Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Console best movie i've ever seen.

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

jongibbo For a film with a running time of just over an hour and a half, this contains a lot of filler. It takes an eternity to set up the basic situation, and doesn't do a lot with it when it eventually does. When it does gets going, it does contain some laughs, but not as many as one would expect. Not a total waste of time, but I was left with the feeling that television today would deal with this far more effectively and do it in about half the time.

bkoganbing In The Captain's Paradise Alec Guinness is in the title role and this is a man who thinks he has it made. He pilots a ferryboat from British Gibraltar to the City of Tangiers on the African coast. And he's got a wife on both sides to satisfy all his needs. Of course the women don't know about each other.In Gibraltar is proper wife and mother to two children Celia Johnson. She is for the man who likes to come home to a prepared meal, pipe and slippers, and a good book. But over in Tangiers is the sensuous and sexual part of his nature is Yvonne DeCarlo. With her Guinness wants to go out clubbing and one of the highlights of the film is him doing one wild mambo with DeCarlo.I have to say that Guinness's Henry St. James is one of the most chauvinistic characters I've ever seen portrayed on screen. Obviously no one woman will do for him, so he makes sure he gets all bases covered. If neither met a certain need I'll bet he'd have found a third or a fourth somewhere although that juggling act would have been something to see. These women truly exist to serve him and he never takes into account their needs or that people change over time. That proves to be his undoing.The Captain's Paradise got an Oscar nomination for Original Story and it is a pretty neat story. Guinness, Johnson, and DeCarlo give superb performances and so does Charles Goldner who plays his first mate on his ferryboat and learns his secret, but keeps it as he admires Guinness's romantic adroitness.A great one for Alec Guinness fans.

holy1 News today of the recent death of Yvonnne De Carlo brings this movie back into my mind. I saw it during a period of my life when I had for several years had few opportunities to go to the movies. I had been a student priest in Rome and movie houses were off limits for us. Away on summer holidays in 1953, I caught up with the movie at a cinema in Vienna that was showing English language movies for the benefit of the English military personnel, part of the post World War II occupation force in the Austrian capital. I was allowed to sneak in.But quite apart from the fact that it was a welcome interlude in a period of drought in my movie watching life, the movie remains in my memory as one of the cleverest comedies I have seen. Not side splitting, it is true. But excellent English wit. And the final scene is unforgettable.The movies is entitled "The captain's paradise" Reading the IMDb user's comments, I see they correctly note two reasons why the ship captain's life style was a paradise. His homely English wife in Gibraltar and his party going Spanish wife in North Africa. But there was a third element that none of them seem to note as a factor in the captain's happy situation. At sea, at meal times women are rigidly excluded from the captain's table. Those seated with the captain are diplomats, explorers, scientists and suchlike. All of them males. The third paradise element in the captain's life is the enjoyment of male company and conversation at meals. This link with the film's title needs to be remembered. No wonder the script received an Oscar nomination.There is one aspect of the movie on which I would like another viewer to enlighten me. How did Yvonne De Carlo come to be in this very English movie ? Today after hearing word of her death I looked in IMDb at her listed appearances. From being Moses' wife in Ten Commandments to being the mother in The Munsters, pretty well every role seems to be in a United States production. How did she find her place in a Ealing comedy? But at least it was a most welcome appearance and I am glad she hopped the Atlantic for this one.

theowinthrop I enjoyed this comedy, which demonstrates that one can't have one's cake and eat it too. Alec Guiness has found that he has a perfect recipe for happiness by being a bigamist. He has one wife in Gibraltar (Celia Johnson) and one in Ceuta (Yvonne De Carlo). As his business is running a ferry service between the two cities he has reason to be gone at least a night or two from either wife. He chooses Celia to mirror the perfect domestic spouse, and Yvonne for the perfect excitement spouse. But in truth both women are increasingly unhappy by the uneven state of their marriages. Johnson wants to go out with her husband to night spots, and De Carlo wants to cook him a dinner, and maybe play some bridge or charades with him. Instead of willingly switching the formula, Guiness foolishly prevents both women from getting their desire, and looses them both. Ironically they never discover he committed bigamy.It is not as good as "The Lavender Hill Mob", or "The Ladykillers", or "The Man in the White Suit" or "The Horse's Mouth", but it is as good as "The Card". Although admittedly second tier Guiness it is popular. It is also the only film of Guiness's to be mentioned in the television series "Car 54 Where Are You?". Lucille Toody thought it was so romantic. Imagine Gunther with two wives in the Bronx and Queens?