Watch Frenchman's Creek For Free

Crappy film

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Copyright 12 September 1944 by Paramount Pictures Inc. A Mitchell Leisen production. New York opening at the Rivoli: 20 Septem¬ber 1944. U.S. release: October 1944. U.K. release: 12 February 1945. Australian release: 5 July 1945. Sydney release at the Prince Edward: 29 June 1945 (ran six weeks). 12 reels. 10,127 feet. 112½ minutes.SYNOPSIS: 17th century England: Married noblewoman falls in love with a French pirate.NOTES: Dreier, Fegté and Comer won The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' annual award for Best Art Direction (color).COMMENT: Few novelists have been as fortunate in having their works transferred to the screen as Daphne du Maurier. Not only in quantity, but also in quality her film adaptations excel. No less than three Hitchcock picturizations (Jamaica Inn, Rebecca, The Birds) lead a list that includes the lavishly-produced Hungry Hill, the highly regarded My Cousin Rachel, and the partially unsuccessful though still fondly remembered The Scapegoat. Only The Years Between (1946) is completely forgotten today (and that some what undeservedly, in view of its marvelous cast: Michael Redgrave, Valerie Hobson, Flora Robson, Dulcie Gray).What about Frenchman's Creek? Would you believe that although the film was often screened on television some years back, it was never shown in color! I hope no-one watched it. Frenchman's Creek is one of Technicolor's noblest achievements. Never before (or since) was money spent with such reckless regard for a studio's solvency in order to achieve the most artistically pleasing, the most aesthetically satisfying effects in sets and costumes. Incredibly, cinematographer George Barnes was nominated for an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Award - but not for this film - for the dazzlingly colored but considerably less impressive The Spanish Main. However, the art directors did carry off the prize - and never was that award more deserved! If ever a movie was a scenic designer's dream come true that movie was Frenchman's Creek. Director Mitchell Leisen was himself an art director (it is significant that of the thirteen AMPAS nominations Paramount achieved for Art Direction from 1940 to 1949, no less than seven were for Leisen pictures). With his approval and encouragement, Drier, Fegté, Comer and Pene du Bois (a Broadway scenic and costume designer who also worked with Leisen on Lady in the Dark and Kitty) were given every opportunity to take advantage of the period settings. The director of photography and the Technicolor consultants were likewise exhorted to aim for absolute perfection in artistry and lighting. As a consequence, shooting proceeded at a snail's pace with numerous delays caused by adjusting and re-adjusting the lighting arrangements while the cast sat around doing nothing. Frenchman's Creek ran months over schedule and almost trebled its original generous budget. Paramount shareholders held Buddy De Sylva (the famous songwriter-turned-producer) directly responsible for these excesses and he was fired as the studio's production chief. Somehow Leisen managed to escape the ax but was henceforth regarded with suspicion by the Paramount management. He was often described to me by producers as a wantonly extravagant director to whom "money was of no importance". Although not entirely deserving this reputation, it pursued him for the rest of his career. He found it extremely difficult to obtain work after his Paramount contract expired early in 1951.Frenchman's Creek also marked a turning point in the career of my favorite actor, Basil Rathbone (he and Bruce were seconded to the production in the middle of their Sherlock Holmes series). Aside from his delicious spoof in The Court Jester twelve years later, this was Basil's last role as a period swashbuckling menace (although, alas, he has no scenes to demonstrate his superlative swordsmanship). As usual, he is absolutely riveting, making a marvelous foil for Joan Fontaine's entrancingly love-troubled heroine. Both are costumed to the hilt. Few actors can wear period clothes with as much flair as Rathbone; and not many actresses can model stunning gowns with the same spirited charm and grace as Joan Fontaine.The rest of the cast is no less engrossing. De Cordova is perhaps a little weak as the Frenchman, but Nigel Bruce, Ralph Forbes, Cecil Kellaway, Billy Daniels, Harald Ramond and Moyna Macgill are wonderfully effective.Some critics have complained that the script is a trifle slow, but when such beauty, such artistry, such elegance so continually shines from the screen, who cares? I regard Frenchman's Creek is the most beautiful Technicolor film of the forties.

Why don't they make movies like this anymore? I had never seen this movie before and considering the year it was made it was fairly "spicey". Some great acting,especially Bail Rathbone and with his Dr Watson sidekick in the cast, I expected him to put on his deer stalker hat!I have to applaud the scenery and photography and of course the costumes. The scene where our heroine sees the Pirate Ship for the first time from the cliff top in all it's glory is breathtaking. Having lived in Devon and Cornwall I can't remember a beautiful day and calm seas at any time like that scene. Of course it wasn't shot in Cornwall at all.Slow start but it got very exciting from the half way point. And the heroine killing the damnable male villain. That's in vogue now. Super heroine before her time.If only Errol Flynn had played the Pirate lover I would have given it a 10

This film was shot in Mendocino County and should be in the list of films shot in that area. The creek itself is the Albion River. The boat used in the film was left in the river and was resting on the bottom when I saw it and boarded it in 1944 or 5. My grandparents had an orchard and farm outside the community of Albion. A couple of the crew members stayed at their place when the film was being shot. There were some other locations on the coast that were used as well. The residence was removed and just the leveled field it was situated on and the plants the studio planted to surround the site remained for many years after. This location was outside of Albion near dark Gulch and was just west of highway 1 that runs along the coast in Mendocino and adjacent counties as far south as San Simeon. I have never seen the complete film, so would not to vote on it at this time.

A wonderful movie with everything a pirate movie should have; beautiful lady, mysterious house, ethereal setting, elegant ship, captivatingly handsome captain. For a quick getaway this is a winner.