The Captain's Paradise (1953)

The Captain (Alec Guinness) of a ship that travels between Gibraltar and North Africa is a most contented man. And why shouldn't he be? In Gibraltar, he's married to a domestic wife (Celia Johnson, BRIEF ENCOUNTER) who cooks, darns his socks and keeps his home. In North Africa, he has an exciting Latin lover (Yvonne De Carlo) and they're up all night dancing and drinking champagne! But he's so self centered that he can't see that the domestic wife wants some excitement in her life and the sexy mistress wants to stay home and cook for her man. This disarming sly comedy is a delight! Guinness's reputation as one of the great dramatic actors often obscures his stellar talents as a comic actor and this film serves as a reminder of his comedic abilities. But perhaps the biggest surprise is how well De Carlo holds her own with Guinness and Celia Johnson as an actress. Nothing she did in Hollywood made use of the comic talent she displays here. The story is told in flashback and the Oscar nominated screenplay by Alec Coppel (VERTIGO) and Nicholas Phipps is such a clever piece that one can forgive the rather unlikely finale. Malcolm Arnold provides the lively underscore. With Charles Goldner, Sebastian Cabot, Ferdy Mayne, Peter Bull and Miles Malleson.