Die Piraten am Todesfluss

Having already made two Robin Hood movies, Hammer then tried their hand at a couple of pirate movies shot in the woodland surrounding Bray Studios in Buckinghamshire (co.scripted by John Hunter, son of T. Hayes Hunter, director of the pre-Hammer horror 'The Ghoul' in 1933). Their provenance as Hammer productions was underscored by suitably bloodthirsty titles ('The Pirates of Blood River', 'The Devil-Ship Pirates') and by their usual plush production values achieved within their modest means (the budget didn't actually run to a ship, for example). This, the first, certainly lives up to its title since several people get devoured by piranhas trying to cross the title river, while a couple of others get impaled on spikes by a booby trap.

My favourite scene in a Hammer film is Rupert Davies in 'Dracula Has Risen from the Grave' expressing relief that his prospective son-in-law isn't a Methodist; and then going ballistic when he instead reveals that he's an atheist. Religious zealots also receive short shrift in this movie in the form of Andrew Keir, who shows 'mercy' to his own son by sentencing him for adultery to transportation rather than death, declares "God has answered our prayers" when he (wrongly) thinks he's fought the pirates off, and would then sooner sacrifice the entire village than reveal the location of his hidden stash of treasure (which I figured out before anyone else in the film did).

Pirate captain Christopher Lee - "As strong as a lion, as cunning as a mongoose, and as vicious as a snake" - sporting a stylish eye-patch, presides over a mean-looking bunch of cutthroats (one of whom - wearing one enormous earring - is black). But Marla Landi as the female lead is absent for most of the first half, and although two of the pirates fight a duel over her only really comes into her own when she changes into leather britches and a blouse for the film's final quarter. Even then, alas, she's present largely as a spectator during the finale.

Good, colorful period adventure from Hammer Studios is also a curiosity - a landlocked pirate movie! The high seas are nowhere in sight in a tale set on the Isle of Devon in the late 17th century. People known as "Huguenots" have fled persecution, and set up a peaceable community. Young Jonathon Standing (Kerwin Mathews), found guilty of adultery and sentenced to 15 years in a nearby penal colony, ultimately falls into the clutches of a pirate gang who are determined - nay, hellbent - on discovering whatever treasures this island may hold.

"The Pirates of Blood River" is nothing great, but it thoroughly entertains the viewer for a well paced 87 minutes. It's got plenty of effective ingredients: action set pieces, rousing orchestral music (by Gary Hughes), wonderful widescreen photography, and a reasonably simple plot (screenplay by John Hunter and director John Gilling, based on a story by Jimmy Sangster). Said plot includes a theme of religious fervor, and how some people, like Jonathons' father Jason (Andrew Keir), allow this to completely dictate how they live their lives.

Jonathon is no innocent - he WAS guilty, after all - but he's still quite a likable chap, and one may admire him for attempting to take a stand. The villains are appropriately despicable, with the great Sir Christopher Lee taking center stage as a French accented pirate leader named LaRoche. Among his crew are Mr. Hench (Peter Arne), Brocaire (Oliver Reed), and Mack (Michael Ripper). This excellent cast helps to add life to the familiar but agreeable proceedings. (That's Desmond "Q" Llewelyn in the small role of Tom Blackthorne.)

The action is well executed, although the final battle is a little anticlimactic because there was a sequence earlier in the picture that was more intense. There's one show stopping sword fight where Arne and Reed duel (while blindfolded) over a woman. And there's a mild bit of gore, although scenes involving piranha attacks involve little more than splashing water and a bit of blood.

Fun stuff, for Hammer fans and lovers of pirate cinema.

Seven out of 10.

THE PIRATES OF BLOOD RIVER, a 1962 swashbuckler from Hammer Studios, is one of their lesser outings. You can put this down to Jimmy Sangster's lacklustre story and the lack of a decent budget, which substitutes British locations for the tropics and doesn't even include a pirate ship (apart from in an opening stock shot).

Of course, those of us who enjoy B-movie fare will no doubt enjoy the spectacle of some nondescript British woodland standing in for a more exotic locale - adding a single fern leaf into the shot and a couple of pot plants isn't doing much to fool the viewer! At least it helps take the viewer's mind off the plot, which after a decent first half hour soon descends into repetitive inanity.

Kerwin Matthews (THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD) stars as the youthful, romantic hero figure who's sent to a penal colony after falling foul of his puritan elders. He escapes just in time to help his villagers defend themselves from the clutches of a group of dastardly pirates looking for treasure.

One of the problems with the production is the lack of a sense of menace. The pirates just don't seem to be particularly villainous and the script resorts to them fighting between themselves to supply the action. It doesn't help any when all the best actors play the pirates either: Christopher Lee, Michael Ripper, Peter Arne and Oliver Reed are all having a ball, supplying endless energy, while the villagers (including Dennis Waterman as a kid and an extra-dour Andrew Keir) are a bore.

Still, it's as colourful as ever for a Hammer romp, and I'm predisposed towards this genre so that it held my attention from beginning to end. But with a little more imagination, it could have been a whole lot better and more like the above-average DEVIL-SHIP PIRATES that Hammer made a couple of years later.

"Pirates of Blood River" starts out quite promising and exhilarating, to say the least… On a strictly Protestant island community, a young man and an adulterous woman are caught in the act by the woman's husband and the isle's ruler (who's also the young man's father). The petrified girl flees and jumps into a river where she instantly gets devoured by thousands of piranhas, while the man – Jonathan Standing – is exiled to a neighboring prison island for hard labor. He quickly escapes from there but then literally bumps into the eye-patched captain La Roche (Hammer deity Christopher Lee) and his motley pirate crew. They force Standing to lead them to his native island, as La Roche is obsessed with stealing the huge golden treasure that is allegedly hidden somewhere there. As many of my fellow reviewers already righteously pointed out, the most remarkable thing about these "pirates" of Blood River is that they don't have a ship! Sure there are some vague stock footage images of random ships in the distance and a couple of scenes with constructed cabin sets near the beginning of the film, but apart from that everything takes place on land! I can't really fathom why, as the film got produced in the early sixties and thus after a period when Hammer Studios booked some tremendous successes already with grisly horror movies like "Curse of Frankenstein", "Horrors of Dracula" and "The Mummy". In other words, I reckon that Hammer should have had some budget to spend on building a ship, but clearly they didn't think it was absolutely necessary. Don't allow for this to spoil the fun, though, as there are definitely several memorable sequences to enjoy. Any film that features bloodthirsty piranhas receives an additional point in my personal book, and there are more cool scenes, for example the sword duel between two blindfolded pirates (one of them being the almighty Oliver Reed in one of his early Hammer roles) and nasty traps hidden all over the island. There's also a fun scene in which the pirates march through soiled water. Fun to watch, at least, because reportedly many of the actors – including Reed and Lee – suffered from unpleasant little injuries after filming this. "Pirates of Blood River" is by no means a mandatory Hammer must-see, but I warmly recommend it to fans of entertaining low-budget action flicks, pirate lovers and admirers of Christopher Lee.

Pirates of Blood River is directed by John Gilling and written by Jimmy Sangster. It stars Christopher Lee, Kerwin Matthews, Glenn Corbett, Michael Ripper, Andrew Keir, Oliver Reed, Marla Landi and Peter Arne. Music is by Gary Hughes and cinematography by Arthur Grant.

When Huguenot Jonathan Standish (Matthews) is found guilty of adultery, he is banished from the village and sent to serve hard labour at the penal colony. However, managing to escape, Jonathan is captured by pirates led by Captain LaRoche (Lee) and forced to lead the pirates back to his home village, where, LaRoche is convinced valuable treasure is hidden.

One of Hammer Film Productions pirate ventures, Pirates of Blood River is landlocked but still a whole bunch of piratical fun. Sangster's screenplay dangles interesting carrots that aren't fully unearthed, such as the religious fervour holding the Huguenot village in its grip, and questions of main character's pasts are left unanswered, but cast are very spirited and Gilling, in spite of being brought in late and being a pain in the ass, crafts a fast paced picture of excitement and tension. The small budget and absence of a ship and seafaring malarkey is barely noticed, though this place of plunder doesn't look much like a tropical island. There's good action, especially for the "big" battle at the finale, while it's good to see low cost effects, such as a piranha attack simulated by ripples on the water, actually be very effective for dramatic purpose. Blindfold duelling, too, always a bonus.

Plenty of beards, jolly roger speak, bodily abuse and guerrilla warfare, enough in fact to lift it above its obvious flaws. 7/10