Captain Kidd (film)

Captain Kidd is a 1945 film about the adventures of a pirate.
 * Directed by Rowland V. Lee. Written by Norman Reilly Raine.

Roaring Seas! Flaming Hearts! Riotous Adventure! (taglines)

Capt. William Kidd

 * Now then, me bullies! Would you rather do the gallows dance, and hang in chains 'til the crows pluck your eyes from your rotten skulls? Or would you feel the roll of a stout ship beneath your feet again?


 * Your neck will be stretched as long as your memory, one of these days.


 * Are we such callous rascals that we'd leave a dead comrade without commending his soul to his new master? [the pirates gather around the dead man] Here lieth one who through treachery and avarice would have placed in jeopardy the lives of honest men. And here may he lie forever in the sands of Madagascar. Rest in peace.


 * Look you then! I want men with iron in their blood and steel in their sinews. And the first up here is the first enlisted!


 * There's no mask for a treacherous heart like an honest face. Keep an eye on him!


 * I am an ambitious man, Mister Povey... and an ambitious man, if he be bold enough, can carve himself a kingdom.

Dialogue

 * Capt. William Kidd: Stab me, there's a pretty sight!
 * Orange Povey: It'll be prettier still when the fire reaches the magazine, Captain.
 * Cyprian Boyle: Pity though. Lots of stout seamen among 'em. They've been with us a long time.
 * Capt. William Kidd: We can none of us live forever, Mr. Boyle. Dead men don't talk.


 * Orange Povey: You cold-gutted shark.
 * Capt. William Kidd: Ahh!... You're a flatterer. You've no idea how gratifying it is to have a congenial soul to confide in.


 * Capt. William Kidd: I'm one of nature's gentlemen, but I need polish, my good man. If I'm to improve myself...
 * Cary Shadwell: A gentleman only employs the term "My good man" when addressing lower servants or his inferiors, sir.
 * Capt. William Kidd: You see... [sucks his teeth] ...that's why I want you. [sucks his teeth again] With my upbringing...
 * Cary Shadwell: A gentleman never sucks his teeth, sir. Many a man's social career has been ruined by less, sir.


 * Capt. William Kidd: There's none would be so loyal, nor fight so desperate, as cutthroats under sentence of death... if they knew that at the end of the voyage a royal pardon would be in their pockets.
 * King William III: I shall hold you responsible for their good conduct.
 * Capt. William Kidd: Between their conduct and mine, your majesty, there will be little to choose.


 * [Adam Mercy unearths a skull]
 * Adam Mercy: Who might this be?
 * Orange Povey: Perhaps a man that asked too many questions.


 * Capt. William Kidd: But however we do it, it must be legal-like and honest.
 * Cyprian Boyle: Stick to ways you're familiar with.
 * Capt. William Kidd: Why, you pox-raddled villain, I can be as honest as any man if I have the incentive!


 * Capt. William Kidd: Twenty thousand pounds apiece in their hands would only be spent in sinful ways.
 * Orange Povey: And you propose to remove them from the path of temptation. How? A knife in the dark?
 * Capt. William Kidd: I'm not a violent man, Mister Povey, I detest violence. People have such an awkward habit of getting in my way.


 * Capt. William Kidd: Governor, would you be good enough to tell them what we're here for?
 * Newgate Prison Governor Landers: Give heed you-you vermin. Here's news to your advantage...
 * First prisoner: Is the hangman dead, then?
 * Second prisoner: Out with it, Jock Nastyface! Is it that your mother's turned into an honest woman?
 * Newgate Prison Governor Landers: Silence you mutinous dogs! If another man speaks. I'll trice him up by the thumbs and flog him raw!
 * Capt. William Kidd: Tsk-tsk-tsk. Is that the way to win the love of these unfortunate gentleman?


 * Adam Mercy: May it please your Majesty, I accuse this man of piracy and murder!
 * Capt. William Kidd: Was ever a gentleman so misfortunate?
 * King William III: Lock him up in Newgate. He's to be held for the next session of the Court of Oyez and Terminer - there to be tried for his life.
 * [the palace guards grab Captain Kidd]
 * Capt. William Kidd: Hands off me, you scum! All I done was for the credit and for the honor and glory of England!


 * Capt. William Kidd: [from the scaffold] So here's me bequest to them what hunts what I have hid and to their sons sons down through the corridors of time: greed that spawns murder; hatred that corrodes the soul; ambition - the foulest strumpet of all.
 * Heckler at Kidd's hanging: [to hangman] Hey, Dick - Dick Kent. Sell me a bit of that rope for a sixpence will you?
 * Capt. William Kidd: Save your money, me lads. You can have it all for nothing if you'll only step here and wear it! [to hangman] Hurry up, Kent. Can't wait forever.


 * King William III: Captain Kidd is dead, my Lord Blayne. His account is closed. Now in what manner can I atone for the injustice I worked upon your father? Off with you, First Sea Lord. What do you suggest?
 * First Sea Lord: We've a fine frigate of 50 guns commissioned for American waters that we thought of naming the Lady Anne.
 * King William III: It should be a wedding gift to you from the crown for your loyalty and service to King and Country.

Taglines

 * Adventure on the high seas!
 * Roaring Seas! Flaming Hearts! Riotous Adventure!

Cast

 * Charles Laughton — Capt. William Kidd
 * Randolph Scott — Adam Mercy
 * Barbara Britton — Lady Anne Dunstan
 * John Carradine — Orange Povey
 * Gilbert Roland — Jose Lorenzo
 * John Qualen — Bartholomew Blivens
 * Sheldon Leonard — Cyprian Boyle
 * William Farnum — Capt. Rawson
 * Henry Daniell — King William III
 * Reginald Owen — Cary Shadwell
 * Abner Biberman — Theodore Blades
 * Harry Cording — Newgate Prison Warder