''The Captain's Paradise'' is a 1953 British

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

produced and directed by

Anthony Kimmins Anthony Martin Kimmins, Order of the British Empire, OBE (10 November 1901 – 19 May 1964) was an English Film director, director, playwright, screenwriter, Film producer, producer, and actor. Biography Kimmins was born in Harrow, London, on 10 ...

, and starring

Alec Guinness Sir Alec Guinness (born Alec Guinness de Cuffe; 2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. In the BFI, British Film Institute listing of 1999 of BFI Top 100 British films, the 100 most important British films of the 20th century ...

Yvonne De Carlo Margaret Yvonne Middleton (September 1, 1922January 8, 2007), known professionally as Yvonne De Carlo, was a Canadian-American actress, dancer and singer. She became a Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film star and sex symbol in the 1940s a ...

and

Celia Johnson Dame Celia Elizabeth Johnson (18 December 1908 – 26 April 1982) was an English actress, whose career included stage, television and film. She is especially known for her roles in the films ''In Which We Serve'' (1942), ''This Happy Breed ...

. Guinness plays the captain of a passenger ship that travels regularly between

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

and Spanish Morocco. De Carlo plays his Moroccan wife and Johnson plays his British wife. The film begins at just before the end of the story, which is then told in a series of flashbacks. In 1958, the story was made into a Broadway

musical comedy Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

, retitled '' Oh, Captain!''.

Plot

In early 1950s North Africa, a man is escorted through an angry crowd by a platoon of soldiers. They enter a fort, and it is clear he is to be executed. The commander orders the soldiers to line up. He gives them orders to aim and fire. As the shots ring out, the scene shifts to a ferry ship, ''The Golden Fleece.'' Passengers embark for the two-day journey from Morocco to

. Among them is an elderly gentleman, Lawrence St. James, who has come to speak with his nephew, the ship's captain, Henry St. James, on an unspecified matter. He is shocked to learn from the captain's first mate, Carlos Ricco, that he is dead. He begs Ricco to explain what happened. He learns that Henry, the prosperous owner and skipper of the ship, ferried passengers regularly between Gibraltar and North Africa. In flashback, we witness Henry St. James keeping two separate relationships: (1) In Morocco, he lives with his lover, Nitaa young, tempestuous woman, 23 years younger than himself. He takes her out every night to fashionable restaurants and night clubs, celebrating a wild lifestyle. (2) In Gibraltar, he shares his life with Maud – his devoted wife, 15 years his juniorliving a respectable, sober existence, and going to bed every night no later than ten. In Morocco, Henry presents Nita with lingerie and bikinis. But in Gibraltar, he buys Maud a vacuum cleaner. Both are delighted. On board his ship, he rejects all female company, choosing intellectual discussions with male passengers at his Captain's table. He has found a perfect existenceparadise. But it won't last. All it takes is one careless mistake on the part of Henry. This leads to Ricco, up until then believing Nita to be the captain's wife, discovering that the true Mrs. St. James lives in Gibraltar. Ricco assists St. James in maintaining the deception when Maud flies to Morocco and by chance meets Nita. Henry arranges to have Maud arrested before she and Nita realise they are married to the same man. He convinces Maud that Morocco is a dangerous place and that she should never return there. The years pass. Maud has twins. She is thrilled with her two boys, but when they are sent to school in England, Maud is no longer enamoured with her marriage. She wants to dance and drink gin. On the other hand, Nita wants to stay home and cook for her man. Henry is dismayed and makes every effort to keep everything just the way it was. His attempts to maintain the status quo result in both women taking lovers. When Henry discovers Nita's infidelity, he leaves the flat as she continues the argument with her lover, Absalom. Nita shoots and kills her lover. In order to protect Nita, Henry claims he was the killer. Return to the execution. Upon being given the order to aim and fire, the soldiers swing their rifles away from Henry and shoot their commanding officer. Henry hands them money and walks away.

Cast

– Captain Henry St. James * Charles Goldner – Chief Officer Carlos Ricco *

Miles Malleson William Miles Malleson (25 May 1888 – 15 March 1969) was an English actor and dramatist, particularly remembered for his appearances in British comedy films of the 1930s to 1960s. Towards the end of his career, he also appeared in cameo roles ...

– Lawrence St. James *

– Nita *

– Maud *

Bill Fraser William Simpson Fraser (5 June 1908 – 9 September 1987) was a Scottish actor who appeared on stage, screen and television for many years. In 1986 he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for his stage role in the play '' ...

– Absalom *

Peter Bull Peter Cecil Bull, (21 March 1912 – 20 May 1984) was a British actor who appeared on the stage and in supporting roles in such films as '' The African Queen'', '' Tom Jones'' and '' Dr. Strangelove''. Peter Bull wrote twelve books. Biograph ...

– Firing-squad commander * Nicholas Phipps – The Major * Ambrosine Phillpotts – Marjorie *

Ferdy Mayne Ferdy Mayne or Ferdie Mayne (born Ferdinand Philip Mayer-Horckel; 11 March 1916 – 30 January 1998) was a German-British stage and screen actor. Born in Mainz, he emigrated to the United Kingdom in the early 1930s to escape the Nazi regime. ...

– The Sheikh * Sebastian Cabot – Ali (vendor) * Arthur Gomez – Chief steward *

George Benson George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American jazz fusion guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist. A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the ...

– Mr. Salmon * Bernard Rebel – Mr Wheeler * Joyce Barbour – Mrs Reid, the housekeeper * Claudia Grey – Susan Dailey * Ann Hefferman – Daphne Bligh * Walter Crisham – Bob * Roger Delgado – Kalikan policeman

Production

The film was based on an original story by Alec Coppel. Nicholas Phipps wrote the script. The original title was ''Paradise''. In 1951, it was announced that

Rex Harrison Sir Reginald Carey Harrison (5 March 1908 – 2 June 1990) was an English actor. Harrison began his career on the stage at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1924. He made his West End debut in 1936 appearing in the Terence Rattigan play '' French W ...

and Lilli Palmer would star. The following year press reports said

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier ( ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He and his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud made up a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the m ...

and

Vivien Leigh Vivien Leigh ( ; born Vivian Mary Hartley; 5 November 1913 – 8 July 1967), styled as Lady Olivier after 1947, was a British actress. After completing her drama school education, Leigh appeared in small roles in four films in 1935 and progress ...

were going to star, with Olivier to direct and Alex Korda to possibly produce. Olivier and Leigh became unavailable. According to

, when she was offered her role by director

, she agreed to do it if

played the lead. Kimmins said it was unlikely to get Guinness and that they would probably go for

Ray Milland Ray Milland (born Alfred Reginald Jones; 3 January 1907 – 10 March 1986) was a Welsh-American actor and film director. He is often remembered for his portrayal of an alcoholic writer in Billy Wilder's ''The Lost Weekend'' (1945), which wo ...

or Michael Wilding; De Carlo urged they try Guinness anyway and the actor accepted. Alec Guinness had a contract with Alex Korda to make one film a year – his casting was announced in '' Variety'' in October 1952.

signed to play the other lead. Kimmins said: "We're trying to show man's triple side... there's the domestic wife – pipe and slippers side; then the jungle side – the girl-in-port sort of thing. Then there's the conversational, man-to-man side... And naturally we stay tongue in cheek throughout so we don't expect to wreck any homes." Filming finished in March 1953.

said she enjoyed the film because she "got the chance to act". She found working with Guinness "an exhilarating experience". Guinness later recalled the film "had a nice script and was very enjoyable to make, especially the experience of working with Celia Johnson. I also enjoyed working with Tony Kimmins who was a very easy-going director. Rex Harrison told me that the part had originally been offered to him and I’m sure he would have been more suitable. I suppose Yvonne de Carlo was cast to boost the American sales."

Release

UK release

The film was a hit at the British box office.

US release

The film was refused approval by the US Production Code on the ground it was immoral because the lead character was a bigamist. An extra scene was shot to say St James only lived with Nita in North Africa, he was not married to her, he was only married to Maud. This allowed the film to be released. There were further issues with censors in the US. The film was banned in Maryland because it "made light of marriage". Eventually further changes were made. A line referring to Guinness' character as a "saint" was cut, and an epilogue added to the end which stated the film was only a fairytale. The movie was seen widely in the USA. A ''Variety'' article in January 1954 said:

Rising popularity of Britain's Alec Guinness among U. S. pic audiences is reflected in the fact that... he filmis expected to outgross all that has gone before it... it has grossed $350,000 so far in 29 dates and is being helped along also by its much publicized difficulties with both the Production Code and local censors. If it continues its present pace, "Paradise" may gross more than the three prior Guinness pix together. "Lavender Hill Mob" so far has done $580,000; "Man in the White Suit" $460,000, and "The Promoter" $480,000.

In April 1954, ''Variety'' observed:

Guinness films have usually won praise from the key-city critics but until now had limited pull beyond the "art" circuit. But with his current "Captain's Paradise" he's now bigtime b.o. Pic... figures to ring up $1,000,000 in theatre rentals in the U. S. and Canada..."Paradise" has chalked up $630,000 in distribution loot in less than 1,500 dates. UA figures the film is a cinch to play a total of 5,000 bookings— exhibitor deals are being set at the rate of over 200 a week – and on this basis the $1,000,000 in total rentals looks for sure. Pic has been an especially remarkable click at the Paris Theatre, N.. Y., where the run is now in its 30th week and likely will continue for about another month.

By November 1954 it had earned $900,000.

Critical reviews

In the Winter 2022/3 edition of The UK's Media Education Journal Colin McArthur in an essay 'Unacknowledged Parable of (de)Colonialisation' he explores the film in terms of its 'serious account of the inevitability of decolonialisation.

DVD

Included as part of the ''Alec Guinness Collection'',''The Captain's Paradise'' was released on DVD in September 2002.

References

External links

* *
Review of film
at Variety
Entire film
on the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Captains Paradise, The 1953 films British comedy films 1953 comedy films London Films films Films about capital punishment Films about polygamy Films directed by Anthony Kimmins Films shot in Gibraltar Films scored by Malcolm Arnold Films about con artists British black-and-white films 1950s British films English-language comedy films Films with screenplays by Alec Coppel