A man in a North African city is taken before a firing squad. On the ship "Golden Fleece", docked at the port, the ship's crew are grimly waiting as a civilian pushes his way in. The man is the captain's uncle, and the ship's first mate (I assume) tells the man that the man being executed is the ship's captain, and the uncle asks why, so the first mate explains.The Golden Fleece is a ferry ship regularly sailing between Gibraltar and this North African city, and its captain was married to two wives: one in the city who is a dancer who always has fun, goes dancing, and eats out all the time, and a British wife in Gibraltar who is a dutiful housewife who stays at home and does domestic chores. The captain had the two wives with the idea that he could enjoy the characteristics of both kinds in each of his homes. The wives do not know of each other, and the captain gives presents to each of his wives to suit their respective lifestyles. Then one day, the captain mixes up the presents and the party girl wife gets an apron while the housewife gets a swimsuit. Then things start falling apart.The movie begins with a light, farcical tone, but as it goes on, the mood darkens as the wives become dissatisfied with their respective marriages and the captain tries and fails to keep them in the roles he wants them to play-and becomes truly dark as we find that this supposedly charming and genial captain really is not.Not recommended if you want a happy movie.

You'd think this British captain was Zorba the Greek by the life he tries to lead, leading on two wives (one actually common-law) of different natures and watching it all crash together when the two somehow meet. The captain is that master of different faces, Sir Alec Guennis, and once again, he proves himself massively versatile in the art of comedy and sly wit. The women are temperamental Yvonne de Carlo who would have to go to the library to get a recipe for ice cubes and happy homemaker Celia Johnson who couldn't dance a jig to save her life while looking for a lady's restroom. From the moment you meet de Carlo, you know his goose will be cooked if all ends up being revealed, and with Johnson, he's sure to get fat from all her good food and have to dance it all off when he returns to Yvonne. It's too much of a good thing, so he balances it out by going from one wife to another as his exhaustion or waste line expands depending what port of call he's venturing from.Guennis can be funny just moving his eyes around or giving a double-take. When he discovers the two women together, hiding in horror outside the shop they are in, he doesn't even need to speak in order to give one of the funniest performances of his career. Guennis also shows a heart by expressing slight guilt for his deception when he confides his plight to one of his co-workers and ultimately, he too is playing two different characters, becoming more befuddled after their meeting when the two seem to switch personalities. I dare you not to want to watch every single film of Guennis's available out there and like me, begin to consider him the greatest actor who ever lived. You may also end up considering him certainly one of the coolest men who ever walked the earth with the knowing smile he carries from film to film without ever missing a beat of making each performance different than the last.

This is a gentle rather than a frenetic comedy and viewed in 20ll flaws that were not perhaps so detectable in 1953 tend to get in the way of any enjoyment on offer. Screenwriter Coppel and director Kimmins seem to take forever in setting up the basic premise that skipper Alec Guiness has apparently stumbled on the formula for male happiness, namely a wife in Gibralter and a mistress in Morocco, each providing one half of his ideal woman. Whilst it's just about feasible that a man would select two women who were total opposites its unlikely that one man would appeal equally to two different kinds of woman and once it has - at last - been established that Celia Johnson is the home-maker par excellence and Yvonne de Carlo the original good time who was had by all it's just a matter of waiting for the respective worms to turn. Seen today it's possible to savour the moment when Guiness presents Johnson with a vacuum cleaner as an anniversary present because we now that several years later he was much more closely involved with vacuum cleaners in Our Man In Havana but that observation wasn't of course available in 1953. It's always a joy to see Johnson, a stage actress who made far too few movies but it's not one for multiple viewings.

HAVING an uncanny ability to get so immersed in any role he took as to seemingly disappear in the film; Alec Guiness bids fair to demonstrate the really great range that he possessed, be it on stage or in front of the camera. Whenever the future Sir Alec is on the screen, he commands one's undivided attention.IN today's honoree film, THE CAPTAIN'S PARADISE (London Films/British Lion Film Corporation, 1953), he is the Captain in the title. He runs a ferry boat service that runs between Spanish Morocco on the Mediterranean Sea, running to Gibraltar and back. As Captain Henry St. James, he is a very respected citizen on both sides of the run. No one, not even his Chief Officer Ricco (Charles Goldner) suspect him to be anything other than what his chosen outward appearance showed the world.THE STORY begins at the end and uses the narration of the Chief Officer in telling the story; kind of the same way that Mr. Orson Welles did with CITIZEN KANE (Mercury Theatre Production, RKO Radio Pictures, 1949). As the story unfolds we learn that the good Captain is indeed a much busier guy than his very proper, cultured demeanor would reveal.ALL that we'll say here is that he is very busy guy on both ends of his route. All of the great comic sequences come from the mixing of the two worlds; and that starts to happen about a third of the way through the movie.ONCE again, a well cast team of supporting players rise to the occasion in making the approximately 97 minutes seemingly fly by. The cast includes Yvonne DeCarlo, Celia Johnson, Charles Goldner and a young Sebastian Cabot.ADDITIONAL to the studio filmed scenes, extensive location shooting was done in The British Colony of Gibraltar; which makes for as authentic a backdrop as could be found. Fine use of Black & White Film is in evidence; which also gives an appearance of being real life scenes from a newsreel.AS an overview of THE CAPTAIN'S PARADISE and an objective review; we can only say good things about it. There seems to be no point that one could point to as being an obvious weakness.ONE couldn't say too much in its favour.SO, whatta ya think, Schultz? How's about a **** rating.POODLE SCHNITZ!!