''Last of the Buccaneers'' is a 1950 American

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

adventure film directed by Lew Landers and starring

Paul Henreid Paul Henreid (November 10, 1908 – March 29, 1992) was an Austrian-British- American actor, director, producer, and writer. He is best remembered for two film roles; Victor Laszlo in '' Casablanca'' and Jerry Durrance in ''Now, Voyager'', ...

Jean Lafitte Jean Lafitte ( – ) was a French pirate and privateer who operated in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He and his older brother Pierre spelled their last name Laffite, but English language documents of the time used "Lafitte". Th ...

Plot

Swashbuckler about the adventures of pirate Jean Lafitte after he helped save New Orleans from a British invasion during the War of 1812.

Cast

Jack Oakie Jack Oakie (born Lewis Delaney Offield; November 12, 1903 – January 23, 1978) was an American actor, starring mostly in films, but also working on stage, radio and television. He portrayed Napaloni in Chaplin's ''The Great Dictator'' (194 ...

as Sergeant Dominick *

Karin Booth Karin Booth (born June Francis Hoffman, June 19, 1916 – July 27, 2003) was an American film and TV actress of the 1940s to 1960s. Life and career She was born June Francis Hoffman on June 19, 1916, in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Francis T. and ...

as Belle Summers * Mary Anderson as Swallow *

Edgar Barrier Edgar Barrier (March 4, 1907 – June 20, 1964) was an American actor who appeared on radio, stage, and screen. In the 1930s he was a member of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre and was one of several actors who played Simon Templar on '' The Saint'' ...

as George Mareval *

John Dehner John Dehner (DAY-ner) (born John Dehner Forkum, also credited Dehner Forkum; November 23, 1915February 4, 1992) was an American stage, radio, film, and television actor. From the late 1930s to the late 1980s, he amassed a long list of performan ...

as Sergeant Beluche *

Harry Cording Hector William "Harry" Cording (26 April 1891 – 1 September 1954) was an English-American actor. He is perhaps best remembered for his roles in the films '' The Black Cat'' (1934) and ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1938). Life and career ...

as Cragg Brown * Eugene Borden as Captain Perez

Production

Henreid's career had suffered since the Red Scare of the late 1940s, which saw him unofficially blacklisted from the major Hollywood studios. He had been making films in New York and France when offered the lead role in ''Last of the Buccaneers'' by producer

Sam Katzman Sam Katzman (July 7, 1901 – August 4, 1973) was an American film producer and director. Katzman produced low-budget genre films, including serials, which had disproportionately high returns for the studios and his financial backers. E ...

. It was Henreid's first

swashbuckler A swashbuckler is a genre of European adventure literature that focuses on a heroic protagonist stock character who is skilled in swordsmanship, acrobatics, guile and possesses chivalrous ideals. A "swashbuckler" protagonist is heroic, daring, ...

since the highly successful ''

The Spanish Main ''The Spanish Main'' is a 1945 American adventure film starring Paul Henreid, Maureen O'Hara, Walter Slezak and Binnie Barnes, and directed by Frank Borzage. It was RKO's first all-Technicolor film since ''Becky Sharp'' ten years before. Cin ...

'' (1945). Henreid appeared in the film for a relatively low salary plus a percentage of the profits.''Last of the Buccaneers''
at Turner Classic Monthly Henreid says that because of his blacklisting Columbia Pictures would not hire him but the film was made through an independent company, SK Pictures, he could play the role. Filming started 14 March 1950. The film's sets were designed by the art director

Paul Palmentola Paul Palmentola (1888–1966) was an Italian-born American art director.Stephens p.233 He designed the film sets for more than two hundred productions during his career, much of his work during the 1930s and 1940s at low-budget studios such as Ma ...

Hedda Hopper Hedda Hopper (born Elda Furry; May 2, 1885February 1, 1966) was an American gossip columnist and actress. At the height of her influence in the 1940s, her readership was 35 million. A strong supporter of the House Un-American Activities Committ ...

reported that

Errol Flynn Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian-American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Olivia ...

had written a script called ''The Last of the Buccaneers'' in the late 1940s for Flynn to star in but it appears to have no other connection to this film.Errol Flynn, Donlevy, Irish Actor All Figure in New Screen Projects Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 15 Mar 1949: A7.

Reception

According to Henreid, the film was "a huge success and my percentage brought in an enormous amount of money." He went on to make a number of other swashbucklers for Katzman.

References

External links

''Last of the Buccaneers''
at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of A ...

* {{Lew Landers 1950 films 1950s historical adventure films American historical adventure films American swashbuckler films Pirate films Columbia Pictures films War of 1812 films Cultural depictions of Jean Lafitte 1950s English-language films Films directed by Lew Landers 1950s American films