Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40921 in DVD
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Format: NTSC
• Running time: 88 minutes

Customer Reviews

A Devoted Wife in Every Port
I recently purchased The Horse's Mouth (1958) from Amazon as well as "The Alec Guinness Collection" which includes The Captain's Paradise (1953) plus four others: Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), The Man in the White Suit (1951), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), and The Ladykillers (1955). Frankly, I was amazed how well each of the six films has held up since I first saw it.

Although I do not rank The Captain's Paradise in the highest echelon of Guinness' comedies, his character is nonetheless a highly entertaining variation on Thurber's Walter Mitty. As the film begins, Captain Henry St. James seems to be having his cake and eating it too. In a word, bigamy. He has Maud in Gibraltar (played by Celia Johnson) and Nita (played by Yvonne de Carlo) in North Africa. This ship's captain has not only a girl but a devoted wife in each port. Working with a script by Alex Coppel-Nicholas Phipps and directed by Anthony Kimmins, Guinness is in fine form as both the prim and proper husband of homebody Maud and the night clubbing companion of the sultry Nita. One of the oldest and most effective of comic devices is the role reversal. In reality, Maud yearns to be viewed as St. James sees Nita and Nita...you get the idea. That is the basic conceit of this delightful film.

The plot developments accelerate when St. James purchases what he deems to be appropriate gifts for his two wives, only to get them mixed up and inadvertently gives the wrong one to each. Their reactions threaten his paradise. How does he handle the crisis? What is his situation as the film ends? And are there any lessons to be learned from all this? Judge for yourself. One final point: If you have not already seen this and the other four films in "The Alec Guinness Collection," I envy you. I really do.

A cute, crafty, playfully sexist 1950s comedy
A deft, charming dark comedy featuring Alec Guinness as a crafty sea captain who has achieved the ultimate male chauvinist dream: the foolproof scheme to cheat on his wife. Wives, actually. He has one in each port -- a dowdy, respectable English frump stowed away in Gilbralter, and a wild, exotic hottie at his love shack in Tangiers. Complications ensue, of course, and while the subtext of sexist humor may be dated or offensive, the script is quite skillful and the performances grand. A lot of attention will go to Yvonne De Carlo, who plays Alec's Latin lady, but the plum comedic role goes to English actress Celia Johnson, who liberates her mousy character with an economical and hilarious transformation. Guinness is great, too... but you knew that already, right? A very funny film.

Alec the Great
"The Captain's Paradise" (1953) exists primarily as a showcase for Alec Guinness, whose masterful characterization dominates this uneven bigamist farce. Yvonne De Carlo also shines in one of her best roles as Guinness' red-hot Moroccan spouse, with Celia Johnson memorably playing the British wife in port. The dance sequence between Guinness and De Carlo is a standout. Alec Coppel's screenplay received an Oscar nomination.