High on a Gallows Tree My Love. A High Wind in Jamaica is directed by Alexander Mackendrick and adapted to screenplay jointly by Stanley Mann, Ronald Harwood & Denis Cannan, from the Richard Hughes novel of the same name. It stars Anthony Quinn, James Coburn, Deborah Baxter, Lila Kedrova, Martin Amis, Dennis Price and Nigel Davenport. Music is by Larry Adler, with the song High on a Gallows Tree song by Mike LeRoy, and cinematography is by Douglas Slocombe. Out of 20th Century Fox it's a DeLuxe Color/CinemaScope production. When a hurricane hits the isle of Jamaica in 1870, the Thornton family seek refuge in the basement. Here they discover the servants and workers performing a voodoo ceremony to ward off evil spirits. Horrified, Mrs Thornton decides to send the children and their two friends back to England to be educated away from what she deems savagery. However, during the voyage the youngsters are mistakenly taken captive by pirates, an event that will change forever the lives of captives and capturers alike. He's afraid: he says that kids bring bad luck... Richard Hughes' source novel was a one time part of the scholastic curriculum at Blighty seats of learning back in the day, the thematics of such a literary work no doubt inducing many a beardy teacher into lecturing over drive. Alexander Mackendrick's film adaptation manages to retain the literary feel whilst also…

Poor old Anthony Quinn ("Chavez") is going about his harmless pirating when he alights on a ship carrying some British children en route to their schooling in Britain. Immediately the onboard dynamic changes. The captain starts to feel a bit of affection for these weans - even as his crew, and best pal "Zac" (James Coburn) start to think they are little better than Jonahs. This sentiment is only exacerbated as their childish calamities start to impact on the crew's fun and income. Deborah Baxter ("Emily") seems to be the favourite child, and when she becomes injured their pirating days look numbered. The at sea scenarios here are engaging enough and the young actors are not bad at all, but the plot quickly begins to become too contrived - and actually, one could well believe in the biblical theory as just about anything and everything that can go wrong does! I really didn't like the ending at all - somehow it just felt wrong, but it's a nice film to look at with plenty of attention to the production detail. More Mickey than Errol Flynn, but watchable nonetheless.

**_A pirate ship in the Caribbean takes on some kids_** In the mid-1800s, several children are transported from Jamaica to England when a pirate ship inadvertently apprehends them. “A High Wind in Jamaica” (1965) is a cinematic version of the 1929 novel by Richard Hughes. It tackles challenging material that is difficult to pull off in film. However, if you pay attention to the subtle evidence, there are potent things to glean from the story. For instance, it’s clear that the pirate captain (Anthony Quinn) experiences long-buried tender feelings as the kids become his sort of substitute family, especially Emily (Deborah Baxter). You could say they’re kindred spirits despite one being 49 years-old and the other 10. James Coburn is effective as the first mate and best friend of the captain. The King of Cool would go on to star in “Our Man Flint” the next year. One thing that arguably holds the film back is the frequent use of languages besides English, whether Spanish, Dutch or Creole dialects (I’m not sure which ones were used exactly). Yet this offers a sense of realism to the proceedings. Another element that is sort of off-putting is that the pirates come across as dirty, lawless and ignoble, but this can hardly be a criticism since pirate crews were the express opposite of the royal navies of Euro monarchies. Despite the presence of the kids, the tone is similar t…

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