Captain Kidd (1945/Roan Group)
Picture: C
Sound: C Extras: D Film: C+
The independently produced Captain Kidd (1945) had
a few versions on DVD, but the Roan Group version is still the nicest by
default. The story is about the title
characters in a supposedly historically accurate version of his story. At about 90 minutes, it is nicely produced
with Randolph Scott and Charles Laughton as its stars to boot. Too bad it drags too often, despite being
helmed by the capable director Rowland V. Lee.
John Carradine, Gilbert Roland, some decent sets and
production design also help to make it competent Hollywood product. Despite its many problems, it is still more
coherent than most new feature films we have seen this year. Benedict Bogeaus was an ambitious producer
and this is an early sing of what continued to be the early success of (at
least a forerunner to) what independent producers would become.
The 1.33 X 1 black and white image is on the soft side,
though the print itself is not bad despite some too-dark moments and lack of
depth. Archie Stout is a good
cinematographer and even in a lesser print, you can see how his work makes a
difference when thing gets bogged down.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono shows its age a bit more, but not by much, yet
is better than the 1.0 Dolby Mono Roan used to do before Troma took over. There are no extras whatsoever, so this is a
nicely packaged basic edition and that is all.
See it for fun if you like pirates.
- Nicholas Sheffo
