Frenchman's Creek

I've never seen this fanciful costumer in a theater but a TV broadcast, quite a few years ago, fairly leapt from the screen - the three-strip Technicolor had transferred to video as if it were a pristine print. Paramount obviously spared no expense on this one and, despite some minor objections, I recall being thoroughly entertained by it, especially that absolutely savage battle-to-the-death between Basil Rathbone's quintessentially dastardly villain and a desperately determined Joan Fontaine.

Some years back I somewhere read that, while waiting in full makeup and costumes for the lighting technicians to work their magic, Miss Fontaine rather scathingly queried her costar, Arturo de Cordova, why he was pursuing a career as an actor, apparently with the implication that it was an occupation unworthy of a man. If that's the kind of treatment he had to undergo at the hands of a Hollywood leading lady, one can confidently guess that his much greater success in Latin American cinema left him with few regrets that his Hollywood sojourn never amounted to much.

Yes, this movie is a secret pleasure of mine. I loved the book by DuMaurier--considering it one of my all time favorites--and have read it several times. To have the book brought to life on the screen is rewarding. Yes, the color and acting are great, but I imagine so much more in my fantasies. I wish Hedy Lamarr would have played Dona. She was so beautiful, and I believe, could have carried off the "tomboy" just as well, if not more believably, than Fontaine. (Such as her Samson and Delilah role.) As far as the pirate, I'm OK with Cordova, but his small stature sort of detracts from the fantasy. He's adequate enough, and foreign enough, to carry this film for me. I puzzle over who I would have preferred to play that part. I'm not sure I would have liked Errol Flynn in the part (as suggested). I not familiar with enough foreign actors at that time (1940's) to suggest who. I suppose if it were more recent, possibly Gerard Depardieu would have fit in nicely. All in all, I love this movie. The ending is bittersweet. Basil Rathbone provides a believable menace and Nigel Bruce is perfect in his role as the dithering husband. As I said, a "secret pleasure". I treasure this movie.

The absolutely gorgeous color cinematography and the Academy Award winning sets are the main reason that you should Frenchman's Creek today. The players definitely take second place to those outstanding features.

The plot at least as it has been altered by the Code is handled with as much skill as the cast can muster covering up some glaring holes. Joan Fontaine is one unhappily married lady of the manor with two small children and a husband who seems more intent on advancing his career in Restoration Great Britain than in her. As was the fashion of that bawdy era husband Ralph Forbes even encourages his wife to pay attention to the courting of his rakish friend Basil Rathbone to Fontaine. When at court many men even pimped their wives for Charles II, this behavior in that era isn't surprising.

Well Fontaine can't stand Rathbone so she and the kids take off for the summer place on the Cornwall coast. There's a servant there with a French accent, Cecil Kellaway and later she learns it's been inhabited discreetly by French pirate Arturo De Cordova. He's quite the charmer, if the film were done at Warner Brothers Errol Flynn would have had the part.

Joan and Arturo as a couple look like they come right out of one of those romance novels. She even takes up the cutlass with him and she proves to be every bit the swordsman he is.

The title of the film comes from a hidden cove near Fontaine's manor where De Cordova's ship lays anchor.

Other more recent versions of the story by Daphne Du Maurier have been made that are closer to the original. I can't reveal it, but the ending makes absolutely no sense at all. And it is NOT as Du Maurier wrote it originally.

Maybe that was part of the reason that Mexican film idol Arturo De Cordova never got stardom north of the border. He appeared in this film, in a supporting role in For Whom the Bell Tolls and another Paramount feature and then went back to Mexico where he was a leading figure in Latino cinema for the next quarter of a century. De Cordova reminds me a lot of his fellow countryman, Gilbert Roland.

Rathbone is a nasty villain and there's also a nice performance by Nigel Bruce as a fatheaded earl who is a Cornwall neighbor. It's the only time that Basil and Nigel did a film together not as Holmes and Watson.

Mitchell Leisen directed this film and did a good job given the Code restrictions he operated under. Leisen early in his career worked on several Cecil B. DeMille films and his photography and sets definitely have a DeMille look to them.

If you like romantic tales, despite the problems, Frenchman's Creek is one for you.

In examining this well-done film,I find myself in disagreement with one of the other critics,in terms of regarding the performances of some of the supporting players.Where do we start?

1)Nigel Bruce is doing his usual blundering,obtuse,blithering,pompous oaf,as we have seen in numerous other films.In this picture,however,his character is not as benign as we have witnessed elsewhere.

2.)Cecil Kellaway,as William,is doing a masterpiece.His character is sly,wise,verbally adroit,socially adept,sensitive,and intuitive.This is the sort of fellow we would wish to have as the major-domo,or butler.

3.)Forbes,as Harry,does well in what happens to be an extremely thankless role.Dona's husband is a clod and a buffoon.He is a self-centered,selfish,immature man,who married for all of the wrong reasons(although the right ones for that period.)He wanted to have a beautiful wife,who would provide him with sexual companionship,company,and would handle all of the business aspects while he could go out with his pals and have a good time.He's not only NOT interested in handling his end of the relationship,but he puts her in the way of Lord Rockingham,even though he knows that she finds his attentions repugnant.it's not easy to do this kind of part,but he does carry it off.

Arturo de Cordova was not Spanish, he was Mexican. His first language was Spanish, but that does not make him "Spanish." Mexican and Spanish are two different things.

The film aired today on TCM. It was a rare showing of this movie, which I have been hunting down since reading about it in Mitchell Leisen's biography 43 years ago. It was then that I read and never forgot about the sumptuous Oscar-winning Technicolor cinematography. I was heartbroken to see it in an extremely washed-out transfer but anything is better than nothing. Would it be possible for Universal to place this on a list of important restorations, given its place in Oscar history?