Frenchman's Creek is a 1944 adventure movie based on a book written by Daphne du Maurier in 1941. The story follows an English noblewoman who falls in love with a French pirate. The film was made by Paramount Pictures and features Joan Fontaine, Arturo de Córdova, Basil Rathbone, Cecil Kellaway, and Nigel Bruce in the main roles. It was filmed in Technicolor and directed by Mitchell Leisen. The music was composed by Victor Young, who used the main melody from the French composer Claude Debussy's piece "Clair de Lune" as the love theme in the movie.

The film closely follows the book's story, which is set during the time when King Charles II ruled England in the mid-1600s. The events mainly take place in the Cornish region of England.

The movie was released as a DVD on demand on August 28, 2014, by Amazon. It has also been shown on American Movie Classics and Turner Classic Movies.

Plot

Dona St. Columb is unhappy with the shallow society in London and her foolish husband. After her husband's friend, Lord Rockingham, makes unwanted advances, she takes her two children to their remote estate in Navron, Cornwall. The property has not been used for many years, and she learns that a famous French pirate, Jean Benoit Aubrey, has been using it as a base. Aubrey is described as a desperate and dishonest man who is frightening the wealthy people along the Cornish coast. However, when Dona meets Aubrey, she finds him to be a handsome, well-educated, and honest man who even draws her portrait. They quickly become romantically involved.

Dona enjoys excitement and adventure. She dresses as a boy and joins Aubrey's pirate crew on a mission to seize a wealthy merchant ship (the Merry Fortune) owned by one of her neighbors. The attack is successful, but the news of it brings Dona's husband, Harry, and the dangerous Rockingham to Cornwall, ending her peaceful relationship with Aubrey. Harry, Rockingham, and other locals gather at Navron to plan how to capture the pirate, but Aubrey and his crew trick and rob their enemies instead.

Rockingham, who wants Dona for himself, notices her relationship with Aubrey. Dona is forced to kill Rockingham in self-defense when he attacks her in a jealous rage. Meanwhile, Aubrey is captured and blamed for Rockingham's death while trying to return to his ship. Dona makes a plan to free Aubrey, and it works. However, in the end, she decides to stay with her husband for the sake of her children, while Aubrey returns to his ship.

Cast

• Joan Fontaine played the role of Dona St. Columb
• Arturo de Córdova played the role of Jean Benoit Aubrey
• Basil Rathbone played the role of Lord Rockingham
• Nigel Bruce played the role of Lord Godolphin
• Cecil Kellaway played the role of William
• Ralph Forbes played the role of Harry St. Columb
• Harald Ramond played the role of Edmond
• Billy Daniels played the role of Pierre Blanc
• Moyna Macgill played the role of Lady Godolphin
• Patricia Barker played the role of Henrietta
• David James played the role of James
• Charles Coleman played the role of Thomas (uncredited)
• James Dime played the role of Pirate (uncredited)
• Al Ferguson played the role of Guard (uncredited)

Production

Fontaine had a contract with an independent producer who worked for David O. Selznick. Selznick allowed his contracted actors to work at other studios. In this case, Fontaine was sent to Paramount for this expensive film. She later expressed dissatisfaction with working under director Mitchell Leisen and some of her co-stars. The film cost $3.6 million, making it Paramount's most expensive production at that time.

Producer David Lewis had recently joined Paramount and was assigned to this film by Buddy DeSylva, the head of production. The film's director was Mitchell Leisen. Lewis wrote that DeSylva knew he disliked Leisen and his work but chose to ignore his concerns. DeSylva preferred Leisen and focused more on visual style than the story's content.

Lewis also wrote that Joan Fontaine was not a good match for the character from the Du Maurier novel; the role needed a strong, vivid woman. He had originally imagined Vivien Leigh for the part, and Selznick later said she could have been cast. Arturo de Cordova had little experience in American films, though he was well-known in Mexico. He was not very energetic or especially handsome. Leisen also did not favor him, but the studio believed he could become a star like Valentino.

Actors Basil Rathbone and Reginald Owen were famous for playing Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson together in Universal Studios' films. Their only other film together, besides the Holmes movies, was Frenchman's Creek.

According to Lewis, DeSylva told Leisen he could take as much time as needed to finish the film. He also noted that Leisen wanted to make the film closely follow the original story by Daphne du Maurier.

Reception

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times said the film "somewhat slow in starting," but noted that the production values were very elaborate. He encouraged readers to "take a post-chaise to the Rivoli and leave your thinking cap at the door if you want a two-hour adventure in a fancy, sword-fighting escape." Variety agreed that the production values were "very high," but pointed out that the script "at times borders on the silly." Harrison's Reports called it "a good costume entertainment" with "a fair amount of exciting moments." However, it also mentioned that the film has many slow parts and that some careful editing would improve it. John Lardner of The New Yorker wrote: "Since I have not read the Daphne du Maurier novel Frenchman's Creek, I cannot say how it compares to the film. My guess, like any brave person's, is that it is as good as the book." In The Nation in 1944, critic James Agee wrote, "This film, like the novel it improves on, is a fantasy that is very intense, as reliable as a real dream and as fascinating in a strange way as reading such a dream over the shoulder of someone who has a terrible dream. None of the excellent Technicolor, overly detailed dialogue, or lavish costumes and social details hide the fact that this is really just a typical, dull, modern story about relationships, told without understanding, warmth, honor, or irony from the center of a soul like a powder room—but told, in those terms, openly, with every cowardly emotion and creepy desire and weak motive exposed."

Lewis said, "I hated the film—thought it pretentious and vulgar, although physically beautiful. The pirates were Leisen's favorites and about as small a crew as ever didn’t sail the oceans."

Awards

The film won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction (Hans Dreier, Ernst Fegté, Samuel M. Comer).