Liebe unter schwarzen Segeln

I'm writing this in response to the plea for a review; if anyone has seen it more recently, please chime in. I saw this a decade or two ago on TV, and remember rather liking it, but being disappointed that it didn't follow Sabatini's book more closely. It wasn't quite as weak as I'd expected from a sequel, and Louis Hayward wasn't as weak as I'd expect from a replacement for Errol Flynn. All in all, a reasonably good standard-issue pirate movie; sorry I can't be more definite than that. There was also a sequel to the sequel, based on Sabatini's _Captain Blood Returns_, entitled for some reason _Captain Pirate_, which I remember as being, surprisingly, somewhat better than this one.

Mostly landlocked follow up to the Errol Flynn movie and based on another novel in the series concerns Louis Hayward trying to rescue a number of his crew who have been captured by an evil governor and forced into slavery as pearl divers. Most of the film has Hayward disguised as a fruit merchant attempting to get information that will help him free his men...while flirting with several women and fighting off bad men.

A mindless swashbuckler this is perfect Sunday afternoon fare, far from taxing it will simply put you into a place far away from all your troubles.

7 out of 10

I was in love with Louis Hayward and there is no more ardent love than a seven year old for a Pirate. I saw every film with Louis Hayward that came to the local cinema and I imagined I was the heroine of course! We had American friends and they had a home cinema and I saw this film and thought it was wonderful.

53 years later, what would I think - I hope it would transport me back over the years when the handsome Louis Hayward would be as dashing and romantic as he was when I first saw him. Good swashbuckling adventure. Must have made an impression when I remember it after 53 years.

I know Errol Flynn was the original "Peter Blood" in talking movies but Louis Hayward was the actor whom I saw in the 1950's in glorious colour. Yes, the colours in those movies in the 1950's were wonderful breathtaking after so many black and white movies.

FORTUNES OF CAPTAIN BLOOD never rises above being a pedestrian take on the Captain Blood legend originated by Rafael Sabatini in his immortal pirate tale, CAPTAIN BLOOD.

This is strictly secondary stuff, with LOUIS HAYWARD as the doctor turned pirate on the high seas. He's competent in the swashbuckling role rather than charismatic--and there lies the difference between him and Flynn. At times, he seems almost bored with his role.

DONA DRAKE does nicely enough as a peasant girl who flirts with Captain Blood (while he's assuming the name of Pedro), and PATRICIA MEDINA is equally at home in her role as a headstrong aristocratic lady. LOWELL GILMORE and GEORGE MACREADY are likewise competent as the rather villainous men interested only in pearls and wealth--but the story and its characters barely rise above the routine in a lifeless pirate tale.

ALFONSO BEDOYA at least furnishes a bit of sly humor as the prison overseer hoodwinked by Captain Blood (he was the man with the famous line about "We don't need no stinkin' badges" from TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE).

But the saga only really comes to life during the last half-hour, and then it's standard pirate swordplay and cannon fire until the predictable happy ending finds Captain Blood and the aristocratic lady sharing a kiss before the fadeout.

Summing up: Standard pirate tale with only occasional flashes of lively swordplay. As for Hayward, he was much better as "The Man in the Iron Mask".

A Columbia swashbuckler starring Louis Hayward from the forties without George McReady as the villain is like a hamburger without the meat: I mean absolutely impossible to imagine. So this early fifties - late forties aadventures flick has nothing to envy from Warner Bros productions for which Gordon Douglas also worked in the same period, or maybe after this period. He then missed the awful Sam Katzman producer if he had stayed in Columbia Pictures. Lucky guy. This movvie is a very good entertaining yarn, full of action but bringing nothing exceptional either. Everything is predictable; after all it was the Hollywood system. Gordon Douglas's directing is, as usual, flawless, no matter the plot itself.