Frenchman's Creek (film)

Frenchman's Creek
Theatrical poster
Directed byMitchell Leisen
Screenplay byTalbot Jennings
Based onFrenchman's Creek
1941 novel
by Daphne Du Maurier
Produced byBuddy G. DeSylva
StarringJoan Fontaine
Arturo de Córdova
Basil Rathbone
CinematographyGeorge Barnes
Edited byAlma Macrorie
Music byVictor Young
Production
company
Paramount Pictures
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release dates
  • September 20, 1944 (1944-09-20) (New York City)
  • January 8, 1945 (1945-01-08) (Los Angeles)
Running time
113 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3.6 million
Box office$3.5 million (U.S. and Canada rentals)

Frenchman's Creek is a 1944 adventure film adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's 1941 novel of the same name, about an aristocratic English woman who falls in love with a French pirate. The film was released by Paramount Pictures and starred Joan Fontaine, Arturo de Córdova, Basil Rathbone, Cecil Kellaway, and Nigel Bruce. Filmed in Technicolor, it was directed by Mitchell Leisen. The musical score was by Victor Young, who incorporated the main theme of French composer Claude Debussy's Clair de Lune as the love theme for the film.

The film is a mostly faithful adaptation of the novel, taking place during the reign of Charles II in the mid-17th century, mostly in the Cornish region of England.


The film was released as an on demand DVD August 28, 2014 (Amazon); and has been shown on American Movie Classics and Turner Classic Movies.