Despite the ending of the prior(1936) Warner film "Captain Blood", we find the Captain(Louis Hayward) has resumed his piratical ways, except that now he only attacks Spanish ships, leaving British ships alone. Most of the action supposedly occurs on or around the important island of La Hacha, governed by the Marquis de Roconte(George Macready). He keeps a gang of slaves busy diving for pearls, which the island is famous for. Coming upon this island, Blood sends a party ashore to get provisions. But they are surprised by a gang lead by the slave trader George Fairfax,(Lowell Gilmore) and sold to the Marquis. But the Marquis also wants to capture Blood, to win the 50,000 pieces of eight offered by King Charles II of Spain)Curt Bois).......Blood devises a plan of disguise as a fruit peddler, in the main town, across the island ,to hopefully find his way into the dungeon where his men are kept. He makes the acquaintance of the Marquis's ethereal niece, Isabolita(Patricia Medina), who is plotting with George Fairfax to leave the island for Spain, as she fins the island too boring. Blood also meets the cute, very flirtaceous, tavern wench: Pepita(Diana Drake). Fortunately, he encounters her various times during the film. For me, she is the best thing about this film! She also is the girlfriend of Carmilla: overseer of the slaves. In this capacity, she is useful to Blood toward freeing his men, which happens in an unlikely swordfight with the dungeon guards......Blood eventually returns to his ship with his freed crew. But his ship is soon fired upon by the Marquis's bigger warship, and rendered helpless. By some unbelievable sneaky maneuvering Blood and his crew abandon their ship, go to shore briefly, then head for the Marquis's ship, after the Marquis and some crew leave his ship for the crippled ship, believing Blood is still there.(This should have taken place at night, to make it more believable). Blood then finishes off his ship with some cannot fire, the Marquis escaping injury. The Marquis is allowed to come aboard his ship with a few men. He agrees to release the other slaves in exchange for his life. Later, the wench Pepita and the lady Isabelita come aboard separately, to kiss Blood goodbye, as he is about to sail for other parts of the Caribbean, with his new superior ship.......Note that , historically, La Hacha wasn't an island, but rather a port city on the Columbian coast. Like the fictional island, it was famous for its many high quality pearls.......See this B&W film at YouTube.

I enjoy movie. I thought Louis Hayward was very charming with his witty humor and tongue to get himself in and out of trouble and to speak with a Hispanic accent. In this movie, Louis Hayward and his first mate remember very easy about their horrible times as slaves (they were sold into slavery by the English) which is why Hayward had to go back to and release his men even though it might cost him his life. It also seems that Louis raid the Spanish colonies while in the Errol Flynn raided both the English and Spanish colonies. George Macready did play an excellent role in the movie. I recognize his voice, but not his name. The women were also very funny as well as full of pride.

The previous poster is mistaken if she remembers seeing Hayward in glorious color--this is a black and white movie---and a less glorious B&W than that supplied Warner Brothers' Captain Blood by Ernest Haller and Hal Mohr. In fact, Fortunes often looks like a TV production--and not just because of the poor model work. What isn't typical of a TV movie is the surprising amount of violence--Blood's crew is bludgeoned mercilessly when they are captured, whipped by the Marquis and his overseers, and forced to listen to Alfonso Bedoya's idiosyncratic line readings.I remember seeing Louis Hayward in The Black Arrow when I was about 10, and thinking that movie a great swashbuckler. Yet when I read the posts about it on IMDb, I wonder if my memory is playing tricks on me as well. Watching a bit of Fortunes on TCM, I rather suspect it is--this movie is pretty tepid, with the chief excellence being Hayward's performance, even though he gets no help from the script or director.

I was in love with Louis Hayward and there is no more ardent love than a seven year old for a Pirate. I saw every film with Louis Hayward that came to the local cinema and I imagined I was the heroine of course! We had American friends and they had a home cinema and I saw this film and thought it was wonderful. 53 years later, what would I think - I hope it would transport me back over the years when the handsome Louis Hayward would be as dashing and romantic as he was when I first saw him. Good swashbuckling adventure. Must have made an impression when I remember it after 53 years. I know Errol Flynn was the original "Peter Blood" in talking movies but Louis Hayward was the actor whom I saw in the 1950's in glorious colour. Yes, the colours in those movies in the 1950's were wonderful breathtaking after so many black and white movies.