The New Pictures, Nov. 7, 1949

(2 of 2)

The discovery of the New World is practically shoved out of the movie by listless court intrigue directed against Columbus (Fredric March), by a palace hanger-on (Francis Sullivan),"who is trying to protect some real estate holdings in he Canary Islands. Columbus' Atlantic journey—viewed mostly by a camera on a fourth boat—shows the Pinta, Nina and Santa Maria in silhouette, bobbing around like toy boats in a bathtub. Columbus' men, weighted down by thick makeup, jewelry, and rented fancy-dress costumes, do little but grouse about their historic mission and sit around waiting for San Salvador to bump into them.

Columbus seems to be trying for the pageantry of Henry V, but no one thought to get a script as good as the one Laurence Olivier got from Shakespeare.