Moonfleet (1955) ++++ Fritz Lang delves into the fantastical sagas along the same vein as Treasure Island albeit a bit grittier in this gothic, High Adventure film of cutthroats, treachery, sex, and danger.
Opening credits: Two hundred years ago, the great heath of Dorsetshire ran wild and bleak down to the sea. Here, in hidden coves and lonely villages, the smuggling bands plied their violent trade. And here, one October evening of the year 1757, a small boy came in search of a man whom he believed to be his friend.
A young and very plucky, recently orphaned boy is sent to his aristocrat uncle who is far too busy with gypsies, derelicts, and shady dealings with even shadier individuals of both high and low standings.
Similar to Treasure Island, the young lad gets in the very deep of it, without any likelihood of getting back out again, or for that matter, surviving as the hunt for Blackbeard's treasure pits fellow smugglers against one another.
Lang is quite easily in his element propelling the dangerous slope of dangerous, disreputable characters while creating a panorama of cinematic backdrops for them to traverse and collide with each other as the Royal Guard closes in on their nefarious schemes.
Starring Stewart Granger, George Saunders, and the American film debut of Joan Greenwood, there is also Jack Elam and a small part by Alan Napier of the TV Series Batman when he played Alfred. All doing splendidly. Especially Greenwood whom I would have loved to see more of her subtle cunning.
From my understanding, it is not a good representation of the novel, which I am very unfamiliar with but I still fully enjoyed it all the same.
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What I actually said to win MovieGal's heart:
- I might not be a real King of Kinkiness, but I make good pancakes
What I actually said to win MovieGal's heart:
- I might not be a real King of Kinkiness, but I make good pancakes
~Mr Minio