Captain Pirate

Yes, folks, the producer of this marvelous little adventure yarn is the same who gave us the Budd Boetticher and Randolph Scott's western series, several years later. I am so happy that it was not the infamous Sam Katzman who produced this excellent movie. Because the poor Ralph Murphy - lame director - could have done anything against this Katzman plague; even William Castle hardly tried his best, during his Columbia Pictures period, with Katzman on his back, watching over his shoulder. Without any success.... So, yes, this tremendous adventure film, very colorful, action packed, is as good as the Sidney Salkow's films or even the Universal Studios ones, also from the same period, starring the likes of Maureen O'Hara insteand of Patricia Medina - O'Hara's equivalent for Harry Cohn's company (Columbia).

Notice the billing of Louis Hayward swashbucklers after 1948. While always getting top billing he began getting top solo billing. He was one of the first to get a percentage of the profits of his pictures. They did well and Hayward retired comfortably. Often playing dual roles in his films, the dandy by day and swashbuckler by night, he mutes the dual characterizations in "Captain Pirate" and it is sorely missed. The lifted eyebrow, that haughty Louis Hayward laugh, which made him so unique in "Man in the Iron Mask" and "Pirates of Capri" he tempered in later films. However, with his dash and élan, that velvet voice, his decoration for World War II valor giving him extra gravitas, Captain Louis Hayward is always a joy to watch and "Captain Pirate" is wonderful, innocent fun.

This is the latest retelling of the film which made Errol Flynn a star. Louis Heyward plays a convincing Peter Blood, a doctor who becomes a pirate when he is convicted unjustly. I enjoyed the movie when I saw it as a kid. I don't know if I will still like it now. I will have a chance to see it again as Sony MGM is planning to release it on DVD on June 27, 2006 as a double program with "Fortunes of Captain Blood". "Captain Pirate" is a loose remake of "Fortunes..." made 2 years later again starring Heyward as Blood and in color this time and written by the same screen writers, Frank Burt and Robert Libott. However, at that time, I found "Fortunes..." to be a better film. Now I'll be able to judge them when the DVD comes out. By the way, my favorite pirate movie of all time, then and now, is still "The Crimson Pirate" with Burt Lancaster.

Harry Cohn must have wanted to do Captain Pirate and it's predecessor Fortunes of Captain Blood very bad because he had to have shelved out some big bucks to Jack Warner for that footage he used in a flashback sequence in this film. Might have been interesting had he gotten Errol Flynn along with the movie.

Not that Louis Hayward is a bad Captain Blood. Hayward definitely has the swashbuckling élan for the part. But he's up against a rather routine script that's concerned with a case of identity theft.

Somewhere along the line Blood ditched the Olivia DeHavilland character from the Warner Brothers classic and in the Fortunes Of Captain Blood wooed and won the daughter of Spanish don, Patricia Medina. Now wedding bells are ringing, but when one of His Majesty's representatives, John Sutton, who also has a hankering for Pat brings news that Blood has led a raid on Cartagena and among other things stolen some valuable jewelry, it looks like Hayward is back to his old pirate ways.

In fact that becomes something of a wish fulfillment for Sutton, because Hayward in order to prove his innocence has to round up his old crew and steal a ship, Sutton's ship to be precise, and roam the Caribbean in search of the impostor. During the search he uncovers some treason as well. Great Britain and Spain were allies at this time during the 1690s and the French would like nothing better than to tear this alliance apart.

Hayward and Medina make a beautiful pair of hero and heroine. Hayward's Blood is not as dashing as Errol Flynn's, but he does make up for it with being very cunning. Still the results are rather predictable and if you haven't figured out who the bad guys are, you haven't seen too many pirate movies.

One shouldnt miss this or its kind, because it's a pirate film we have very few of them these days,and if any,they are so bad as Cutthroat Island. I dont remember very well,but its a well made program picture,and much fun to see.