The Rover Reviews

Involved with counterrevolutionary forces during the Napoleonic War, Quinn breaks through a British naval blockade in order to get a message to another rebel. He barely escapes, taking refuge with Schiaffino in the home of her aunt, Hayworth. Quinn grows attached to the mentally unstable girl and becomes jealous when he learns that she is interested in Johnson, a French naval officer who also boards at Hayworth's. Johnson discovers that Quinn is a fugitive rebel, causing Quinn to flee. He then resumes his counterrevolutionary mission and is killed. An obscure, dull adaptation of a minor Joseph Conrad novel, this movie illustrates how difficult it is to film the work of that writer, whose conflicts are philosophical and moral rather than physical. The film wasn't released in the US until four years after it first appeared on the festival circuit. It came and went and no one noticed, which isn't surprising at all.