ROCK HUDSON’S SWASHBUCKLER FILMS

Time for a look at Rock Hudson’s overlooked swashbuckler movies.

SEA DEVILS (1953) – As England and other nations battle France in 1800, English Captain Gilliatt (Rock Hudson) has abandoned his career as a fisherman to become a smuggler. He excels at the task and over the past few years he and his ship the Sea Devil have gained quite a reputation.

The wily and sea-savvy Gilliatt’s latest cargo to smuggle is Droucette (Yvonne De Carlo), a fugitive French aristocrat acting undercover to save her brother from the guillotine in Revolutionary France.

Amid much swordplay and other action during frequent trips across the Channel, Gilliatt struggles to keep her alive and understand the motives of this beautiful woman with whom he has fallen in love.

Droucette for a time seems to secretly be an agent for Napoleon but then turns out to be a double agent who is really working for England after all. Gilliatt prevails in the end, thwarting Napoleon’s plot to invade England and rescuing Droucette from death on the guillotine.   

Based on a novel by Victor Hugo. 91 minutes.

CAPTAIN LIGHTFOOT (1955) – In 1815 Ireland, Michael Martin (Hudson) is a bold highwayman who steals from the wealthy carriage trade to help fuel resistance to the British occupiers. After several hair’s-breadth escapes from the law, Michael joins up with the larger network of Irish rebel leader and pastor John Doherty (Jeff Morrow).

Doherty goes by the alias Captain Thunderbolt and christens Martin as his second-in-command under the nom de guerre Captain Lightfoot. The sword-and-pistol-wielding rogues become ever more notorious, stinging the British at every opportunity then vanishing into the countryside with their men. 

As our figurative Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid of Ireland jaunt along in their careers as rebels and outlaws, Captain Lightfoot and Doherty’s daughter Aga (Barbara Rush) fall in love with each other. Aga’s brashness winds up endangering the entire rebel network, from their illicit casinos to Lightfoot and Thunderbolt’s larger operations.

Michael Cimino borrowed the names of Hudson’s and Morrow’s characters for his 1974 caper film Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. 92 minutes. 

THE GOLDEN BLADE (1953) – This was Rock Hudson’s vehicle in the Arabian Adventure sweepstakes in swashbuckler flicks. Rock stars as a VERY fictionalized version of Harun Al-Rashid, who eventually led the Muslim world into its Golden Age beginning in the 780s A.D. 

The movie also incorporates magic and Arthurian themes via the title object – an enchanted sword which can cut through anything and allows only Harun to wield it. In this mangling of history, Harun’s dying father encouraged him to stop Islam’s bloody infighting and unite the people. 

Harun meets the Caliph’s daughter Khairuzan (Piper Laurie) when she flees an arranged marriage. The pair fall in love while sharing a series of adventures and persevering through attempts to kill or separate them. In the end the lovebirds triumph and Harun rises to power as “Al Rashid” – the Righteous.   

Kathleen Hughes, Gene Evans and Anita Ekberg also appeared. 81 minutes.

BENGAL BRIGADE (1954) – Hudson portrays British East India Captain Jeffrey Claybourne, leader of a group of Indian Sepoys “loyal” to England during the British Occupation. The fictional Claybourne is amazingly forward-looking and hopes for eventual Indian Independence while retaining his men’s loyalty via his respect for their culture and traditions.

In December 1856 an inept and bigoted superior officer (Dan O’Herlihy) lands Captain Claybourne and his Sepoys in a disastrous action. Our hero disobeys orders in order to extricate himself and his troops alive and is then court martialed.

He resigns his commission and winds up as the mercenary leader of a lesser Rajah’s mixed army. When the bloody Great Mutiny against the British breaks out in 1857, Claybourne becomes a hero, leading his new troops to save his old Sepoy command from a massacre. He redeems himself in the eyes of the British and marries his beloved Vivian Marlow (Arlene Dahl), daughter of his former commander.

Nonsense as history, but okay as an adventure story. 87 minutes. With Ursula Thiess, Michael Ansara and Mel Welles.