An elegant but troubled production that decisively ended Roland West's career in films, even before Thelma Todd's untimely and mysterious death four years later permanently made him a pariah in Hollywood. The title suggests a swashbuckler, but it's modern piracy it depicts, and the title is the name of the boat carrying bootleg liquor into San Francisco.
To appease Hal Roach, Thelma was renamed 'Alison Loyd' (sic) for the first and last time to play a femme fatale. Although Chester Morris was already cast in the lead before West came aboard, the number of close-ups reveals the director's infatuation with his leading lady, briefly flaunted at one point in a bathing suit. (Hitchcock was similarly fixated three decades later on 'Tippi' Hedren while filming 'Marnie', and that Ms Hedren - now 90 years old - was a baby when 'Corsair' was in production serves as a reminder of just how long ago this all was.)
An interesting supporting cast includes Ned Sparks and Mayo Methot in nobler roles than we're accustomed to seeing them.
To appease Hal Roach, Thelma was renamed 'Alison Loyd' (sic) for the first and last time to play a femme fatale. Although Chester Morris was already cast in the lead before West came aboard, the number of close-ups reveals the director's infatuation with his leading lady, briefly flaunted at one point in a bathing suit. (Hitchcock was similarly fixated three decades later on 'Tippi' Hedren while filming 'Marnie', and that Ms Hedren - now 90 years old - was a baby when 'Corsair' was in production serves as a reminder of just how long ago this all was.)
An interesting supporting cast includes Ned Sparks and Mayo Methot in nobler roles than we're accustomed to seeing them.