AllMovie

Based upon a famous swashbuckling adventure story by Captain Frederick Marryat, Midshipman Easy is a ripping yarn that served as Carol Reed's solo directorial debut. Jack Easy (16-year-old Hughie Green) signs on for a tour of duty aboard the HMS Harpy, a British ship sailing the Spanish-ridden seas of the eighteenth century. His many adventures in this episodic tale include overpowering a mean-spirited fellow-midshipman; rescuing the Harpy during a particularly nasty storm; intercepting a gold-laden Spanish ship; fighting a duel; capturing the infamous bandit Don Silvio (Dennis Wyndham); and flirting with the exotic Donna Agnes Ribiera (played by young Margaret Lockwood). Midshipman served to bring Reed to the attention of Graham Greene; the two would later collaborate on such films as The Fallen Idol and The Third Man.