Caribbean (1952)

Recently I watched CARIBBEAN, a 1952 Paramount production starring John Payne. It's on Amazon Prime. Not sure what I expected, but it was much better than a Technicolor swashbuckler/melodrama almost has any right to be. The performances were very good. John Payne is a handsome, dependable lead across a variety of genres but we usually don't think of him in the way that we think of Brando or other much-lauded actors. Yet he does some of his best work here, giving a very honest, sensitive and touching portrayal of a prisoner caught between two madmen waging war on an unnamed Caribbean island. What makes the story even more interesting is that Payne's character falls for a young woman who is the daughter of both men. Yes, that's what I said. Watch the film and you'll see what I mean.The female lead is played by Arlene Dahl, and she gives what I think is her best performance in any film. She's beautiful, feisty and vulnerable. At the end, she is caught in a scene of domestic violence and the story ends without her knowing the truth about her two fathers. Most actresses would have a tough time with this sort of story, but she excels.Back to the two dads for a minute. One of them is played by Cedric Hardwicke. He did a variety of roles in his long stage and screen career. So he comes to CARIBBEAN with vast amounts of experience. He easily could chew the scenery with the type of part he's playing here, but he keeps it all very dignified. He takes what is basically a cold-blooded killer and makes us sympathize with him. I have never liked a villain so much in a movie as I did with him here. That's a testament to Hardwicke's gifts as a dramatic interpreter of this material. The other paternal figure in the story is portrayed by robust Francis L. Sullivan. He could have turned his character into a cartoonish nincompoop, but he infuses just the right amount of edginess and civility. Even when he is ordering two prisoners to fight each other to the death with knives before a crowd of spectators, as if it were an everyday event (maybe it was for him). The film has quite a number of things going for it. The direction is precise throughout, the Technicolor visuals are well photographed and there is a great subplot involving the slaves on the island that seems very much ahead of its time.

It's sad that the plot from Caribbean seems to be taken from a romance novel. Sad because at the time and place of this film, just a few years before the civil rights revolution, a film about a slave revolt would have been considered a classic had it not been attached to such a hokey plot.John Payne plays a hunter who sees pirate Cedric Hardwicke bury a treasure and gets caught doing it. Normally that would mean Payne's quick demise, but Hardwicke has a use for him. The ship's surgeon gives Payne a facial scar needed to pass as the nephew of his mortal enemy Francis L. Sullivan who was once Hardwicke's partner and who cheated him out of his share and even had him sold into Spanish slavery and took Hardwicke's daughter to raise as his own and she grew up to be Arlene Dahl.Now pirate Hardwicke who looks like he makes a good living at the pirate trade is still out to get his ex-partner and Payne is to be his inside man.Sullivan looks like he's having a great old time hamming it up as the villain without any appreciable redeeming qualities. Still it's not enough to save the film. Neither are some interesting portrayals by Clarence Muse and Woody Strode as leaders of the slave revolt.Caribbean is a great romance novel view of the 18th century with Payne and Dahl decked out like romance novel leads. Costumes and scenery are great and even greater in technicolor. But what could have been a great film on slavery in the British West Indies gets the budget treatment with a hokey plot courtesy of Paramount's B picture unit.

However grim the subject (in this case, the slave trade), a little sense of humor can take off the edge. Unfortunately, "Caribbean" doesn't offer that much needed sense of humor. John Payne makes a surprisingly bland hero, much in contrast to his wonderful turn in Tripoli. Arlene Dahl, gorgeously decorative, really hokes this one up. One can only imagine what Maureen O'Hara or Rhonda could have done with the part. Even the key supporting players fail to impress, with the exception of the extraordinary Cedric Hardwicke, and actor who probably never gave a bad role. One could only imagine how could "Caribbean" could have been with everyone else performing to Hardwicke's fine standards.The script is episodic and badly paced. The duologue is so forgettable, it might as well have been a silent movie with "matinee cards". Nonetheless, one cannot help but marvel at the gorgeous production values of this superb use of Technicolor, miniatures and costumes. In fact, the beast way to see "Caribbean" is silent, with some really good orchestral music off YouTube. The plot is so predictable and obvious, you wouldn't miss the duologue and you would be spared a musical score more appropriate for a 20s silent film. You'd also miss repeated use of the "N" word, which has become so derogatory, schools have tried to censor it from Mark Twain. Nonetheless, on the strength of Hardwicke's performance and aforementioned production values, I give "Caribbean" a "6".

This movie also leaves a lot of loose ends. It's hard to believe that Arlene Dahl would fall so quickly for John Payne. Also, Payne's former life is quickly forgotten. This movie must have been made for kids because it was preposterous to this adult. Payne is a serviceable actor but he doesn't have the charisma for this kind of role. He is rather solemn-faced and this role demands a little more levity. Forget this and look for an Errol Flynn movie instead.