Most of famed director Fritz Lang's post-war films were film noir so it was a little surprising that he decided to try his hand at a "swashbuckler." Moonfleet unfortunately doesn't come close to the iconic swashbucklers of yesteryear such as Robin Hood or Treasure Island.
Not only was Moonfleet a box office disaster but its leading man, Stewart Granger, made it quite clear that he hated the picture coupled with dripping contempt for its director.
Granger plays Jeremy Fox, a tarnished aristocrat who leads a gang of smugglers in the Dorset village of Moonfleet circa mid-18th century England. One reason I would speculate as to why audiences didn't care for this film is it takes a very long time for us to warm up to the main character.
When 11-year-old orphan John Mohune (Jon Whiteley), son of Jeremy's former and recently deceased lover, shows up on his doorstep with a note for Jeremy to take care of him, there's an expectation that this story is going to be about their relationship and how the indifferent aristocrat will be transformed by the child's influence.
But it never much comes to that until the unsatisfactory climax. From the get-go, Jeremy sends little John away in a horse drawn carriage. The kid will have none of it and makes his way back to Jeremy's manor home.
The unlikable Jeremy is persistent in rejecting the child who ends up trapped in a large crypt beneath a church where he discovers the film's McGuffin: a note written in code inside a locket which eventually brings the two together in a quest to find a diamond of almost incalculable worth.
Before the "bonding" takes place, Jeremy must contend with his smuggler band who gripe about their limited cut of ill-gotten gains and on one occasion the leader of the unsavory group engages in a life and death struggle with his boss in which a sword, a harpoon and fish netting are utilized!
Despite their constant expressions of dissatisfaction, why this group never act in concert and take out Jeremy is a mystery.
The women here fail quite succinctly on the likability index too. Take Jeremy's mistress, Mrs. Minton (Viveca Lindfors)--who due to jealousy over his flirtation with the wife of his business partner Lord James Ashwood (George Sanders)--betrays him to the local magistrate. Jeremy manages to escape but Minton is killed in the crossfire with the magistrate's troops (it's a poorly shot scene in which the woman is only seen killed as an apparent afterthought from a very high distance on the Dover cliffs).
Quite unconvincingly, Jeremy disguises himself as a British general and manages to fool an entire regiment, allowing both he and John to retrieve the diamond from a deep well inside a castle.
The climax feels rushed when Jeremy kills Ashwood after deciding that he really cared for Little John all along and directs him to donate the diamond to the local parson.
The woman that made Jeremy's mistress so jealous, Lady Clarista Ashwood (Joan Greenwood), ends up dead when a horse bolts (after Jeremy shoots Ashwood) and the carriage overturns. Greenwood is saddled with a virtual non-part as well as playing an unlikable character given her association with the oily Lord Ashwood.
The ending proves to be wholly unsatisfying-not only because Jeremy's redemption feels way too late-but because he abandons John (he's forced to having been badly wounded after being shot by Ashwood).
Jeremy's fate is unclear as he's seen being rowed out to a ship headed for the American colonies. It's questionable whether he'll survive but he certainly won't make good on his promise to John to return to England in the future.
The actors here can evoke little approbation as the characters they play garner little sympathy. That even goes for Whiteley as the beleaguered orphan who fails in the "cute-as-a-button" child actor category.
The film was shot on studio sets so a big opportunity was lost to admire some on-location cinematography. On the basis of this film and most of his other films in the post-war period, Lang basically ended up resting on his laurels.
Not only was Moonfleet a box office disaster but its leading man, Stewart Granger, made it quite clear that he hated the picture coupled with dripping contempt for its director.
Granger plays Jeremy Fox, a tarnished aristocrat who leads a gang of smugglers in the Dorset village of Moonfleet circa mid-18th century England. One reason I would speculate as to why audiences didn't care for this film is it takes a very long time for us to warm up to the main character.
When 11-year-old orphan John Mohune (Jon Whiteley), son of Jeremy's former and recently deceased lover, shows up on his doorstep with a note for Jeremy to take care of him, there's an expectation that this story is going to be about their relationship and how the indifferent aristocrat will be transformed by the child's influence.
But it never much comes to that until the unsatisfactory climax. From the get-go, Jeremy sends little John away in a horse drawn carriage. The kid will have none of it and makes his way back to Jeremy's manor home.
The unlikable Jeremy is persistent in rejecting the child who ends up trapped in a large crypt beneath a church where he discovers the film's McGuffin: a note written in code inside a locket which eventually brings the two together in a quest to find a diamond of almost incalculable worth.
Before the "bonding" takes place, Jeremy must contend with his smuggler band who gripe about their limited cut of ill-gotten gains and on one occasion the leader of the unsavory group engages in a life and death struggle with his boss in which a sword, a harpoon and fish netting are utilized!
Despite their constant expressions of dissatisfaction, why this group never act in concert and take out Jeremy is a mystery.
The women here fail quite succinctly on the likability index too. Take Jeremy's mistress, Mrs. Minton (Viveca Lindfors)--who due to jealousy over his flirtation with the wife of his business partner Lord James Ashwood (George Sanders)--betrays him to the local magistrate. Jeremy manages to escape but Minton is killed in the crossfire with the magistrate's troops (it's a poorly shot scene in which the woman is only seen killed as an apparent afterthought from a very high distance on the Dover cliffs).
Quite unconvincingly, Jeremy disguises himself as a British general and manages to fool an entire regiment, allowing both he and John to retrieve the diamond from a deep well inside a castle.
The climax feels rushed when Jeremy kills Ashwood after deciding that he really cared for Little John all along and directs him to donate the diamond to the local parson.
The woman that made Jeremy's mistress so jealous, Lady Clarista Ashwood (Joan Greenwood), ends up dead when a horse bolts (after Jeremy shoots Ashwood) and the carriage overturns. Greenwood is saddled with a virtual non-part as well as playing an unlikable character given her association with the oily Lord Ashwood.
The ending proves to be wholly unsatisfying-not only because Jeremy's redemption feels way too late-but because he abandons John (he's forced to having been badly wounded after being shot by Ashwood).
Jeremy's fate is unclear as he's seen being rowed out to a ship headed for the American colonies. It's questionable whether he'll survive but he certainly won't make good on his promise to John to return to England in the future.
The actors here can evoke little approbation as the characters they play garner little sympathy. That even goes for Whiteley as the beleaguered orphan who fails in the "cute-as-a-button" child actor category.
The film was shot on studio sets so a big opportunity was lost to admire some on-location cinematography. On the basis of this film and most of his other films in the post-war period, Lang basically ended up resting on his laurels.