The plot to "Moonfleet" sure sounds like it would be a very exciting film. A young boy has been sent by his dying mother to live with Jeremy Fox (Stewart Granger). Soon the boy comes to realize that Fox and his friends are a bunch of rogues....rogues who smuggle various goods and would just as soon stab you as say hello! Amazingly, it's NOT interesting in the least....and I really struggled to pay attention to the picture. Much of the problem is that the story is dark...so while there's color, the sets and outdoor scenes (which were mostly made in a sound stage) were DARK. Add to that the slowness of the film, I cannot imagine kids wanting to watch this or even finishing it. Good acting but a slow, slow story.

Although Treasure Island and Moonfleet are set at the same time in Hanoverian Great Britain with a child protagonist, no two stories could be more different. Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island by becoming custodian of a treasure map with the help of some friendly adult companions battles pirates to gain the treasure and has a great old adventure out of it.

Young John Mohune played by Jon Whiteley is an orphan lad alone in the world who is sent by his dying mother to seek out a man named Jeremy Fox in the coastal town of Moonfleet for protection and guidance against the cruel world. Fox is played by Stewart Granger who is in one of his least heroic roles on the screen. Granger is the Long John Silver of the story, the leader of a band of pirate smugglers who operate out of that town. Granger gets plenty of protection because he's got the local squire George Sanders and his pleasure driven wife Joan Greenwood on his payroll so to speak. But that's an alliance of convenience.

Having young Whiteley dropped on him is certainly cramping his style, but the innocent young man in his explorations has found what could be clues to a big Hope Diamond like diamond that was the foundation of his family fortune, but has been lost for generations. Naturally everybody wants a piece of what that bauble will bring.

Fritz Lang returns to a familiar theme of a doomed man who cannot escape what the fates have in store. It's a theme Lang's used over and over in such films as You Only Live Once, Scarlett Street, The Woman In The Window, Human Desire, and others. His best work however in this film is reserved for young Jon Whiteley. I've rarely seen pure innocence better portrayed on the screen than with Whiteley. The young man's scenes with Stewart Granger are some of that actor's best work as well.

In fact Stewart Granger was often quoted as saying that he regarded Moonfleet as one of his best films. I think Granger was absolutely right. The film hasn't aged one iota since its release in 1955, it's still great viewing for people of all ages.

MOONFLEET, a swashbuckling tale of smuggling and conspiracy, is based on a historical adventure novel of old. It's all but forgotten today, which is a pity as this is a fairly good, if old-fashioned movie. Instead of focusing on the usual derring-do and feats of heroism, the focus of the movie is a relationship between an innocent young boy and one of the most feared smugglers working the coast.

What follows offers twists-aplenty, steadfast direction from seasoned professional Fritz Lang, and some colourful costumes. The locales are well drawn and the characters are fun to watch. Stewart Granger is, as usual, slightly arrogant and stand-offish, but it's youthful Scots actor Jon Whiteley who holds it all together as the boy. He's not your usual whining/crying little screen kid, instead a tough and resourceful character whom it's impossible to dislike.

MOONFLEET works some great set-pieces into its running time, from the lightning strike in a creepy graveyard to the subsequent hunt through smuggling dens and old crypts. The action, although limited, is jolly, and the twist ending is particularly fine, something I didn't spot coming at all. MOONFLEET is no classic but fans of classic cinema will enjoy it.