Having been largely unimpressed by the same director's just-viewed THE LADY AND THE BANDIT (1951), with which it shares stars Louis Hayward and Patricia Medina, I was not exactly enthused by the prospect of watching this – even if its predecessor, FORTUNES OF CAPTAIN BLOOD (1950), had emerged a pleasant surprise; as it turned out, I found myself in agreement with George R. Reis of "DVD Drive-in" who opined that it was actually superior to the 'original' (with which it was paired as an unlikely "Midnite Movie" release!).
Ironically, while the first film (not counting, of course, the unavailable 1924 and the popular 1935 versions) was based on novelist Rafael Sabatini's third adventure featuring the protagonist, this cinematic follow-up is ostensibly an adaptation of the literary tale that preceded it! Anyway, Blood has not only married Isabella (the odd diminutive has been sensibly dropped here) but he has given up piracy and returned to medical practice; still, when we first see him, he is aiding escaped black slaves and, before long, he is dragged back (when a buccaneer takes to impersonating him!) to the sea and the raiding of merchant ships. At one point, Medina tries to intercede on his behalf at court by recounting Blood's earlier enslavement and escape to a life of piracy – illustrated on screen via black-and-white footage from FORTUNES
which, as I said before, had shown Hayward already an established buccaneer!
The busy plot has the hero locking horns with several equally dangerous and untrustworthy figures: a nobleman (John Sutton) with the unfortunate name of Hilary, a trio(!) of other pirate leaders (including Ted de Corsia), and even a heavy-set female innkeeper! Other characters to be featured here are Viceroy Ian Wolfe and, as Medina's gullible uncle, Maltese character actor Sandro Giglio. As for Blood's band of 'merrie men', they seem largely a different bunch than the ones seen in the previous effort(!) – apart from the bearers of the distinctive nationalities I singled out in that film's review. Thankfully, unlike in his previous effort, Blood is only very briefly (and unsuccessfully) tempted by another exotic girl but has to contend instead with Sutton's unrequited attentions to Medina herself!
While, as also mentioned earlier, the colour adds much to the appeal of the movie, it is definitively given an extra edge by full-blooded (pardon the pun) action scenes, especially the ingenious climax as Blood (Hayward having, by now, grown nicely into the part) feigns a defective defense strategy by allowing a number of cannons to be destroyed (while concealing a set of reserves under bushes) and even has his own ship scuttled, so that an approaching enemy vessel ends up wrecked upon its submerged remains! While I will be complementing these two Louis Hayward vehicles with the "Euro-Cult" venture THE SON OF CAPTAIN BLOOD (1962) – starring Errol's real-life offspring, Sean Flynn, no less – I should also point out that I have three more Sabatini-related titles in my unwatched pile, namely the 1924 version of THE SEA HAWK, 1926's BARDELYS THE MAGNIFICENT and the British-made THE PRISONER OF CORBAL, dating from 1936...
