The Buccaneer (1938 film)

The Buccaneer
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Cecil B. DeMille
Written by	Jeanie MacPherson (adaptation)
Screenplay by	Edwin Justus Mayer Harold Lamb C. Gardner Sullivan
Based on	Lyle Saxon
Produced by	Cecil B. DeMille
Starring	Fredric March
Cinematography	Victor Milner
Edited by	Anne Bauchens
Music by	George Antheil
Production company	Paramount Pictures
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	February 4, 1938 (1938-02-04)
Running time	126 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	over $1 million[1]
Box office	$2 million (U.S. and Canada rentals)[2]

The Buccaneer is a 1938 American adventure film made by Paramount Pictures starring Fredric March and based on Jean Lafitte and the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812. The picture was produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille from a screenplay by Harold Lamb, Edwin Justus Mayer and C. Gardner Sullivan adapted by Jeanie MacPherson from the 1930 novel Lafitte the Pirate by Lyle Saxon. The music score was by George Antheil and the cinematography by Victor Milner.^[3][4][5][6]

The film stars Fredric March as Lafitte, Franciska Gaal and Akim Tamiroff with Margot Grahame, Walter Brennan, Ian Keith, Spring Byington, Douglass Dumbrille, Beulah Bondi and Anthony Quinn in supporting roles.

Cecil B. DeMille remade the film in 1958 in Technicolor and VistaVision with the same title, but because of ill health, he allowed Henry Wilcoxon, his longtime friend and associate, to produce it, and the film was directed by Anthony Quinn, who was his son-in-law at the time. DeMille received no screen credit, but did make a personal appearance in the prologue to the film, much as he did in The Ten Commandments two years prior. The 1958 version of The Buccaneer stars Yul Brynner, Charles Boyer and Claire Bloom, with Charlton Heston as Andrew Jackson. Douglass Dumbrille appeared in both versions and Quinn acted in the earlier version.