From a story written by Hollister Noble and directed by Edward Dmytryic is this feature film called "Mutiny. " Mark Stevens plays Capt. James Marshall and Patric Knowles is second in command as Capt.Ben Waldrid. Both men are signed on to escort a French shipment of Gold bullion to America during the war of 1812. However, even though it's a secret, the rest of the scurvy crew gets wind of it and with the help of a Greedy, selfish former lover plan on diverting it to their own pockets. Interestingly enough the heavy is played by Angela Lansbury, who seeks to convince her former romantic lover to betray the commander and sail off into the sunset. The rest of the scheming crew feels the same way and as the movie progresses everyone becomes hell bent on securing the gold for themselves. Aside from the fact, the script is fragmentary and shallow, the film is hampered with poor lighting, dark backgrounds and dreadful scenes. Were it not for cast members like Gene Evans, Rhys Williams and Clayton Moore, the urge to leave the theater hangs on to the end. Recommend to anyone who wants to see Lansbury playing to her evil side. ***

Not a bad little actioner here for a movie that doesn't go feature length. It doesn't start out as a pirate adventure but turns into one when Hook (Gene Evans) and Redlegs (Rhys Williams) learn of plans to smuggle ten million dollars worth of gold back to the States during the War of 1812. Captain James Marshall (Mark Stevens) is commissioned to run a British blockade and head off to France to pick up the privately funded stash, and takes along disgraced former seaman Ben Waldridge (Patric Knowles). The film really gets going when Waldridge stows his paramour Leslie (Angela Lansbury) aboard the Concord, setting up a tension that sails on for the rest of the story.The surprise of the film for me was Lansbury, never realizing she was as pretty as she appears here. That's balanced by how totally despicable her character is, a gold digger who'll use Waldridge and anyone else in her path to live a life of luxury. Her 'ten million or nothing' ultimatum to rogue Waldridge hints at a suitable demise for her character when it's time, and this viewer found himself counting the minutes. But not before she attempts to write a little murder of her own into the script.The film's finale makes use of an early hand crank wooden submarine that's almost comical in it's concept except for the fact that it works. It provides the dubious opportunity for Captain Waldridge, in a redemptive moment, to go down with the ship.I picked up this film as part of a ten movie/three DVD compilation simply called "Pirates" from St. Clair Vision. The print of the film I viewed addresses the concerns of two other reviewers for the movie on this site. It appeared to be a pretty good print without the scratchy quality attributed to it, while also appearing in it's original Technicolor format. For a lazy rainy morning, it was just the ticket.

Though about average overall, "Mutiny" has some strengths, with an interesting period/adventure setting and a couple of good performances. The story includes some good action sequences that help make up for the less interesting stretches. The shipboard atmosphere generally works well, but the lighting and photography are so dark (at least in the print as it now seems to be available) that a lot of details get lost or obscured.The setup has Mark Stevens as the captain of a ship carrying out a special mission during the War of 1812, with Patric Knowles as a disgraced captain who is now serving as second in command, Angela Lansbury as Knowles's greedy and domineering wife, and a mutinous gun crew looking for a way to turn things to their own advantage. It's interesting in taking the historical setting as the backdrop to what becomes a largely private battle of nerves and wills. The circumstances of the war do come into play often enough to make the setting relevant.Knowles is effective in portraying his complicated, somewhat indecisive character, Lansbury gets the kind of role that she used to perform quite believably, and Rhys Williams and Gene Evans are good as the ringleaders of the mutineers. Stevens is solid, but sometimes slightly lacking in energy, as the captain.The finale is the best part of the movie, and it is set up nicely, leading to a three-way showdown with plenty of suspense and action, plus an interesting depiction of a primitive submarine. It's good enough to make up for an overall lack of consistency in much of the rest of the movie. In the earlier parts, especially, the script sometimes takes too long to establish simple points, and it also has some stretches in which some weak dialogue weighs it down. So its by no means perfect, but it does have enough to fill its relatively short running time with a generally interesting story.

Watch this for Angela Lansbury burning up the screen. Mark Stevens and Patric Knowles are fine but once she appears the film takes off. Dymytryk's direction whips along and the narrative is sufficiently novel to hold the attention. Lansbury is really a noir villainess on the high seas - using her man to get to the cash. One warning - the print shown on Matinée movies is grim - scratched, out of focus and the technicolor down to almost two strip. The film is an independent production - King Brothers - which means that it is a bit of a rarity and may account for the quality of the print. Is there a decent neg or print anywhere or is this it?