THE SWASHBUCKLER MOVIES OF PAUL HENREID

Paul Henreid, perhaps best known as Victor Laszlo in Casablanca, also starred in a few swashbuckler films in the 1940s and 1950s.

THE SPANISH MAIN (1945) – In the 1600s, Dutch Captain Laurent van Horn (Paul Henreid) is using his ship to transport refugees from the current war in Holland to safety in the Carolina Colonies. Storms and other misfortunes cause the ship to go wildly off course, ultimately wrecking near Cartagena. Spanish Colonial Governor Don Juan Alvarado (Walter Slezak) imprisons Laurent and his crew, sentencing them to hang.

Captain van Horn leads his men in escaping the prison and stealing a ship they rechristen the Barracuda. Over the next five years they thrive as pirates preying on Spanish shipping and thumbing their noses at villainous Governor Alvarado every chance they get.

One day they seize the Spanish Galleon taking Contessa Francesca (Maureen O’Hara) to Cartagena to marry Alvarado. Feisty Francesca impresses Laurent with her spirit and her beauty, so when she offers him her hand in marriage if he spares the lives of her escorts he gladly accepts.

Captain van Horn and his crew take the Contessa to the port where the Barracuda and other pirate vessels hide out. A very inaccurate rendition of pirate Anne Bonny (Binnie Barnes) is jealous that Francesca has taken her man Laurent. She joins forces with pirate captains who resent van Horn’s leadership to deliver Francesca to Alvarado.

The bad guys and gals also capture Laurent and offer to turn him over to Alvarado for a big payday. Naturally, the pirate captain and the Contessa manage to defeat the villains and cement their romance. 100 minutes. 

THIEF OF DAMASCUS (1952) – This time around, Paul Henreid plays General Abu Amdar, loosely based on the real-life Muslim officer Abu Ubaidah. In this version of events, though General Abu Amdar successfully takes Damascus for the forces of Islam in 634 A.D., his superior Khalid (John Sutton) is angered by the conditions Abu accepted for surrender.

Khalid declares General Amdar an enemy of the faith and targets him for execution. Abu steals a sword of fine Damascus Steel and flees. The former general lives as an outlaw from then on and gathers around him an all-star cast of Arabian Nights characters as part of his gang opposing Khalid.

Sinbad (Lon Chaney, Jr.), Aladdin (future Hogan’s Heroes star Robert Clary), Sheherazade (actress Jeff Donnell), Ali Baba (Philip Van Zandt) and some of his Forty Thieves join Abu Amdar in his adventures. Our hero falls in love with Princess Zafir (Helen Gilbert), wins her heart and defeats his enemies.

Elena Verdugo and John Hart, the OTHER Lone Ranger, also appear. 78 minutes.

LAST OF THE BUCCANEERS (1950) – Henreid portrays pirate Captain Jean Lafitte AFTER he helped Andrew Jackson win the Battle of New Orleans. Per his agreement with the U.S., Lafitte never preys on American shipping but happily plunders the vessels of other nations, including Spain.

The buccaneer business is good, and Jean amasses quite an ill-gotten fortune from 1815 to 1820. Lafitte even takes the island of Galveston to use as a base for himself and his pirate fleet.

In 1820 he winds up sinking an American vessel, ending his agreement with the U.S. NOTE: This movie depicts one of Lafitte’s subordinates sinking the vessel so it can keep Jean looking honorable, even hanging the reckless buccaneer who did the deed.

American heroine Belle Summers (Karin Booth) infiltrates Henreid’s Galveston base in order to see if he really did sink the U.S. ship. The movie depicts her believing Lafitte’s claims of personal innocence since Belle has fallen for the big lug.

Her spiteful servant relays the base’s position to the American forces anyway and they attack to shut down Jean’s little pirate paradise (as really happened in 1820). Lovebirds Jean and Belle manage to escape as Lafitte did in real life, ultimately vanishing from history in 1825. 79 minutes.  

PIRATES OF TRIPOLI (1955) – During the era of the Barbary Corsairs, Captain Edri al-Gadrian (Paul Henreid) is approached by beautiful (of course) Princess Karjan (Patricia Medina) who has been forced to flee her realm because of the villainous invader Malek (John Miljan). She offers Edri “a fabulous reward” if he helps her regain her throne.

The corsair captain is aware of the princess’s legendary wealth, so he happily agrees. Surprisingly, things turn sour when Malek uses his fleet’s superior numbers to eventually wipe out the ships loyal to Captain al-Gadrian.

Our hero and the princess proceed to sneak into her former domain in order to steal her fabulous hidden treasure before Malek can find it. The duo fall in love while pulling this off, buying more vessels with the loot and emerging victorious over Malek in the end. 71 minutes.  

SIREN OF BAGDAD (1953) – More swashbuckling adventure, but this time played more than a little tongue-in-cheek with a 4th-wall-breaking joke or two in the dialogue. Paul Henreid stars as heroic Kazah the Great, who leads a traveling troupe of acrobats, dancing girls and magicians entertaining royalty throughout the Middle East.

The evil Sultan El Malid (Charles Lung), who has recently usurped the throne, confiscates all the women in Kazah’s caravan of stars. He plans to keep some for his own harem and sell the others into slavery.

Princess Zendi (Patricia Medina), daughter of the rightful ruler who was overthrown by El Malid, allies herself with Kazah as he uses his swordsmanship and conjurer’s tricks to defeat the forces of evil. Hans Conried of all people plays Ben Ali, Kazah’s sidekick who is magically transformed into a beautiful woman (voiced by Conried) to infiltrate El Malid’s palace. 73 minutes.