The Buccaneer (1938)

Directed by Cecil B. DeMille

One of the rarest of Cecil B. DeMille's sound films, The Buccaneer mines a little tapped vein of American history—the War of 1812—for a rousing bit of homegrown spectacle. Fredric March stars with devilish swagger as Jean Lafitte, the French pirate transformed into an American folk hero for his exploits at the Battle of New Orleans—all for the love of an American aristocrat (Margot Grahame), as DeMille tells it. Alongside March, Hollywood newcomer Hungarian actress Franciska Gaal stars as Gretchen, a shipwrecked waif plucked from the sea by Lafitte, while Akim Tamiroff steals the show as Lafitte's lovably brusque cannoneer.

Paramount Pictures. Based on a novel by Lyle Saxon. Screenwriter: Edwin Justus Mayer, Harold Lamb, C. Gardner Sullivan. Cinematographer: Victor Milner. Editor: Anne Bauchens. Cast: Fredric March, Franciska Gaal, Akim Tamiroff, Margot Grahame, Walter Brennan.

35mm, 124 min.