Details

Release year: 1945

Storyline

The unhistorical adventures of pirate Captain Kidd revolve around treasure and treachery.

Top credits

Directors

Rowland V. Lee

Writers

Cast

Charles Laughton — Capt. William Kidd
Randolph Scott — Adam Mercy, Adam Blayne
Barbara Britton — Lady Anne Dunstan
John Carradine — Orange Povy

See all 36 credits →

Awards

0 wins & 1 nomination

See all awards →

Did you know

• The film is loosely based on real-life pirate William Kidd. Born in Scotland in 1645, he began his career as a privateer. By 1690 he became a wealthy shipowner in New York. In 1696, during a trip to East Africa, he turned to piracy. He captured or looted many ships. Trusting that his privateer commission would protect him, he returned to Long Island in 1699. He was ordered to England, where he was arrested, tried and convicted for piracy and murder. He was hanged in 1701. Stories about Kidd's buried treasure were legendary but the only booty ever found was on Gardiners Island, near Long Island, in New York.

• Charles Laughton reprised his role as Captain Kidd in Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd (1952).

• According the memoirs of Soviet dictator Nikita Khrushchev, his predecessor Joseph Stalin loved this film and sympathized with the title character's mischievous nature.