John Paul Jones

TCM aired this film awhile ago, and given the relative scarcity of Revolutionary War flicks I gladly TiVo'd it. Sadly, John Paul Jones (1959) didn't live up to my expectations, proving a corny, flag-waving (and dull) biopic.

John Paul Jones (Robert Stack) escapes Scotland as a young lad and serves as a merchant seaman until killing a mutineer. Jones flees to America and joins Virginia society life, until the Revolutionary War breaks out and Patrick Henry (Macdonald Carey) convinces Jones to become a Captain in the Continental Navy. Jones leads an exciting life, leading a military expedition against Majorca, diplomatic missions to France, a romance with noblewoman Aimee (Marissa Pavan), a daring raid on the English coast, and finally, an epic duel between his Bonhomme Richard and the HMS Serapis. After the war, however, Jones finds the American Navy dissolved, and he seeks employment with Russia's Catherine the Great (Bette Davis).

Anyone hoping from the subject that you'd get a swashbuckling adventure film will be disappointed. John Paul Jones is a talky, slow-paced drama, with only a few action scenes and some pretty photography to appease the punters. The movie drags through some treacly exposition and patriotic speechmaking, and only really comes to life in the second half as Jones goes abroad. The film is unquestionably beautiful to watch, with Michel Kelber's gorgeous Technicolor photography and some beautiful sea sequences, but the mealy-mouthed, stilted script and paint-by-numbers story and characters make it a chore to sit through.

The portrayal of Jones, in reality a mixture of patriotic hero and piratical mercenary, is strictly at the level of a third-grade social studies text: he's a Great Man and that's that. His only sin is a degree of pride that's easily assuaged by a tongue-lashing or two. Key scenes of the American Revolution - the Declaration of Independence, Valley Forge - are staged as over-elaborate tableaux, and George Washington (John Crawford) is given the Jesus Treatment where we only see the back of his head. The film isn't especially jingoistic, treating its British, French and Russian characters with respect, but the long, loving close-ups of American flags waving in the breeze and bookend tributes to the modern Navy show its true intent. This is a recruitment film disguised as a biopic, which might be forgivable if it were better.

Robert Stack, hot off The Untouchables TV series, makes a fine Jones. Stack was never a great actor, but his stiff acting style suits the Great Hero portrayal of Jones just fine, and he's perfectly suited for the handful action scenes there are, delivering "I have not yet begun to fight!" with gusto. It must be said, though, he fails to generate much chemistry with the ladies onhand; they're fawning over him while he recites stiff platitudes.

The supporting cast is interesting, though most are relegated to bit parts. The ravishing Marisa Pavan (What Price Glory?) features as Jones's French love interest. "Special Guest Star" Bette Davis mostly gets to speak a few lines of French, still imposing as she was playing Elizabeth I twenty years before. Charles Coburn (The Lady Eve) sports a horrifying wig to play Benjamin Franklin; Macdonald Carey's (Shadow of a Doubt) Patrick Henry comes off much better. Peter Cushing has a nice bit as the Captain of the Serapis. Archie Duncan (The Lavender Hill Mob) and Bob Cunningham play Jones's loyal crewmates. Bruce Cabot (King Kong), Jean-Pierre Aumont (Lili), Thomas Gomez (The Furies), Ford Rainey (The Sand Pebbles) and David Farrar (Black Narcissus) have smaller roles.

Ultimately, John Paul Jones is less a swashbuckler than a draggy Navy recruitment film. I guess I should have expected as much from the director of Wake Island and Hondo.