Black Jack (1950 film)

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Black Jack
Black Jack (1950 film).jpg
Directed by Julien Duvivier
Written by
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography André Thomas
Edited by Margarita de Ochoa
Music by Joseph Kosma
Production
companies
Alsa Films
Jungla Films
Distributed byLes Films Marceau (France)
Release date
  • 20 November 1950 (1950-11-20)
Running time
90 minutes
CountriesFrance
Spain
LanguageEnglish

Black Jack, also known as Captain Black Jack, is a 1950 adventure film written and directed by Julien Duvivier and starring George Sanders, Herbert Marshall, Patricia Roc and Dennis Wyndham. [1] The English-language film was a coproduction between France, Spain and the United States.

Contents

Plot

Demobilised after World War II, Mike Alexander pursues any deals, legal or not, that will return a fortune. He has acquired a yacht in Mallorca, where he hears of a cargo ship full of refugees in difficulty, the Chalcis. He agrees to take the six richest people from the ship but is sickened by the distress of the rest and tells the captain to drop them ashore on an isolated island. He sees an attractive young woman name Ingrid who refuses his offer of a free trip to safety. The captain scuttles the ship in a hidden cove and takes Ingrid to Tangier.

Shortly after, Ingrid appears in Mallorca as companion to eccentric American millionairess Emily Birk. She again refuses Alexander's advances, even when he mentions that his fortune is arriving soon. Mrs. Birk discloses to Ingrid that she is a cop pursuing Alexander, who is an evil crook expecting a cargo of drugs. Ingrid agrees to accompany Alexander to the island where the Chalcis is lying, and they are dismayed to find all of the refugees dead, locked in the hold by the captain. When Alexander's drugs arrive, concealed in a schooner, Mrs. Birk, who is actually not a cop but a dealer, takes them and hides them in the wreck of the Chalcis. Alexander's cover is blown, so he destroys the consignment. To escape the law, he steers his yacht toward Tangier and Ingrid agrees to flee with him. Police launches pursue them and shoot Alexander dead.

Cast

Reception

The film was not released in the United States until July 1952, where it was titled Captain Black Jack. [2]

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Howard Thompson called the film an "absurd and trashy little melodrama" and wrote: "'Captain Black Jack' ... at least offers a full quota of surprises. The first is the embarrassing spectacle of such seasoned performers as George Sanders, Agnes Moorehead, Herbert Marshall and England's decorative Patricia Roc capering through various hotels, gambling casinos and waterfronts along the Mediterranean in a feebly florid story that just misses lampooning itself. ... It is even more embarrassing to learn that one of the great names in French films, Julien Duvivier, not only directed the entire mess but, with Charles Spaak, scribbled it." [2]

References

  1. ↑ "BLACK JACK (1950) | BFI". Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk. 2015-07-02. Archived from the original on 2009-01-16. Retrieved 2016-01-06.
  2. 1 2 Thompson, Howard (1952-10-22). "Screen Review". The New York Times . p. 31.
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