Frenchman's Creek

Audience Reviews

View All (6) audience reviews

Audience Member OK, but so dreadfully faded and decaying its hard to even see most scenes clearly. Based on the fact that it was made at the height of technicolor, and it winning the Oscar for Art Direction, there must have been a much better experience back in its day. Try watching as a curio, and be a little sad that we’ll never really be able to know and judge it clearly. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 05/21/20 Full Review matthew d A swashbuckler romance with little action and contrived love. Frenchman's Creek (1944) is a rather dull and overly long romance from the mind of Daphne du Maurier, who has written much better like The Birds and Rebecca. Frenchman's Creek just keeps plodding along carried by the ravishing Joan Fontaine. I wish she was given more to do than swoon and drink tea as it were because Fontaine is fascinating to watch and clearly a multi-faceted actress who can pull off the dramatic tension and fun romancing adventuress with ease. Mitchell Leisen's direction is very slow and stale. He sticks with the most basic shots to display nearly everything in a drab medium shot. The few wide shots of the natural surroundings are gorgeous, while the sparse close ups are quite lovely as well. Unfortunately the editing is lackluster as well as we just sit on a scene with minimal cutting as if Frenchman's Creek were a play instead of a gripping film. Arturo de Cordova is an intriguing choice as the lead pirate captain. He is handsome, but so very dull and trite as he displays endless cliches of the anti-hero pirate bad boy type. He is charming and ordinary all at once. Basil Rathbone is wasted in the near non-existent role he is given. His dramatic mastery of acting delivery is still as keen as ever with his sharp biting dialogue and quick wit stalwart in tongue. Unfortunately, we do not get to see Rathbone's swordsmanship even though this is a swashbuckler! What a missed opportunity. I must mention that Nigel Bruce has a humorous supporting role as yet another lovable bumbling oafish character. This on screen reunion of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson is lackluster to say the least. I wish Frenchman's Creek were better, but alas, it is only watchable because of Fontaine's fantastic acting and elevated by Rathbone's lines. It is too long, too slow, and too sentimental. Frenchman's Creek assumes we would all join the invading pirate over a comfy life of luxury in England. It's so bizarre. Speaking of which, the English accents are all heightened to ridiculous proportions and all the French accents sound like English actors putting on a parody of a French accent. It's so bad and rips you out of the movie every time someone speaks. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Frenchman's Creek (1944) A very idealized fantasy told tale of an unrealistic interpretation of French pirates in the 1600's. The criminals are looked upon as romantics and good guys rather than crooks or villains This is a film that tells the story mostly from the females point of view. It is mostly told on the home front of England with a little bit in the French pirate ship. Maybe 1/3 of the film show pirate perspective. This film mostly focuses on the wealthy Noble class and the romance between a married woman who already has a child seeking adventure and a pirate captain who likes a woman who obviously is not satisfied with her lifestyle. This film does not have much action and the pirates just steal and fight people. Often you never see too many killed. Often they are captured, tied up, just to be released again. Maybe two people do you see get killed during the whole film. This is not a very remarkable film. It does not stand out all that much. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member good WWII adventure saga made 2 take WWII audiences off the war Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Dated, but pretty good version of the classic pirate romance. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Audience Member Amusing film with fine cast. Adapted from the classic Daphne Du Maurier novel. She was the author of some of the novels that served as the basis for Hitchcock's works: Jamaica Inn (1939) & Rebecca (1940). It's fun to see Rathbone and Bruce outside of their Holmes and Watson series in color. Rathbone was 52 at the time of this movie. Interesting notation given that he looked to be in his 30's in this film and his early 40's in the Holmes series. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Frenchman's Creek

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW