John Paul Jones was the first of a string of big budget productions from Samuel Bronston. Bronston really wanted colorful spectacle on the big screen, but this came back to bite him when he produced two major bombs in the 60s. Surprisingly, his career wasn’t killed in the crib by John Paul Jones, which made one quarter of its budget back. It's not too hard to see why this movie wasn't a major hit with audiences.
John
Paul Jones was the first major naval hero of the United States, scoring
victories, taking daring ventures such as an actual raid on home British soil
at Whitehaven, and, most famously, shutting down a surrender demand by
shouting, “I have not yet begun to fight!” This energetic figure is poorly
served by his biopic. The first problem is that it’s one of those “greatest
hits” films in well under two hours. It’s hard to create a gripping character
arc or build up suspense when you’re bouncing around between times and locations.
The movie itself begins aboard a modern American war vessel, where an officer
with a “golly gee” voice starts a narration of Jones’ life. From there we see
him as a child in Scotland, a regular merchant captain, a Virginia planter, and
finally a naval officer sparring with British ships, making amphibious raids, and rubbing elbows with major political figures.
The other problem is the performance of Robert Stack. Stack looks too bored to be such a thrilling character. Then again, he doesn’t have much character beats to work with. The film does threaten us with a love triangle between him, Patrick Henry, and governor’s daughter Dorothea Danders (for some reason they altered her historical name Dandridge), but it’s quietly put away as the governor is dead set against him courting his daughter anyways.
A publicity still of John Paul Jones kissing backup love interest Aime Pellsion (Marisa Pavan)
In
general the film has an overly reverential tone that drew snickers and
eye-rolls from me. For example, the filmmakers decided to show the signing of
the Declaration of Independence by having a bunch of actors and extras pose
like one of the paintings. At one point Jones unnaturally talks about how much
he dislikes slavery when accepting two black boys as employees. It sounds like
he’s delivering a short sermon. Then there’s John Crawford’s scene as George
Washington. Washington goes on a long spiel about how a disgruntled John Paul
Jones should not resign and instead go to France to deliver an important letter
to Benjamin Franklin. Washington is filmed entirely from the back, like his
face is too noble and godly to be shown (this cinematic choice was used for
Jesus Christ a couple times back in this same era of film). Oh, and Benjamin
Franklin displays none of his playful wit, either. Everything’s just so stodgy.
There is one notable exception, and that’s Bette Davis as Catherine the Great
(John Paul Jones joined the Russian navy for the Russo-Turkish War). It’s another
“greatest hits” moment without much dramatic context or importance.
One
might hope there would be neat battle scenes. Well, even with big budgets it
was hard to stage too many in movies back then. Almost all the battle “scenes”
are brief clips of American sailors firing cannons or running on beach before
we see bigwigs tell the audience that John Paul Jones has scored a major
victory. More effort is put into the Battle of Flamborough Head, where Jones
delivered his famous one-liner. We get to see people actually dodge fires and
shells, get killed, and make decisions in the heat of battle. It’s by no means
a masterpiece, with little in the way of wide shots of real ships, but it’s
something.
Captain Pearson (Peter Cushing) surrenders his sword to John Paul Jones
It
helps that a “young” Peter Cushing plays Captain Richard Pearson, the British
opponent of Jones in this battle. He plays the role with dignity, and it’s here
that I make my final note about how the film was made. American and Britain had
a strong relationship in the decades after World War II, so the film goes out
of its way not to vilify the British (perhaps this explains why we don't see much of them killing each other outside of Flamborough Head). Jones and Pearson are amiable with each
other after the battle, and even co-conduct a funeral for all the dead from the
battle. There’s also a scene in Parliament showing, accurately, that many in
the Whig faction were understanding of the American colonists’ grievances. The
movie has some of them saying that Britain should just let them have their independence.
This
is one of the few movies to focus on the military aspects of the American
Revolution, but it fails to deliver thanks to stodgy scripting, underwhelming
acting, and a lack of actual action scenes.
Rating:
4/10
Here's the trailer.
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