Cecil B Demille does his famous, before the camera routine introducing the very last film which he was involved with. Too ill to direct himself, he was talked into letting his son-in-law, Anthony Quinn direct it, a decision he was to regret. He hated the film, and apparently raged every day after seeing the rushes. Being the perfect showman though, he presents the film here as if it was one of his own epics, conjuring up pictures of American rocket launches when describing the rockets fired by the British at the Americans in the 1812 war of independence - "The rockets red glare, inspired the Star Spangled Banner"!
As in The Ten Commandments promo Demille intersperses his version of history with liberal chunks from the film. Yul Brynner, looking very furtive having sprouted a thick head of hair, plays the buccaneer of the title, strutting around in his familiar The King And I pose. Charlton Heston plays Andrew Jackson like Moses, but minus the white beard. But I don't expect you will be considering this reel for the acting abilities of the stars, but for the hamming of Cecil B Demille - the rest of it is, after all a bonus.
The Buccaneer was filmed in VistaVision, and this print is slightly masked. there is quite a bit of wear at the start, but this tends to get less a little way in. The colour, with the exception of a few pale scenes is good, as is the definition and sound.
This was originally released, some years ago now, by Steel Valley Services in the USA,
and so it has not been around for sometime. A Cecil B Demille item is always good fun and
this would make an ideal companion to the Ten Commandments promo reel also
released some years ago. A digestible slice of ham.
For another review of The Buccaneer
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This page was last updated 02 Dec 2002