Search - The Captain's Paradise on DVD

A cute, crafty, playfully sexist 1950s comedy

Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 09/06/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A deft, charming dark comedy featuring Alec Guinness as a crafty sea captain who has achieved the ultimate male chauvinist dream: the foolproof scheme to cheat on his wife. Wives, actually. He has one in each port -- a dowdy, respectable English frump stowed away in Gilbralter, and a wild, exotic hottie at his love shack in Tangiers. Complications ensue, of course, and while the subtext of sexist humor may be dated or offensive, the script is quite skillful and the performances grand. A lot of attention will go to Yvonne De Carlo, who plays Alec's Latin lady, but the plum comedic role goes to English actress Celia Johnson, who liberates her mousy character with an economical and hilarious transformation. Guinness is great, too... but you knew that already, right? A very funny film."

Not one of Alec's best films but enjoyable

M. C. Crammer | Decatur, GA USA | 11/17/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I think one reviewer referred to the film as sexist, and I would have to agree, which may have affected my enjoyment of the film. I think it did reflect views in the early fifties, but the overall problem was that the movie seemed quite dated (forgiveable, I suppose, after 50 years, but some movies much older don't seem dated in the same way).

The plot involves the captain of a ferry boat that goes back and forth between Gibraltar and North Africa. The captain's search for paradise appears to have been reached -- he has a wife on each side of the straits, and each wife specializes in some aspect of the perfect wife -- one is sexy, Spanish, and exotic, the other is domestic and very British. Neither, of course, knows about the other, but eventually his paradise starts to fall apart.

It's amusing, but somehow didn't hold my interest all that well. It's worth watching, but I wouldn't rewatch it."

Alec the Great

Scott T. Rivers | Los Angeles, CA USA | 05/13/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

""The Captain's Paradise" (1953) exists primarily as a showcase for Alec Guinness, whose masterful characterization dominates this uneven bigamist farce. Yvonne De Carlo also shines in one of her best roles as Guinness' red-hot Moroccan spouse, with Celia Johnson memorably playing the British wife in port. The dance sequence between Guinness and De Carlo is a standout. Alec Coppel's screenplay received an Oscar nomination."

Not Quite Ealing But Enjoyable Nonetheless

David Baldwin | Philadelphia,PA USA | 10/16/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This screwball farce must have been quite provocative in it's day but would be considered tame by today's standards. There's still alot to enjoy here even though the film doesn't attain the classic heights of Alec Guiness' Ealing work. It's kind of a departure for Guiness to play such an amoral heel and he seems to relish it. And he does a mean flamenco as demonstrated in his scenes with Yvonne DeCarlo. Speaking of DeCarlo, she's a revelation here as the saucy Spanish vixen that Guiness' captain has holed up in Tangiers. She not only smolders onscreen but she has a deft comic touch. Celia Johnson is good as well as the proper English wife that Guiness assumes is content with the role he prescribes for her. On the whole a consistently funny film. Watch for a clever twist at the end that took me by surprise because there is no way it would have passed American censors at that time and took me aback that it passed British censors."