Captain Caution is a 1940 American adventure film directed by Richard Wallace set during the War of 1812. The film stars Victor Mature, Bruce Cabot and Alan Ladd. It was based on the novel of the same name by Kenneth Roberts. Elmer Raguse was nominated for an Academy Award for Sound Recording.
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Plot
In 1812, the Olive Branch, an American merchant ship owned by Captain Dorman (Robert Barrat), is returning home from an extended stay in the Far East when the crew abruptly discovers that their country is at war with England after the British brig piloted by Lieutenant Strope (Miles Mander) fires upon them. In the shelling, Dorman is killed and his daughter Corunna (Louise Platt) vows vengeance on the British. When her sweetheart, sailor Dan Marvin (Victor Mature) counsels caution instead, she contemptuously dubs him Captain Caution. Corunna and her crew are taken prisoner aboard the British ship, where they meet Lucien Argandeau (Leo Carillo),his wife Victorine and Slade, a slave trader, who are also prisoners of the British. When the British ship falls under attack, the prisoners rebel and, after overpowering their British captors, regain control of the Olive Branch. Once aboard the ship, Corunna appoints the brash Slade first mate and orders the ship to France, where she seeks papers from the American Consul that would commission the ship to fight against the British and enable her to avenge the death of her father. Upon docking in France, Slade betrays Corunna by making a deal with the British to capture the ship and turn it over to him. While Corunna meets ashore with the American Consul, the British board the ship and sail away with its crew. Afterward, the distraught Corunna meets Slade, who tells her that Marvin turned the ship over to the English and convinces her to sail away with him. Meanwhile, Marvin and the crew are held prisoner aboard a British ship, where he devises an escape plan. While Marvin distracts the soldiers by fighting a boxing match with a brute, the crew escape and commandeer a pleasure yacht. Marvin then convinces the British commander to sail the yacht after Corunna and the Olive Branch. Corunna discovers Slade's treachery when he fires upon the unarmed yacht, but Marvin remains undeterred, and in a scathing sea battle, he and his men take control of the ship. With Slade brought to justice, Corunna discovers her misjudgment of Marvin, and the lovers sail for home.
Production
Kenneth Roberts' novel was published in 1934 and became a best seller. Film rights were bought by Hal Roach, who made the film as part of a five-picture deal he had with United Artists. (The others were The Housekeeper's Daughter, One Million Years BC, Of Mice and Men and a novel by Thorne Smith.) Eugene Sollow was assigned to write the script.
Plans to make the film were pushed back following the entry of Britain into World War II out of fear the film could be seen as anti British. However "sea pictures" were in vogue at the time (e.g. The Sea Hawk, South of Pago Pago) so Roach decided to proceed.
The anti-British tone of the novel was softened and the script rewritten by producer Grover Jones, who said "in the main we won't be giving them much time to think about whether they like the theme of the picture or not. We'll be giving them action and more action. And if we let a little plot to trickle in to let them know why they are getting all that fighting, we do it only because the camera needs a new set up now and again." Filming started April 1940 under the direction of Richard Wallace.