Set in the eighteenth century, Moonfleet is about John Mohune, a young orphan who is sent to the Dorset village of Moonfleet to stay with an old friend of his mother's, Jeremy Fox. Fox is a morally ambiguous character, an elegant gentleman involved with smugglers and pirates.
With mood and action the keynote of the John Houseman production, the direction by Fritz Lang plays both hard, developing considerable movement in several rugged action sequences without neglecting suspense.
– Variety Staff,
Variety,
26 Mar 2009
fresh:
A boy and a rakish smuggler search for a legendary lost diamond in a wonderfully stylised version of 19th century Cornwall.
– Steve Jenkins,
Time Out,
24 Jun 2006
rotten:
But, golly, that screen play by Jan Lustig and Margaret Fitts is a thoroughly boneless thing -- a hodgepodge of odd and sprawling incidents without dramatic continuity or sense!
– Bosley Crowther,
New York Times,
25 Mar 2006
fresh:
A suggestive, subjective account of an orphan boy's apprenticeship to a dashing smuggler.
– Dave Kehr,
Chicago Reader,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
The plot turns upon a lost diamond of great price, but mostly the film is a string of lively, unrelated escapades.