Lady Rotkopf

Sterling Hayden is surprisingly good as a dashing privateersman and even good-looking for a change, and he plays his part well with many fights with swords and fists, in which as usual everything around is smashed to pieces. Rhonda Fleming matches him well with equal dashing merits and no less eager for fights and violent settlements. The colours are splendid, so are the costumes, and there are many rowdy scenes with drunken sailors and loose women and everything you could want from a film of wild buccaneers. The story is about the seizing of a town called Cartagena in Spanish South America which enterprise is not entirely successful. Still, the film is definitely worth watching for its great entertainment value and magnificent display of colourful life at sea among very robust pirates,

I'm a fan of the genre - nothing better than a good swashbuckling adventure on the high seas. Well, actually there are plenty better than this rather poor effort. Sterling Hayden is certainly no natural as the eponymous privateer "Kit Gerardo" caught up in the Napoleonic war in the Caribbean. His marauding is perilous, though, particularly once he rescues the feisty "Rouge" (Rhonda Fleming) and discovers that she is also in his line of work - and out to avenge herself on the French. As the warfare hots up, the affianced of the Governor is also apprehended. "Bianca de Valdiva" (Helena Carter) takes a shine to our hero, but he has already taken a shine to "Rouge" but she in turn is trying to get the governor "del Toro" (John Sutton) to catch and hang the man! Still with me? Well, one further complication arises as we discover just why "Kit" is so determined to bring down the governor. To be fair, it does finish strongly with a good hearty battle, but the build up and relentless chatter robs the film of much pace or sense of peril and nobody at all in front of the camera is having a very good - or convincing - day. The production is a bit basic and stage bound which doesn't help, but at the end of the day this is just a let down that has little to redeem it.

Kit Gerardo, also known as The Hawk, is one of Frances's most daring privateers, rescues Rouge from a Spanish ship. She is also a pirate, working to restore the fortune the French took from her. When Kit is captured by the governor of Cartagena, Luis del Toro, Rouge demands that he be hanged for piracy. Only one person knows it, but Kit is the governor's son.

The Golden Hawk has all the usual ingredients of a pirate romp: ship, adventures, sword fights, plots/counter plots and gunpowder explosions and of course romance - there's a little twist regarding the man Golden Hawk wants to kill. It's a bit melodramatic and sometimes talky but the sprightly sword fights and ship battles as well as the beautiful ladies like Rhonda Fleming uplifts this film. As for Sterling Hayden, he's an odd choice as a dashing pirate captain, a Casanova of the high seas, and largely he isn't too bad. He's a bit more alive than he's in other films. But someone like John Payne would've been a better fit.

Amusing adventures with intrepid pirates and exotic scenarios. Clean-cut heroics, anachronist storyline , brave privateer played by Sterling Hayden and handsomely roguish villainy from John Sutton. The seafaring adventures of French privateer Kit 'The Hawk' Gerardo during the Franco-Spanish-English war of the 17th century. Stars Kit Gerardo (Sterling Hayden), also known as The Hawk, is one of Frances's most daring buccaneers, rescues Rouge (Rhonda Fleming) from a Spanish ship (acceptable miniature ships). She is working to restore the fortune the French took from her. The pirate nicknamed The Hawk join forces to Captain Jeremy Smithers (Paul Cavanagh) and Bernardo Díaz (Michael Ansara). When Kit is captured by the governor of Cartagena, Luis del Toro (John Sutton), Rouge demands that he be hanged for piracy. Later on, they decide to take the ruler headquarter, the location strongest fortified from Cartagena de Indias. Daring Privateer Meets Notorious Lady Pirate!. The Most Popular Sea Story of Our Time!

Heroism , sword-play , ambushes and full of villainy swashbuckler, being financed by Columbia Pictures. The film is a nice pirate-adventure movie , produced in medium budget with habitual dueling, getaways , disguises and sexual hostility between hero and heroine, including a love triangle among Rhonda Fleming-Sterling Hayden-Helena Carter. Typical swashbuckler, the type no longer made in Hollywood, but exhilarating to see. This classic story of romantic adventure comes to life enriched by Technicolor cinematography and accompanied by an attractive score. It is the tale of a buccaneer named Kit Gerardo who takes over a ship of corsairs and wreak havoc on the high seas .

This is an agreeable entertainment juvenile romp in B-series, written for the screen by Robert E. Kent and based on the popularly successful novel by Frank Yerby. The movie displays in grandiose style noisy action, swashbuckler, heroism , swordplay, overwhelming fights, and spectacular sea battles with appropriate scale models. This release has some nice and even hilarious moments here and there , though isn't always interesting, sometimes is diverting and fresh and on a couple of sympathetic occasions is frankly delicious. Sterling Hayden is cool as the pirate hero who finds dangerous situations while trying save the damsel in distress. It has two exceptionally photogenic leading ladies in Rhonda Fleming and Helena Carter. This adventure movie with a budget enough packs breathtaking locations, sea-fight and amusing plot with plenty of roguish situations, thrills and emotion. It's enriched by colorful cinematography by cameraman William V. Skall. Furthermore , lively and rousing musical score. The motion picture was acceptably directed by Sidney Salkow. He was a craftsman who had already filmed adventures and Western movies . He realized all kind of genres such as routine westerns (Sitting Bull , The great Sioux massacre , Pathfinder) , Adventures (Prince of Pirates , Sword of the avenger) , war films , Sci-Fi (The last man on Earth) , Terror (Twice-told tales) and melodramas (City without men) . Salkow first worked for Republic, after joining Universal . At Columbia , he handled , among other assignments, four installments of the popular Lone Wolf series . After 1953, Salkow was primarily active as a director of episodes for television. Rating : 6/10

This standard and entertaining 50's swashbuckling that combines with certain gusto all staples of the genre to be liked for Sterling Hayden and Rhonda Fleming fans. Rating : 6/10, acceptable and passable , worthwhile watching .

This Sam Katzman production is actually pretty good, considering the talent in front of the camera and the botched story. Sterling Hayden shows some life as a French privateer and, considering the by-the-numbers acting -- which seems to concentrate more on the clarity of the words than the subtlety of the emotions -- even Rhonda Fleming as another pirate captain with whom he is in love, is pretty good.

The best part of the movie, however, is provided by William Skall's cinematography. A Technicolor specialist, he keeps the camera moving in a lively fashion throughout and seems to have settled on 17th Century Dutch painting, with frequent Rembrandt-like dark backgrounds and muted tones for a lot of shots. This was something you could do with Technicolor, playing around with the chroma of the prints, that was lost when Technicolor fell out of fashion, that has only recently been restored to modern movies by computer techniques.

There isn't much that will surprise anyone familiar with pirate movies, but the overall effect is worthwhile.