Anjo Escarlate

Ship captain Rock Hudson (Panama) makes his living by delivering his cargos to various ports. On the first night in each port, he likes to take out his crew to a lively bar for some rowdy entertainment. He is streetwise and likes a brawl. This film has 3 bar-room brawls. Too many if you ask me. He comes across escort Yvonne De Carlo (Roxy) at the "Scarlet Angel" bar who tries to fleece him and they end up bumping into widow Bodil Miller (Linda) and her baby. Circumstances transpire so that De Carlo goes on the run and ends up posing as the baby's mother in order to trick her way into a wealthy family. Big Rock is having none of this behaviour.

I was unsure where the film was going at first as there are several paths it could have taken. Once the baby is introduced, I was dreading a sappy film about bringing up a baby. Thank goodness the film pivots its focus to follow De Carlo's deception which brings tension to the proceedings in this easy-to-watch film.

Hudson and De Carlo work well together and the rest of the cast also do well, especially the suspicious cousin Amanda Blake (Susan) who suspects that De Carlo isn't who she claims to be. The technicolour has faded so that the vibrant colours are more of a pale shade but it is always a treat and the costumes are good. We get some humour thrown in and the film is more of a feelgood comedy drama than an action/adventure film.

Time for some wine. Real wine!

After saloon queen Roxy McClanahan (De Carlo) swipes money from the handsome Captain Frank Truscott (Hudson), she quickly leaves town with a Civil War widow, Linda Caldwell (Bodil Miller). When the fragile Caldwell dies, Roxy seizes her chance at a new life by taking on the dead woman's identity. She journeys to Caldwell's family's lavish San Francisco estate and soon finds herself juggling two wealthy suitors along with Truscott, who has pursued her across the country. Determined to secure her fortune, Roxy pursues society life... but cannot stop thinking about the charming, bar-brawling sea captain whom she spurned.

DeCarlo and Hudson's chemistry, grand technicolor and photography, a good story and a couple of saloon brawls can be found in this 1952 Film by Universal Studios. It's quite a fun and engaging romp, a mix of adventure, romance and comedy- It's really the Yvonne DeCarlo show and she's charming and she can act.

Colourful romantic adventure is soap opera style set in New Orleans in which a sea captain named Truscott (Rock Hudson's last step up before stardom) goes to the notorious Scarlet Angel saloon, near waterfront , where he meets rapacious , ravishing Roxy McClanahan (Yvonne De Carlo) , an adventuress at large and then she flees with war widow named Linda Caldwell (Bodil Miller) . Luck favors Roxy with a chance to slip into Linda's identity, she then becomes involved with the aristocratic high society . As Linda proves to have had wealthy in-laws in San Francisco, who are happy to give their new relation a chance to become a "lady." It's that riot from New Orleans...with lips no man could resist - and a right hook no woman could dodge! Every sailor knew her name! Every Sheriff knew her past...from New Orleans to San Francisco! She kissed and fought her way...from the dives of New Orleans to the mansions of Nob Hill! While every sailor sang her fame...and every sheriff traced her name- the man who found the secret sealed her lips-with his own¡" I know I've got a reputation , boys ...just help me live up to it!"

Drama , adventure , intrigue , and a triangular romance among three main roles : Rock Hudson , Yvonne DeCarlo and Richard Denning . Pleasantly filmed romantic/adventure drama with a lot of barroom brawl , all very stiff-upper-lip , here outstanding a pretty good main and support cast . This exciting story packs sea romance , thrills , spectacular brawls , intrigue , and brief adventure . Director demonstrates a special talent for making the densest dramatic sequences seem uncomplicated and uncluttered and his characters , like the scenes distinguished , often have an unfettered , raw power , though all of them results in a passable but mediocre film . Yvonne De Carlo gives an enjoyable but so-so acting as larcenous saloon queen Roxy McClanahan who is chased by a sea captain and assumes the identity of a Civil War widow with wealthy relatives. Rock Hudson plays in his usual style a rough and tough sea captain, this was his last step before becoming a fully fledged main star . He was billed-above the title , a type almost as big as the lead Yvonne De Carlo . At the time Hudson played several adventure movies : The Desert Hawk , Bengal Brigade, Spiral road , Thunder of God , Battle hymn. Rock was Douglas Sirk's fetish actor including important titles as Taza , Magnificent obsession , Written in the wind , among others , Support cast is pretty good , such as Richard Denning , Henry O'Neill , Bodil Miller , Whitfield Connor , Henry Brandon and television fans with long records will recognise the actress playing Susan Caldwell , she is Amanda Blake , later Miss Kitty in the overlong Gunsmoke series .

United Artists took advantage of the unused as well as left sets from other A-movies by scripting and shooting a hastily assembled B-picture . This is a good-natured Technicolor romp with glamorous cinematography by Russell Metty and evocative musical score . The motion picture was regular but professionally produced and directed by Sidney Salkow , a craftsman who had already filmed other adventures . He realized all kind of genres such as routine westerns (Sitting Bull , The great Sioux massacre , Pathfinder) , Adventures (Prince of Pirates , Sword of the avenger) , war films , Sci-Fi (The last man on Earth) , Terror (Twice-told tales) and melodramas (City without men) . Salkow first worked for Republic, after joining Universal . At Columbia , he handled , among other assignments, four installments of the popular Lone Wolf series . After 1953, Salkow was primarily active as director of episodic television . Rating : 5.5 , acceptable adventure/drama movie , entertaining stuff . It will appeal to Rock Hudson and Yvonne De Carlo fans.

Rock Hudson and Yvonne DeCarlo star in Scarlet Angel where Rock plays a hell raising former blockade runner for the Confederacy trying to put his life back together in the sea trade. Yvonne is a saloon girl who was an orphan and has made her living in various dives.

Both Rock and Yvonne come across sickly Bodil Miller and her baby. She is a Civil War widow who Yvonne runs off with Miller and the infant and with $1100.00 of Rock's profits from a sea voyage. Then Miller dies and DeCarlo assumes her identity and goes to San Francisco and moves in with her 'in-laws' Henry O'Neill and Maude Wallace. Seems like the family was high toned San Francisco society and she might have hit the jackpot.

Rock however hasn't forgotten who robbed him and there area brother and sister Richard Denning and Amanda Blake who don't want to part with a cent of possible inheritance money.

Blake steals the film in all the scenes she's in. Seeing her and DeCarlo eye each other the way Crystal and Alexis used to do on Dynasty.

In the meantime there is an innocent kid who is a real actual heir to the fortune. That fact determines what course DeCarlo takes.

Scarlet Angel shows both stars to good advantage. It's a potboiler of a picture but a good one.

By the time Universal made this one, they had the formula down pat -- rough, tough man meets rough, tough gal, they wrangle; she cheats him and runs off with his bankroll. She changes identities and he finds her by accident -- then, blackmail, or love?

I won't spoil the ending for you.

DeCarlo was gorgeous in this one (as she always was) but the big surprise was her new leading man, one Rock Hudson -- brash and boy-next-door handsome -- he all but steals the movie from her. It's a fun romp in handsome costumes and the supporting cast is top notch -- yes, the jealous "cousin" in San Francisco is Amanda Blake who made a splash as Miss Kitty on Gunsmoke.