Un capitán de quince años (1973) Poster

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5/10
Mediocre Spanish/French co-production by Jesús Franco , freely based on Jules Verne novel
ma-cortes3 February 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Dick Sand ( Jose Luis Marcos , son of the producer Arturo Marcos) is assigned by his godfather Admiral Marlowe (Edmund Purdom) to care his stepmother in their travel aboard the "Pilgrim". The Pilgrim is a whale-ship captained by Captain Hull (Marc Cassot) , with a motley crew , as a suspicious cook (William Berger) , a hunk harpoonist (Luis Barboo) , a scientific (Sergio Mendizabal) , among others . But things go wrong when the stiff captain and the brave seamen die attacking a whale , following dramatic events, the ship becomes without a captain , then the fifteen Year Old Boy shall command the ship . As the young captain will attempt to keep all sailors in peace, and arrive in their destination .

Adventure movie by Jesus Franco full of action , thrills and made in short budget .The movie is narrated by means of a continuous pursuit in the jungle and we are seeing several African animals and use of stock-shots . The picture is filled with familiar faces from the 60s and 70s, that starred the ordinary co-prductions in Western , terror , and Euro-spy , such as : William Berger ,Howard Vernon, Fernando Bilbao, Sergio Mendizábal , and Alberto Dalbes . Freely based on Jules Verne novel , and the movies have been kind to Verne's best known films are the followings : George Melies immortalized FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON in an early film. Walt Disney did films on TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA and THE CHILDREN OF CAPTAIN GRANT (the latter entitled IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS). Ray Harryhausen's special effects are one of the treats of MYSTERIOUS ISLAND. Mike Todd produced AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS. And James Mason did make that JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH. What is usually not realized is the lesser known titles that have gotten onto the screen - for Jules Verne wrote nearly 80 novels.Miguel Strogoff was made into a film in Great Britain in the 1930s with Anton Walbrook. Fve weeks in balloom was made into a comedy adventure (with Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Red Buttons) in the 1960s. A Mexican version of the long forgotten EIGHT HUNDRED LEAGUES OVER THE AMAZON was made in the 1950s. A French version title Matia Sandorff was made starring Louis Jordan in the 1960s.

The motion picture was regularly directed by Jess Frank . Jesus Franco was a Stajanovist filmmaker who realized 203 movies . However , here he doesn't use his trademarks , as he pulls off a traditional narration , without zooms , neither lousy pace . As the picture belongs to Franco's first period in which he made passable flicks . Jesus uses to sign under pseudonym , among the aliases he used, apart from the names Jess Franco or Franco Manera, were Jess Frank, Robert Zimmerman, Frank Hollman, Clifford Brown, David Khune , Toni Falt, James P. Johnson, Charlie Christian, David Tough , among others . Franco used to utilize usual marks such as zooms , nudism , foreground on objects , filmmaking in ¨do-it-yourself effort¨ style or DIY and managing to work extraordinarily quickly , realizing some fun diversions, and a lot of absolute crap . Many pictures had nice photography , full of lights and shades in Orson Welles style , in fact , Franco was direction-assistant in ¨Chimes at midnight¨ and edited ¨El Quijote¨ by Welles . He often used to introduce second , third or fourth versions , including Hardcore or Softcore inserts or sexual stocks many of them played by his muse Lina Romay . In many of the more than 200 films he's directed he has also worked as composer, writer, cinematographer and editor. His first was "We Are 18 Years Old" and the second picture was ¨Gritos en la Noche¨ (1962) , the best of all them , also titled "The Awful Dr. Orlof" , it's followed by various sequels such as El Secreto del Dr. Orloff (1964) aka "The Mistresses of Dr. Jekyll" , " Orloff y el hombre invisible (1970) aka "Dr. Orloff's Invisible Monster" and finally "Faceless" (1987) . He also directed to the great Christopher Lee in 4 films : "The Bloody Judge" , ¨Count Dracula¨, ¨The Blood of Fu Manchu¨ and ¨The castle of Fu Manchu¨ . Jesús's influence has been notable all over Europe . From his huge body of work we can deduce that Jesús Franco is one of the most restless directors of Spanish cinema and often releasing several titles at the same time. Many of his films have had problems in getting released, and others have been made directly for video. More than once his staunchest supporters have found his "new" films to contain much footage from one or more of his older films . Jesús Franco is a survivor in a time when most of his colleagues tried to please the government administration. He broke up with all that and got the independence he was seeking. He always went upstream in an ephemeral industry that fed opportunists and curbed the activity of many professionals . But time doesn't pass in vain, and Jesus' production has diminished since the 90s ; however he went on shooting until his recent death .
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5/10
Adventure fictional about some travelers who sail and stranded on a remote location and freely based on Jules Verne novel
miguellopezcortes5 February 2018
Adventure tale full of colorful scenarios , thrills , action and in low budget . Amusing , lighthearted romp though so-so, only for kids and teenagers , based upon the Jules Verne novel . It's a mediocre fun with naive special effects , passable set decoration and functional art direction without use of computer generator . It deals with a young European Dick Sand (José Luis Marcos) who wishes to travel around the world , as his godfather (Edmund Purdom) assigns to care his newly wife . His wealthy father Admiral Marlowe agrees to send him on a global expedition aboard a vessel . As he travels aboard the Whale-ship called "Pilgrim" captained by Hull (Marc Cassot) . Following dramatic happenings , as the captain is attacked by a whale and the second-in-command (Luis Barboo) also diez , as the boat becomes without a captain . They undergo a hazardous voyage , and to keep all sailors , cook (William Berger) , the motlew crew , and passengers (Sergio Mendizábal , Marisol Delgado, Doris Thomas) in peace, he shall command the ship and all of them accept this arrangement . Along the way they face numerous betrayals , dangers , risks , treason and slavery .

It results to be a silly but likable Spanish adaptation based on Jules Verne classic novel . This below average and humdrum adaptation is a special version of the Jules Verne adventure yarn titled : Fifteen Year Old Captain . There're rip-roaring action , spirit of adventure , derring-do , humor , thrills and results to be briefly entertaining but mediocre . Among the most spectacular of its visuals there are the semi-spectacular scenes in which the tough fishers chase a whale , and the colorful backgrounds of the lost African places . It's a slight fun with average special effects , passable set decoration , and functional art direction . The fable is silly and laughable , and the effects and action are regularly made . Being clumsily made but the movie has some good moments here and there . Some illogical parts in the plot are more than compensated for the excitement provided by the scenes about the whale hunting .Here there are various notorious secondaries in this production , support actors seen in co-productions of the 60s and 70s , Spaghetti and Terror genre , as Edmund Purdom , Howard Vernon , Alberto Dalbes , Sergio Mendizábal , Luis Barboo , though they are really wasted . Special mention for William Berger as a suspect cook whose resentment will add treachery to circumstances already difficult to take the ship to safe harbour.

Jules Verne has been adapted several times as the best ¨20,000 Leagues Under the Sea¨ (954) by Richard Fleischer ; ¨following L'Ile Mysterieuse" or "The Mysterious Island" by Cry Endfield it was written in 1874, though the source of this picture is actually "L'École des Robinsons" or "The Robinson School" published in 1882 . And ¨Around the World in 80 Days¨classic version by Michael Anderson and recent (2004) by Frank Coraci ; Michel Strogoff by Carmine Gallone ; ¨Mathias Sandorff¨with Louis Jourdan , Journey to the Center of the Earth¨ classic version with James Mason and new with Brendan Frazer and many others .

The motion picture was middlingly realized by Jess Frank or Jesús Franco . Franco who recently passed away was an average and prolific craftsman , he owned his own studio and created a many of the silly scripts you see in any of his many unimaginative undertakings . Jesús was expert on all kind of genres as Terror (Vampires , The devil came from Akasawa,Dracula , Orloff series , Notre Dame Hunchback ) , Action (Esmeralda Bay , Dark mission ,Downtown heat) , Erotic (Macumba sexual , Incubus ,Pick-Up Girls ) and WIP. While his films have been universally panned by the prestigious reviewers, they have a kind of quality that must be endured to be fully appreciated .
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Jules Verne and slavery...
dbdumonteil10 December 2006
"Un capitaine de quinze ans" is an obscure Jules Verne's book which I read when I was about 14 and which I liked very much.An adventure yarn,it displayed Verne's disgust for slavery .

It is an eventful story ;its best moment is when the hero and his mates discover they are not in America but in Africa .

If Luis Bunuel was probably the best Spanish director ever,Jesus Franco won the "Spanish Worst" award hands down.He completely butchered Verne's novel,but one must precise it's not entirely his fault.Such a film demands a big budget ,as successful adaptations as "20,000 leagues under the sea" and "journey to the center of the earth" show.

Here the jungle looks like a public park,the hero is chewing gum ,and when they go whaling,well...The characters are uninteresting,the hero is completely bland and the villains ...well,read the book instead.
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3/10
Jess for kids
BandSAboutMovies16 February 2023
Warning: Spoilers
A Fifteen-Year-Old Captain is based on a novel by French writer Jules Verne and when I think "classic Jules Verne book" I would pick Jess Franco to make the movie. I mean, I'd pick Jess to make a lot of movies, to be fair.

The hero is Dick Sand (José Manuel Marcos) and he's a sailor on the Pilgrim, which soon becomes a ship without a captain, a role Dick ends up taking over. Other than En busca del dragón dorado, this would be the only kid-friendly movie in the Jess Franco Cinematic Universe but who knows, there could be a stash of never seen movies that will prove me wrong.

That said, it's a kid movie with plenty of death, actual real whaling stock footage, Howard Vernon and William Berger as slave traders, Edmund Purdom as an admiral and a score by Bruno Nicolai and Daniel White.

Sometimes when I encounter one of the many Franco outliers, I think to myself, "This is the same man that zoomed cameras directly into the female anatomy and made Venus In Furs and Vampyros Lesbos and so many movies set in one hotel ballroom where women dance in slow motion." Isn't that great? We can jump all over the timeline and watch Franco's film from any era and be amazed that they are all from him, as time no longer has meaning once he crossed over and all of his work exists all over cyberspace and on the shelves of my home.
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