes of the crew via the traditional plank. Quickly establishing a major plot point Tourneur has her balk at dishing out the same treatment to Pierre La Rochelle (Louis Jourdan) and inviting him to join her crew. From there on it's pretty formulaic, we know Peters is going to fall for Jourdan and that he will either have a wife/fiancée or be a spy and as things turn out he is guilty on both counts. Herbert Marshall is the pick of the supporting cast as might be expected whilst James Robertson Justice is a joke as a pirate with a voice half a tone higher than Tiny Tim and a Scottish accent that would bring a blush to the cheek of Dick Van Dyke. With Tourneur at the helm it can't be ALL bad but a little more good would be nice.
medtner1970
Anne of the Indies is one of my favourite movies.On my point of view,the central theme is the impossibility for a woman to live her own identity as a woman.She is trapped in a male identity,being grown up under Blackbeard's school: sword,ships and pirates.When she falls in love for the first time,she is unable to express female feelings she feels.She almost ridiculise herself for her love,a new experience,and her own humiliation is exceptionally well acted by Jean Peters.Her desperation became more evident as the film goes on,above all when she has to admit herself her own sorrow after having been betrayed (this betrayal is a terrible event which destroys her under-construction female identity) and she is forced to admit her own weakness she has always tried to hide with a splendid use of her sword. The final scene with Blackbeard planting his sword on the ship floor is fantastic,because he does just the same act that every person who understand the dramatic situation of Anne-Captain Providence would have done.I find this a marvellous movie,almost perfect:the only scene I don't like too much is the very last,when the name of her ship is cancelled from the register of outlaw ships:on my point of view,Tourneur made an error to show her again.It would have been more effective if the last time we look at her was just when she cries to Blackbeard "Come and take me,old pirate"(I base myself on the italian dubbing).A moving film,which reminds me of the powerful acting of equally desperate Ella Raines in "Tall in the Saddle".
Ilya Mauter
Directed by Jacques Tourneur (Cat People, Out of the Past, Night of the Demon) and written by Phillip Dunne (How Green was My Valley) Anne of the Indies is a quite interesting adventure pirate movie. Its main character of captain Anne Providence is based on a real woman-pirate Anne Boney who actually lived and sailed through 18th century's Atlantic.
The film begins with the sea battle where Anne's (Jean Peters) pirate ship attacks a trade ship that was on its way to Europe from the South America. As a result a treasure of great value is captured along with a handsome French officer Pierre La Rochelle (Louis Jourdan), who is taken prisoner. Anne ends up falling in love with him and apparently her feelings are reciprocated but it's only till she sets him free when she discovers that he has a beautiful young wife Molly (Debra Paget) with whom he pretty much in love with. Anne begins planning revenge on both of them but in an unexpected twist of fate ends up making a great sacrifice in order to save them instead. The pirate movie cliché figure of `Black Beard' also makes his appearance here, this time played by Thomas Gomez.Though Anne of the Indies probably appears to be no more nor less than a revisiting of pirate movie clichés, it still has its classical moments in beautiful visuals and sea battle sequences filmed in Technicolor as well as in some aspects of the story and most of all in personal touches in directing of all of it by Jacques Tourneur. 7/10
dinky-4
The usual trappings of a pirate movie are here: sailing ships, Caribbean waters, firing cannons, powdered wigs, floggings, gold doubloons, sailors with peg-legs and eye patches, damsels in distress, etc. However, the captain of the pirate ship is a woman, which would seem to provide an opportunity for a fresh slant on an old genre. Unfortunately, Jean Peters seems uncomfortable in this part and her "toughness" never becomes more than a pose. Also, in a concession to the attitudes of the time, she isn't allowed to triumph but instead must "pay" for her usurpation of a male role by moving aside for the properly feminine Debra Paget. The result is a disappointingly conventional affair which, nonetheless, still delivers a passable hour-and-a-half of entertainment.Like Jean Peters, Louis Jourdan seems miscast since his trademark brand of Continental charm and elegance doesn't fit a role that calls for a dashing athleticism. His physique also seems a bit too thin and pale to make him a suitable subject for a shirtless flogging -- perhaps the only flogging in mainstream movies in which the victim appears to be unconscious from beginning to end. (This scene ranks 95th in the book, "Lash! The Hundred Great Scenes of Men Being Whipped in the Movies.")
AD
