Yvonne De Carlo said she made this film after recovering from an operation, and she has six knockdown drag-out fights to perform. The best of these is a catfight she has with rival Andrea King midway through the picture, which the two women rehearsed at length before production began. In some ways their skirmish is reminiscent of the one between Marlene Dietrich and Una Merkel in the studio's 1939 version of DESTRY RIDES AGAIN.
In addition to fighting with King, Miss De Carlo gets to engage in sword fighting and fist fighting on board a ship taken over by a pirate named Baptiste (British import Philip Friend). They first meet when De Carlo is a stowaway on this vessel, which Baptiste and his men hijack. The ship is owned by the wealthiest man in New Orleans (Robert Douglas).
De Carlo later arrives on land in the fair city, and she is taken under the wing of a Madame Brizar (Elsa Lanchester in a scene stealing role). Though the production code prevents explicit references, it is obvious that Mme. Brizar is running a brothel of "genteel" women. She regularly sends her employees out to entertain at parties given by the upper class.
During the sequence where De Carlo is working for Lanchester, she sheds her tomboy image and wears some of the finest costumes imaginable. She is every inch the lady. But during one of her musical performances, she draws the ire of King who is seething with jealousy. King is engaged to Friend, but the women both know that Friend has had adventures at sea with De Carlo.
To spite Friend, King marries Douglas, his archenemy. This sets in motion a series of betrayals, where Friend is exposed as a thieving pirate. We are not meant to dislike Friend, since he is depicted as a Robin Hood of the seven seas. Basically he is robbing Douglas to give money back to the men of New Orleans who had been cheated by Douglas' seafaring business.
In a way this light hearted romp has a serious dramatic undercurrent, telling a tale about unionized labor and profit sharing. I am sure most of that went unnoticed by moviegoers in 1950, but it's interesting this sort of dramatic text with a liberal political agenda hit screens when Senator McCarthy's conservative witch hunts were occurring in Hollywood.
The most captivating part of the film, of course, is Yvonne De Carlo's central performance as Deborah McCoy our plucky heroine. She has a rousing number at the end of the picture that is a lot of fun to watch. De Carlo later said the film was a "dilly" and it certainly is. She gets the guy before the final fadeout, and the whole sea is at her command. Of course, there was never any doubt it would end any other way.
In addition to fighting with King, Miss De Carlo gets to engage in sword fighting and fist fighting on board a ship taken over by a pirate named Baptiste (British import Philip Friend). They first meet when De Carlo is a stowaway on this vessel, which Baptiste and his men hijack. The ship is owned by the wealthiest man in New Orleans (Robert Douglas).
De Carlo later arrives on land in the fair city, and she is taken under the wing of a Madame Brizar (Elsa Lanchester in a scene stealing role). Though the production code prevents explicit references, it is obvious that Mme. Brizar is running a brothel of "genteel" women. She regularly sends her employees out to entertain at parties given by the upper class.
During the sequence where De Carlo is working for Lanchester, she sheds her tomboy image and wears some of the finest costumes imaginable. She is every inch the lady. But during one of her musical performances, she draws the ire of King who is seething with jealousy. King is engaged to Friend, but the women both know that Friend has had adventures at sea with De Carlo.
To spite Friend, King marries Douglas, his archenemy. This sets in motion a series of betrayals, where Friend is exposed as a thieving pirate. We are not meant to dislike Friend, since he is depicted as a Robin Hood of the seven seas. Basically he is robbing Douglas to give money back to the men of New Orleans who had been cheated by Douglas' seafaring business.
In a way this light hearted romp has a serious dramatic undercurrent, telling a tale about unionized labor and profit sharing. I am sure most of that went unnoticed by moviegoers in 1950, but it's interesting this sort of dramatic text with a liberal political agenda hit screens when Senator McCarthy's conservative witch hunts were occurring in Hollywood.
The most captivating part of the film, of course, is Yvonne De Carlo's central performance as Deborah McCoy our plucky heroine. She has a rousing number at the end of the picture that is a lot of fun to watch. De Carlo later said the film was a "dilly" and it certainly is. She gets the guy before the final fadeout, and the whole sea is at her command. Of course, there was never any doubt it would end any other way.