The Spanish Main (1945) was very much Paul Henreid's baby; he wanted to shake up his image by playing a red-blooded, two-fisted romantic hero. Many feel he was miscast in the lead, too effete to be a swashbuckling pirate captain. I disagree. Henreid's character is an unlikely pirate, but that's because he is, in truth, just an ordinary schlub, a guy who wanted to peacefully make his way to the Americas and ended up getting screwed over. Thus he turns to piracy in an act of rebellion. I think he was fine in the part; however, he's ultimately upstaged by Maureen O'Hara, whose fiery, feisty presence blows everyone else off the screen. It doesn't help Henreid that O'Hara's character has a full-fledged arc too, making her more the center of the film than he. But I love O'Hara, especially when she gets to tote a gun around while wearing gorgeous period clothes, so I'm not complaining.
The rest of the cast is a lot of fun. Silent film fans will be delighted to see Antonio Moreno. The color photography is ravishing and the action scenes are well-choreographed. The story is relatively standard pirate fare, but it is a lot of fun for a lazy afternoon. I just had a pretty difficult, exhausting week, so such old school popcorn fare was great for me.
The rest of the cast is a lot of fun. Silent film fans will be delighted to see Antonio Moreno. The color photography is ravishing and the action scenes are well-choreographed. The story is relatively standard pirate fare, but it is a lot of fun for a lazy afternoon. I just had a pretty difficult, exhausting week, so such old school popcorn fare was great for me.