HAWK OF THE CARIBBEAN - VHS REVIEW

Post-credits scroll: “On the fourth of September in the year 1648, the Spanish cargo ship ‘Conception’ was hit by a violent hurricane and sank in the Caribbean Sea.  With her the cargo of prisoners intended for the colony of Esperancia in the West Indies was lost.  A few of them, however, managed to swim ashore.”

Just like the many sword-and-sandal films produced throughout the ’60s, pirate films were also popular escapist entertainment on Italian cinema screens, and like Pietro Francisci’s HERCULES (1958) with Steve Reeves, it was André De Toth’s and Primo Zeglio’s MORGAN THE PIRATE (1960), again with Reeves, which resulted in a whole slew of swashbuckling adventures.  Directed by Piero Regnoli in 1962, HAWK OF THE CARIBBEAN or CARIBBEAN HAWK, as it’s sometimes referred to, stars Johnny Desmond, an American singer who was popular during the ’40s and ’50s, puts in his only screen performance as Juan Olivares, one of the shipwrecked prisoners who manage to swim ashore.

It isn’t long before he and the rest of the prisoners take over this island in the West Indies and liberate the rest of the prisoners, which also includes Manuel García (perennial bad guy Piero Lulli), who immediately clashes with Olivares in regards to his leadership (“You’ve got to respect my orders!” exclaims Olivares).  When they take over a Spanish ship from the “Caribbean fleet”, Olivares and his men make for the sea (“It’s a good night for the Devil’s workers!”) and take control of another Spanish ship, this time the Doña María, where Olivares rescues a slave girl named Arica (Yvonne Monlaur).  They continue to sail towards Santa Cruz, but with the English approaching, the Spanish are in need of an alley, and along with Captain Esteban (Armando Francioli) and the Viceroy, are willing to make a proposition.  Of course, everyone is against this rather apprehensive partnership, which includes Manuel, who believes they are heading “straight into the path of a lion”, while Don Pedro (Claudio Undari – better known to most as Robert Hundar, star of countless spaghetti westerns), the second-in-command, also wants nothing to do with these “worthless outlaws”.

This is a fairly run-of-the-mill swashbuckler, but despite its rather frugal budget, it moves at an entertaining clip thanks to some spirited battle scenes and an all-round decent performance from Johnny Desmond (well-dubbed by Italo-American actor Tony Russel).  It’s certainly an odd casting choice, and according to Yvonne Monlaur’s Blog, Desmond seemed a “a little lost in the middle of this whole mess!”  Maybe this is why he never made another film, simply because he found the entire process too exasperating?  But, despite his limited acting experience, he performs his job admirably.  On the other hand, Yvonne Monlaur was a seasoned pro at this point, having already appeared in a number of films, including Terence Fisher's BRIDES OF DRACULA (1960), and Anthony Bushell’s The TERROR OF THE TONGS (1961), an earlier Hammer swashbuckler. 

This was one of the few directorial efforts for Piero Regnoli, an extremely prolific screenwriter responsible for a number of Italo-trash films, which to be honest are too numerous to mention here.  Some of his more interesting directing efforts include an early, rarely-seen, krimi-styled horror-tinged effort, I’LL SEE YOU IN HELL (1960), the sexy shocker The PLAYGIRLS AND THE VAMPIRE (1960), featuring a frequently topless Graziella Granata, and his offbeat peplum, MACISTE IN KING SOLOMON’S MINES (1964).  Regnoli does his best with the limited budget he’s afforded, and to his credit, the film never bores and has a much grander scale than expected, which is greatly complimented by Aldo Piga’s rousing score.

Recently released on Italian DVD under its original title, LO SPARVIERO DEI CARAIBI, this VHS tape from Video City Productions remains one of the film’s only English-language releases.  Cropped from its original 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio, the transfer is about as good as can be expected from a three-decades old tape.  Although it’s in English, Die TÖLLEN HUNDE DER KARIBISCHEN SEE is the title card that accompanies this print.