Tonight's Movie: The Spanish Main (1945) - A Warner Archive Blu-ray Review

The RKO swashbuckler THE SPANISH MAIN (1945), just released on Blu-ray by the Warner Archive Collection, is both a delightful movie and a spectacularly good-looking disc.

THE SPANISH MAIN was written by George Worthington Yates (THE TALL TARGET) and Herman Mankiewicz and directed by Frank Borzage, whose beautifully crafted films are consistently enjoyable.

Paul Henreid plays Laurent Van Horn, a Dutchman whose ship is thrown off course by a hurricane, landing him in Cartagena. Don Juan Alvarado (Walter Slezak), the comic yet cruel despot who runs Cartagena, throws Laurent and the others from his ship into prison or slavery.

Laurent escapes along with a group of friends (including Mike Mazurki and Curt Bois) and becomes a pirate known as the Barracuda. Eventually he and his crew overtake the ship which carries Francesca (Maureen O'Hara) to be Alvarado's bride.

Laurent decides he'll thwart his enemy by marrying Francesca instead...and Francesca doesn't really oppose the idea, given that she's been taken with Laurent at first glance.

And there's much more swashbuckling excitement to come...!

I had never seen THE SPANISH MAIN and was completely charmed by it. It's up there with CAPTAIN BLOOD (1935) and THE BLACK SWAN (1942) as a high quality pirate film.

THE SPANISH MAIN has a good cast, headed by Henreid and O'Hara; Henreid is almost surprisingly effective as the dashing hero, and O'Hara looks as lovely as she ever has playing the brave young woman who becomes his wife.

Whether she's dueling Laurent's old flame Anne (Binnie Barnes), cagily standing up to Don Alvarado, or engineering a prison rescue of Laurent and his crew, O'Hara is absolutely captivating.

Director Borzage is especially known for his moving romances (such as HISTORY IS MADE AT NIGHT), and he brings a strong romantic tone to the film which is most welcome. The movie is not simply cartoonish swordplay; it has some depth and fiery passion along with the action.

Slezak hits just the right notes as Don Alvarado; he's simultaneously ridiculous and menacing, inasmuch as he has an army of flunkies who do whatever awful thing he orders.

Barnes is a lot of fun as a spunky lady pirate who's upset when she learns Laurent has taken a wife, yet she ultimately comes to quietly respect Francesca. Barnes typifies the tone of the cast in general: They all seem to be having a grand time. I was thinking while I watched that it must have been great fun to come to work every day when making a movie like this!

This 100-minute film has a cast which also includes Barton MacLane, John Emery, J.M. Kerrigan, Dan Seymour, Antonio Moreno, and Ian Keith.

An especially nice surprise is a very young Nancy Gates as Francesca's lady's maid Lupita.

The Warner Archive Blu-ray shows off the Technicolor cinematography of George Barnes to stunning perfection. This disc looks as good as any Blu-ray ever has, with a strong soundtrack. Between the quality of both film and disc I very highly recommend THE SPANISH MAIN.

Disc extras consist of the trailer; the 17-minute short MOVIELAND MAGIC (1946; and two cartoons, BUCCANEER BUNNY (1948) and CAPTAIN HAREBLOWER (1954).

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. Warner Archive Blu-rays may be ordered from Movie Zyng, Amazon, and other online retailers.

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