Frenchman's Creek (1944); Adventures of Casanova (Mexico/USA, 1948)

January 11, 2014 - 7:30 pm

Billy Wilder Theater

Frenchman's Creek (1944)

Directed by Mitchell Leisen

When an English noblewoman (Joan Fontaine) seeking escape from her loveless marriage falls for a dashing French pirate (Arturo de Córdova) and joins him for adventure raiding the Cornish coast, she must choose between following her heart on the high seas, or resuming her responsibilities as a wife and mother. A swashbuckling 17th-century romance filmed in lavish Technicolor, the film is possibly de Córdova’s most satisfying American outing.

Paramount Pictures, Inc. Producer: B.G. DeSylva. Screenwriter: Talbot Jennings, based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier. Cinematographer: George Barnes. Editor: Alma Macrorie. Cast: Joan Fontaine, Arturo de Córdova, Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Cecil Kellaway.

35mm, color, 110 min.

Adventures of Casanova (Mexico/USA, 1948)

Directed by Roberto Gavaldón

This curious international co-production taps actor Arturo de Córdova’s suavity as a “Latin lover,” a type that he would later buck despite his facility for this sort of assignment. Here, he mixes business with pleasure as exploited landowner Jacques Casanova, determined to expel invading Austrian forces from Sicily, between amorous liaisons with beautiful women (chiefly Lucille Bremer as the spirited daughter of the local governor).

Eagle-Lion Films, Inc. Producer: Leonard S. Picker. Screenwriter: Crane Wilbur, Walter Bullock, Karen DeWolf, based on a story by Crane Wilbur. Cinematographer: John Greenhalgh. Editor: Louis H. Sackin. Cast: Arturo de Córdova, Lucille Bremer, Turhan Bey, John Sutton, George Tobias.

16mm, b/w, 83 min.

Part of:

This Strange Passion: Arturo de Córdova

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Frenchman's Creek (1944); Adventures of Casanova (Mexico/USA, 1948)