Frenchman's Creek

Captivatingly extravagant piece of escapism from the much underrated Leisen: an adaptation of a Daphne du Maurier story about a 17th century aristocratic woman who leaves London for Cornwall with her children - mainly to escape pressingly unwelcome attentions from her complaisant husband's best friend (Rathbone) - and there falls in love with a swashbuckling French pirate. Fontaine is a little too prissy to enter fully into the spirit of things (although this brings dividends when she is faced with the heartbreaking problem of her children), but the combination of exquisite colour, sets and location photography with Leisen's light touch is a winning formula.