Captain Thunder (film)

Last updated

Captain Thunder
Captain Thunder 1930 Title Card.jpg
Directed by Alan Crosland
Written by Gordon Rigby
William K. Wells
based on the story by Pierre Couderc
Hal Davitt
Based onThe Gay Caballero
by Pierre Couderc
Hal Davitt
Starring Fay Wray
Victor Varconi
Charles Judels
Robert Elliott
Bert Roach
Natalie Moorhead
Cinematography James Van Trees
Edited by Arthur Hilton
Music by Xavier Cugat
David Mendoza
Leon Rosebrook
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date
  • December 27, 1930 (1930-12-27)
Running time
65 minutes
CountryUnited States
Language English

Captain Thunder is a 1930 American pre-Code historical drama Western film that was produced and distributed by Warner Bros. and released in late 1930. The film was directed by Alan Crosland and stars Victor Varconi in his first full-length all-talking feature. The script is based on the story The Gay Caballero by Pierre Couderc and Hal Davitt. [1]

Contents

A copy is preserved at the Library of Congress. [2]

Plot

El Capitan Thunder is a Mexican bandit who brazenly flaunts his ventures until the people of El Paramo demand that something be done about it. Ruiz, the Mexican sheriff, offers a large reward for the capture of El Capitan.

Juan and Ynez, a pair of lovers, wish to marry, but Inez's father prefers a wealthy man named Morgan. When Juan hears about the large reward for El Capitan, he pursues the bandit so that he can claim the reward and become wealthy enough to please Inez's father. Ruiz lights bonfires at points where El Capitan is seen, hoping to capture him.

When El Capitan appears at Inez's hacienda to pay homage to her, she at first lights a bonfire but changes her mind and hides El Capitan from the soldiers when they arrive. At daybreak, Juan captures him and claims his reward.

El Capitan soon escapes from prison, which embarrasses Ruiz. Morgan asks El Capitan to perform a favor that he had previously promised to him. He asks El Capitan to disrupt the wedding plans so that he can marry Inez. Soon after Inez is married by force, a gunshot is heard. Inez returns to the party where El Capitan informs her that she is now a widow and is free to marry Juan.

Cast

Fay Wray and Victor Varconi in Captain Thunder (1930) Captain Thunder photo 2.jpg
Fay Wray and Victor Varconi in Captain Thunder (1930)

Preservation

The film survives in its complete form and has been shown on television in various markets.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fortunio Bonanova</span> Spanish actor and opera singer (1895–1969)

Fortunio Bonanova, pseudonym of Josep Lluís Moll, was a Spanish baritone singer and a film, theater, and television actor. He occasionally worked as a producer and director.

<i>Something Big</i> (film) 1971 film

Something Big is a 1971 American Western comedy film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen. Produced by McLaglen and screenwriter James Lee Barrett, the film stars Dean Martin, Honor Blackman and Brian Keith.

<i>El filibusterismo</i> 1891 novel by José Rizal

El Filibusterismo, also known by its alternative English title The Reign of Greed, is the second novel written by Philippine national hero José Rizal. It is the sequel to Noli Me Tángere and, like the first book, was written in Spanish. It was first published in 1891 in Ghent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilbert Roland</span> American actor (1905–1994)

Luis Antonio Dámaso de Alonso, known professionally as Gilbert Roland, was a Mexican-born American film and television actor whose career spanned seven decades from the 1920s until the 1980s. He was twice nominated for the Golden Globe Award in 1952 and 1964 and inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.

<i>The Crimson Pirate</i> 1952 film by Robert Siodmak

The Crimson Pirate is a 1952 British-American Technicolor comedy-adventure film from Warner Bros. produced by Norman Deming and Harold Hecht, directed by Robert Siodmak, and starring Burt Lancaster, who also co-produced with Deming and Hecht. Co-starring in the film are Nick Cravat, Eva Bartok, Leslie Bradley, Torin Thatcher, and James Hayter. The film was shot in Ischia, the Bay of Naples and Teddington Studios. It makes the most of Lancaster's skills as a professional acrobat and his lifelong partnership with Cravat. Critics compared Lancaster favorably with Douglas Fairbanks Sr.

<i>The Loves of Carmen</i> (1948 film) 1948 film by Charles Vidor

The Loves of Carmen is a 1948 American adventure drama romance film directed by Charles Vidor. The film stars Rita Hayworth as the gypsy Carmen and Glenn Ford as her doomed lover Don José.

<i>Morgan the Pirate</i> (film) 1960 film by Primo Zeglio, André de Toth

Morgan the Pirate is a 1960 Italian-French international co-production historical adventure film, directed by André de Toth and Primo Zeglio, and starring Steve Reeves as Sir Henry Morgan, the pirate who became the Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica.

<i>The Black Swan</i> (film) 1942 film by Henry King

The Black Swan is a 1942 American swashbuckler Technicolor film directed by Henry King and starring Tyrone Power and Maureen O'Hara. It was based on the 1932 novel of the same title by Rafael Sabatini.

<i>The Bad Man</i> (1930 film) 1930 film

The Bad Man is a 1930 American Pre-Code Western film starring Walter Huston which was produced and released by First National Pictures, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. The movie is based on Porter Emerson Browne's 1920 play of the same name and is a sound remake of the 1923 silent version of the same name. The film stars Walter Huston and features Dorothy Revier, Sidney Blackmer and James Rennie.

<i>Villa Rides</i> 1968 film starring Yul Brynner, directed by Buzz Kulik

Villa Rides is a 1968 American Technicolor Western war film in Panavision directed by Buzz Kulik and starring Yul Brynner as Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa and Robert Mitchum as an American adventurer and pilot of fortune. The screenplay is based on the biography by William Douglas Lansford. The supporting cast includes Charles Bronson as Fierro, Herbert Lom as Huerta and Alexander Knox as Madero.

<i>The Torch</i> (film) 1950 Mexican/American film directed by Emilio Fernández

The Torch is a 1950 Mexican/American film directed by Emilio Fernández. The film is a remake of Enamorada (1946) and is also known as Bandit General in the United Kingdom.

<i>Dancing Pirate</i> 1936 film by Lloyd Corrigan

Dancing Pirate is a 1936 American musical comedy film directed by Lloyd Corrigan. It is the third film shot in the three strip Technicolor process and the first musical in that format. Produced by the makers of Becky Sharp, the film was based on the December 1930 Colliers Magazine story Glorious Buccaneer by Emma-Lindsay Squier a serious and action filled romance that may have been inspired by the story of Joseph Chapman. The film features the debut of stage star Charles Collins and the cast includes Rita Hayworth as one of The Royal Cansino Dancers. Other dancers in the film were Pat Nixon and Marjorie Reynolds.

<i>The Black Camel</i> (film) 1931 film

The Black Camel is a 1931 American pre-Code mystery film directed by Hamilton MacFadden and starring Warner Oland, Sally Eilers, Bela Lugosi, and Dorothy Revier. It is based on the 1929 novel of the same name by Earl Derr Biggers. It is the second film to star Oland as detective Charlie Chan, and the sole surviving title of the first five Chan films starring Oland. The Black Camel marked the film debut of Robert Young.

<i>A Feather in Her Hat</i> 1935 film by Alfred Santell

A Feather in Her Hat is a 1935 melodrama film starring Pauline Lord as a working-class woman with ambitions for her son. It is based on the 1934 novel of the same name by I. A. R. Wylie.

<i>El revólver sangriento</i> 1964 film

El revólver sangriento is a 1964 Mexican western-drama film directed by Miguel M. Delgado, and starring Luis Aguilar, Lola Beltrán, Flor Silvestre, Emilio Fernández, Manuel Capetillo, Antonio Aguilar, and Irma Dorantes, as credited in the film's theatrical posters. The lead actors were credited in an unusual "rigorous appearance on the screen" style, where the film's main characters are not ordered by importance, but by on-screen appearance. Written for the screen by Alfredo Salazar, the film was a production of Cinematográfica Calderón and follows the account of a silver-plated revolver, which has a deadly curse and falls on the hands of different men.

<i>Betrayed</i> (1917 film) 1917 American film

Betrayed is a 1917 silent drama film directed and written by Raoul Walsh, starring Hobart Bosworth, Miriam Cooper, and Monte Blue, and released by Fox Film Corporation. It is not known if the film currently survives, which suggests that it is a lost film.

<i>Cocktail Hour</i> (film) 1933 film

Cocktail Hour is a 1933 American pre-Code romantic drama film produced and distributed by Columbia Pictures and starring Bebe Daniels. This film was directed by Victor Schertzinger.

<i>Worldly Goods</i> 1924 film by Paul Bern

Worldly Goods is a 1924 American silent comedy film directed by Paul Bern and written by Sophie Kerr and A. P. Younger. The film stars Agnes Ayres, Patrick H. O'Malley, Jr., Victor Varconi, Edythe Chapman, Bert Woodruff, Maude George, and Cecille Evans. The film was released on November 24, 1924, by Paramount Pictures.

<i>Rose of the Rio Grande</i> 1938 film by William Nigh

Rose of the Rio Grande is a 1938 American Western film directed by William Nigh and starring Movita Castaneda as Rosita de la Torre.

<i>Beauty and the Bandit</i> 1946 film directed by William Nigh

Beauty and the Bandit is a 1946 American Western film directed by William Nigh and written by Charles S. Belden. The film stars Gilbert Roland, Martin Garralaga, Frank Yaconelli, Ramsay Ames, Vida Aldana and George J. Lewis. The film was released on November 9, 1946, by Monogram Pictures.

References

  1. The AFI Catalog of Feature Films: Captain Thunder, afi.com; accessed August 11, 2015.
  2. Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress, (<-book title) p.26 c.1978 by The American Film Institute