ANNE OF THE INDIES (1951) – Jean Peters stars as female pirate Captain Anne Providence, commander of the ship Sheba Queen. One day she and her crew seize a British ship in the West Indies.
French Captain Pierre LaRochelle (THE Louis Jourdan), himself a pirate, is imprisoned on the vessel. Anne takes a shine to Captain LaRochelle and gives him a choice – walk the plank like the other captives or join her crew and serve under her.
Pierre sensibly joins Captain Providence’s crew and takes part in the Sheba Queen‘s further plundering. The two buccaneers fall in love.
Anne grows so fond of LaRochelle that she takes him to meet her figurative father – Blackbeard the Pirate, who raised her and taught her all the tricks of the freebooting trade.
Blackbeard (Thomas Gomez) is suspicious of Pierre and disapproves of Providence bringing him to the secret island stronghold, but our heroine is so smitten she rejects her mentor’s negative assessment of the Frenchman.
Before long, Blackbeard realizes he once saw LaRochelle serving as an officer in the French navy. Pierre defends himself by saying he was tossed out of the navy since then and became a pirate.
Captain Providence accepts Pierre’s explanation, but Blackbeard is so sure he’s right that he attacks LaRochelle, intent on killing him. Anne draws her own sword and stops him, then orders the older pirate and his crew to leave her island.
Eventually it turns out that Pierre is working for the British, who seized his pirate ship and took his wife into custody as a hostage before sending him on a mission to gain intelligence on Captain Providence and Blackbeard. He betrays her and her crew to the British navy, confessing to her that he didn’t realize he would fall in love with her when he reluctantly accepted the mission.
Anne manages to turn the tables and she & her crew escape on the Sheba Queen with Pierre’s wife Molly (Debra Paget) a prisoner. The she-pirate plans to sell Molly into slavery.
Captain LaRochelle wants to pursue Providence to save his wife, but the British refuse to return his ship to him because Anne’s escape means he failed to keep his end of the bargain. The shrewd pirate manages to obtain a new ship and crew for himself and sails after the Sheba Queen.
Pierre overtakes Captain Providence before she can sell his wife, but in the resulting battle, Anne defeats the Frenchman’s ship and maroons LaRochelle and his wife on a remote island to die.
A few days later, she is conscience-stricken and goes back to save the couple from such a slow death. Blackbeard and his crew arrive, intent on killing Pierre and defeating Anne. Our heroine pits the Sheba Queen against Blackbeard’s pirates but winds up being outfought by her old teacher.
She defiantly challenges Blackbeard to a one-on-one duel but gets killed by cannon fire before he can agree to it. The navy arrives to save Pierre and Molly, who praise the courage and sense of honor of the late Captain Anne Providence.
Anne of the Indies is a rollicking but bittersweet pirate yarn. Jean Peters is clearly having a good time buckling every swash in sight. 81 minutes.
