The Spanish Main

1945

The Spanish Main

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Movie Info

RKO Radio's first film in the three-color Technicolor process was the standard-issue swashbuckler The Spanish Main. Paul Henried is his usual stoic self as Laurent Van Horn, a Dutch sea captain shipwrecked on the coast of Cartagena, a Spanish-held island. Sentenced to be hanged, Van Horn and his crew escape from jail and take up piracy as revenge against Spain. Soon afterward, they capture a ship carrying Francisca (Maureen O'Hara), the fiance of Cartagena's corrupt governor Don Alvarado (Walter Slezak). Van Horn vengefully forces Francisca to marry him instead, which causes dissension at the Pirate colony of Tortuga. Naturally, Van Horn and Francisca eventually fall in love with each other, but the bad guys must be vanquished before a happy ending can be realized. Binnie Barnes steals the show as feisty female buccaneer Anne Bonney (who in real life looked less like Barnes and more like Walter Slezak!) The script is a cynical melange of pirate-movie cliches and the performances are generally routine, but The Spanish Main pleased the crowd in 1945, posting a profit of nearly $1.5 million and encouraging future Technicolor adventure films from RKO.

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Cast

Paul Henreid
as Capt. Laurent Van Horn
Maureen O'Hara
as Contessa Francesca
Walter Slezak
as Don Juan Alvarado
Binnie Barnes
as Anne Bonney
John Emery
as Du Billar
Barton MacLane
as Capt. Black
J.M. Kerrigan
as Pillery
Fritz Leiber
as Bishop
Nancy Gates
as Lupita
Jack LaRue
as Lt. Escobar
Mike Mazurki
as Swaine
Ian Keith
as Capt. Lussan
Victor Kilian
as Santa Madre Captain
Curt Bois
as Paree
Antonio Moreno
as Commandante
Alfredo Sabato
as Sailing Master
Brandon Hurst
as Capt. Salter
Bob O'Connor
as Master at Arms
Tom Kennedy
as Capt. McLeon
Marcelle Corday
as Senora Perez
Norma Drury
as Senora Montalvo
Abe Dinovitch
as Singer
Max Wagner
as Bully
Ray Spiker
as Bully
Juan de la Cruz
as Major-Domo
Leo White
as Hairdresser
Cosmo Sardo
as Spanish Guard
Leo Schlesinger
as Spanish Guard
Jack Wise
as Manicurist
Dan Seymour
as Jailer
Ray Cooper
as Officer
Jamiel Hasson
as Officer
Alf Haugan
as Officer
Al Haskell
as Officer
George Bruggeman
as Officer
Chuck Hamilton
as Officer
Jean Valjean
as Officer
Demetrius Alexis
as Officer
Carl Deloro
as Officer
Don Avalier
as Pirate
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