Il grande colpo di Surcouf

This is actually the last entry – but the first I have watched – in a two-film series about the titular figure, a French corsair of the Napoleonic era (there was even a 1926 Silent adventure dealing with his sea-faring exploits). Again, I expected little from it but was reasonably entertained in the long run: incidentally, this sequel does not seem to have been released in English-speaking countries (despite the uncredited involvement of Hollywood veteran Rowland) since I could not find an alternate title for it in that language! As for Bergonzelli, I own but have yet to check his intriguing giallo IN THE FOLDS OF THE FLESH (1970).

Anyway, the film offers mild excitement of the pirate variety, with the expected ruses (Surcouf's ship passing off as a British one in difficulty so as to ambush the enemy vessel responding to their would-be distress-call!), captures/escapes and, of course, romance with – inevitably – a woman from the opposite side and married to the hero's sworn enemy (having actually been a former flame of the protagonist's, also returning from the first film, and now he too has his own family). The latter is played – albeit rather wasted here – by Antonella Lualdi from Vittorio Cottafavi's THE HUNDRED HORSEMEN (1964).

Incidentally, the title refers to a 'big job' undertaken by Surcouf but, while he does lend his services to Bonaparte somewhere along the line, I did not feel there was anything particularly outstanding about his mission…even if, admittedly, much of what went on has already pretty much slipped my mind (which is a rather regrettable tendency with respect to this sort of unassuming fare)!