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The Captain's Paradise

Play trailer Poster for The Captain's Paradise 1953 1h 20m Comedy Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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80% Tomatometer 5 Reviews 70% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
Captain Henry St. James (Alec Guinness) heads a ferryboat that regularly moves between Gibraltar and North Africa, and he has a different life in each location. In Gibraltar, he is married to Maud (Celia Johnson), a subdued and dedicated housewife. In Morocco, he has another wife, the tempestuous Nita (Yvonne De Carlo), who enjoys the fast-paced nightlife. Henry enjoys this arrangement, with neither woman knowing of the other, until both women become dissatisfied with their one-sided lives.

Critics Reviews

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Clyde Gilmour Maclean's Magazine 10/16/2019
Alec Guinness scores again, this time as a subtle sea dog who believes that civilized bigamy is man's key to happiness. The basic joke seldom runs thin in this roguish British comedy. Go to Full Review
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 06/22/2012
B-
Starring Alec Guinness, this mildly entertaining British comedy was nominated for the Motion Picture Story Oscar. Go to Full Review
Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews 05/05/2009
C+
Disappointing lighthearted one-note sexual farce about a bigamist Go to Full Review
Jake Euker F5 (Wichita, KS) 02/18/2007
4/5
Ken Hanke Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) 08/14/2003
3.5/5
Lacks something of the charm of the Ealing films -- though it's hard to pinpoint why -- it's an all-too-often-overlooked Guinness film that deserves rediscovery Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Russ G 10/20/2022 A ferry captain experiences every man's fantasy, enjoying two diametrically opposed cultures separated by the Straight of Gibraltar: British domesticity as solid as the Rock, and the excitement of Morocco mere hours away. Sir Alec is superb as are his two Leading Ladies. This is a classic that doesn't get screened often enough. See more 06/29/2019 I cannot think of any movies with Alec Guinness that I have not enjoyed. His reputation could have rested on his performance in Bridge on the River Kwai but his nuanced performance in Smiley's People shows his incredible range.I cannot think of any movies with Alec Guinness that I have not enjoyed. His reputation could have rested on his performance in Bridge on the River Kwai but his nuanced performance in Smiley's People shows his incredible range. But, I do not believe movies are made by actors and my mistake here was the idea that anything that Guinness appears in will be good. Maybe Rick had standards in his Casablanca bar but did every man in a Moroccan street scene really wear Western style suits? C'mon. I could go on with too many troubling examples. I can only conclude, given the 1953 date that the director or, perhaps, his* producers, decided that they wanted to create an entertainment aimed at the summer crowd at a Butlin's holiday camp. *Whoever this film's backers were, there is absolutely no way it was anything other than a him - and, no, I have't checked. See more 12/02/2015 funny UK comedy quite cheeky as they say See more bill t @Spuzz 08/16/2014 Amazingly funny farce about a captain of a ship who has two wives in two different ports, and two very different lives. He has it all under control until little things start him on his downfall. Somewhat predictable in the end, but still great to watch. As usual, Guiness and Celia Johnson steal the show See more walter m @Harlequin68 04/12/2012 "The Captain's Paradise" starts with Henry St. James(Alec Guinness) calmly asking the firing squad to please hurry up as he has other places to be, while matter of factly refusing a blindfold. His uncle Lawrence(Miles Malleson), who just missed Henry, is told by Henry's now former Chief Officer, Ricco(Charles Goldner), how he came to be in such a predicament. It may not surprise some that it involved a woman, namely Henry's lover Nita(Yvonne De Carlo), as Ricco recounts happier times like their second anniversary in North Africa. On the other side of the Mediterranean in Gibraltar, where his crew has not been granted British visas to disembark, Henry celebrates his third anniversary with his wife Maud(Celia Johnson). Even though it is more windup than payoff, "The Captain's Paradise" is still a witty and breezy farce that is ahead of its time in exploring gender relations. Here, the joke is on Henry as he underestimates not one but two women which while certainly no record is still very impressive.(Relax, I don't think I'm giving anything away by saying that since we do know he will end up in front of a firing squad but how he gets there might surprise you.) Henry might think of his life as perfect, containing the best of all worlds, including male camaraderie, and, admittedly, it is a rather clever idea. But if he were as smart as he thought he was, then he would have found a cure for cancer. See more 10/13/2011 http://filmreviewsnsuch.blogspot.com/2011/10/captains-paradise.html See more Read all reviews
The Captain's Paradise

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Movie Info

Synopsis Captain Henry St. James (Alec Guinness) heads a ferryboat that regularly moves between Gibraltar and North Africa, and he has a different life in each location. In Gibraltar, he is married to Maud (Celia Johnson), a subdued and dedicated housewife. In Morocco, he has another wife, the tempestuous Nita (Yvonne De Carlo), who enjoys the fast-paced nightlife. Henry enjoys this arrangement, with neither woman knowing of the other, until both women become dissatisfied with their one-sided lives.
Director
Anthony Kimmins
Distributor
Lopert Pictures Corp., British Lion Films Ltd.
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Sep 28, 1953, Original
Release Date (DVD)
Jul 19, 2002
Runtime
1h 20m