The Ship That Gets Captured a Lot

 

Until it popped up on TCM recently, I didn't know Captain Caution (1940) existed. It's the sort of movie I love and, by golly, I should have known about it. I don't know why I didn't know about it. My entire life feels like its a failure now. 

But, on the other hand, it's always fun to stumble across something that's new to me. The book, based on a novel of the same name, involves an American merchant ship named the Olive Branch, . And, if you watch this movie, keep a scorecard handy. The Olive Branch is going to get captured and re-captured at least four times before the end credits roll. 

When the movie opens, the ship has been at sea for 108 days. It's currently on its way home to the U.S., but the year is 1812 and the crew doesn't know that their country is now at war with the British.

When a British ship approaches them and fires a shot across their bow, the Olive Branch's captain is enraged and wants to fight back against what he sees as an act of piracy. His first mate, Dan Marvin (Victor Mature in an early starring role), recognizes this as foolish and urges they surrender. But the captain won't listen, fires one of the merchant ship's few cannons at the British and is killed when the warship returns fire. Dan then immediately surrenders.

This does not bode well for Dan's romantic adventures. He's engaged to Corunna, the captain's pretty daughter, who is also on board. Corunna wants revenge on the British and now considers Dan a coward.

This begins the seesaw capturing of the Olive Branch, which is retaken by an American ship, but later in the film will be captured again by the British. The climactic action scene involves Dan and survivors from the original crew using a very clever tactic to take the ship back again, despite being badly outnumbered.

Mixed in with all this is an extremely entertaining story stuffed with great characters. A Frenchman and his wife provide both comic relief and useful help for the good guys. Dan's growing father-son relationship with a boy who had been the drummer on a British ship is sweet. Corunna's self-destructive desire for revenge and her poor decision to trust a former slave-ship captain (Bruce Cabot oozing hypocritical charm in a great performance) keeps the tensions high and drives the main plot forward. We even get a small role for not-yet-famous Alan Ladd as a prisoner who desperately wants freedom, but might want vengence even more. 

This movie almost wasn't made. With the British fighting for their existance against the Nazis, making a movie in which they were the bad guys seemed unwise to many. But producer Hal Roach knew how popular stories set in the days of Wooden Ships and Iron Men were at the time, so he made it anyways.

But why didn't I know about this movie years ago? It couldn't be more solidly located in my wheelhouse and I'm very familar with movie history from that era. But I didn't know! Why, oh why? I hang my head in shame.