"Each man kills the thing he loves," wrote Oscar Wilde in "The Ballad of Reading Gaol,". Poor Patrick Knowles, trapped in a prison of his own making, kills the thing that's keeping him there, the bitchy Angela Lansbury. Well, she deserved it. She was about to stab Captain Mark Stevens, who is trying to sneak his ship full of gold past the British blockade in the War of 1812. We don't hear much about the War of 1812, probably because we didn't "win" it. And the burning of the White House was hardly an American home run. In the original "Master and Commander", the enemy "Acheron" was an American ship, not French. The British blockade featured in this film was successful -- to the extent that the Brits wanted it to be successful -- because after finishing with Napoleon in Europe, Britain found itself with a much larger fleet. The Battle of New Orleans, which made a hero of Andrew Jackson, was a major victory for the US -- fought several months after the signing of the peace treaty. News didn't travel at the speed of light in 1814.Let's see. I believe that takes care of the historical interlude. Now back to the movie, such as it is. The acting. Nobody stands out. How could they, when the script is so burdened with stereotypes? Mark Stevens is the hero. Patrick Knowles is the weak first officer who betrays his friend and pays for it by self sacrifice later. He grovels at the feet of Angela Lansbury who is treacherous, selfish, and unworthy of his devotion. Gene Evans is the grubby leader of the inevitable mutiny. The officers and guests dine at a genteel dinner table. The crew are slobs and get drunk.The dialog is larded with nautical expressions. "Keep a weather eye open for the captain." A submarine sinks a British ship, but the submarine is far more advanced than that used by the Confederates fifty years later. Much of the story is filmed at night and the upload on YouTube shows it as splotches of black and white.It's not insulting or preachy. It's simply one hundred percent routine, the pinnacle of commercial perfection.

When you see this film, you'll probably think Angela Lansbury plays her most detestable character. Well, considering all the horrible people she played before her nice old lady roles, this is NOT the case! Her mother from "The Manchurian Candidate" makes her character from "Mutiny" seem like Mother Theresa! But it's still entertaining to watch her seethed in wickedness during this otherwise mediocre film.The film is set during the War of 1812. Two Captains are serving with the US Navy, but oddly the more experienced is demoted to first mate--and this part of the film made little sense. Both men are sent on a secret mission to France to get gold needed for the war, but the demoted man has a serious handicap--his girlfriend is evil Angela. She and the men on board learn about the gold and she is determined to get her hands on it one way or the other--and it might include getting her sweetie to become a traitor. And, the lovely lady also encourages him to kill the Captain--nice lady, huh? Well, he does not--but he does lead a mutiny and takes the ship. You KNOW however, when he does cast the Captain adrift that it will come back to haunt him in the end. As for the end, it has a nice scene where Angela gets hers, but other than that, it's pretty clichéd--with the traitor redeeming himself (naturally) at the end.The film is pretty bland and aside from Lansbury, there isn't a lot to recommend it. While not a bad film and it is nice to see a film about this seldom talked about war, it is totally uninspired from start to finish.

This low-budget swashbuckler (albeit filmed in murky color) proved somewhat better than anticipated – given that the Leonard Maltin Film Guide deemed to slap it with a measly *1/2 rating! To begin with, it's bolstered by such imposing credentials as scriptwriter Philip Yordan, composer Dmitri Tiomkin and, of course, director Dmytryk. Incidentally, this was the latter's first American film after his unfortunate stint as one of "The Hollywood Ten" – which saw him imprisoned and then exiled for non-collaboration in the McCarthy witch-hunts; however, within two years Dmytryk would renounce Communism and turn friendly witness, which is how he got back into Hollywood's A-list and eventually helmed such high-profile titles as THE CAINE MUTINY (1954) and THE YOUNG LIONS (1958). With this in mind, the political subtext regarding the character of Patrick Knowles – aping his frequent co-star Errol Flynn as a disgraced naval captain who's forced to serve as First Mate to a younger officer (an unlikely yet effectively cast Mark Stevens) – can hardly be a coincidence!Interestingly, the only woman involved (played by Angela Lansbury) is depicted as a femme fatale and Knowles' opportunistic lover – who goads him into usurping Stevens' leadership, and even connives with the crew (led by hook-handed Gene Evans and Rhys Williams) to steal the ship's cargo, a camouflaged 'treasure' intended for the U.S.A.'s 1812 war effort! At only 77 minutes, there's more talk than action – but the latter does come in at the climax, where it's both efficient and versatile: following the mutiny itself, we get the expected sea battle culminating in the deployment of an archaic form of submarine (which, in turn, leads to Knowles' self-sacrifice).In the end, I would have liked to add MUTINY to my collection – but had to forego any such intention due to the substandard quality (typified by intermittent picture fuzziness) of the print utilized for Platinum's budget DVD release.

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?