The Pirates of Blood River

This is an enjoyable Hammer adventure film with the charismatic Christopher Lee playing Captain LaRoche, a ruthless eye-patched pirate who, with the help of his motley crew, attack an unruly Huguenot settlement on a Caribbean island convinced there is hidden treasure to be had.

The usual budget constraints are there but it doesn't hinder the film as much as some of their other adventure films despite the fact the pirates are only seen on land and not at sea. Director John Gilling has a firm hand on proceedings with a script by Jimmy Sangster and a solid support cast of Oliver Reed, Michael Ripper, Andrew Keir, Desmond Llewelyn and an early acting role for future TV star Dennis Waterman.

It's fun B-movie fare wrapped up in a handsome period adventure yarn that is entertaining with simple storytelling and perfect for a rainy Saturday afternoon.

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

John Gilling directed this pirate adventure that stars Kerwin Mathews as Jonathan Standing, an inhabitant of a 17th century Huegenot village where he was exiled by his father for adultery to a penal colony. While there, pirates led by Captain LaRoche(played by Christopher Lee) kidnap him and force him to lead them back to the village, because the pirates want a rumored buried treasure that their founding fathers left behind, and LaRoche will stop at nothing to find it, not even murder. Marginal Hammer studios film certainly has a colorful title that sums up the plot, and good production values and acting, but story is strangely unappealing and unmemorable, despite an interesting "landlocked pirates" premise.

In the seventeenth-century, a young Huegonot (Kerwin Mathews) escapes from a West Indies penal colony and joins forces with a treasure-obsessed pirate (Christopher Lee)...

Action-adventure in the Carribbean, Hammer-style, with not one but two Hollywood flavor-of-the-month hunks -Kerwin Mathews & Glenn Corbett (whatever happened to him?). Plenty of cutlass clashing (including a climactic one between Mathews and Lee), derring-do, and faux French accents but with all the swamp chases, you'd think at least one character would get gobbled up by quicksand. Unfortunately, none did. There were, however, enough saber-stabbings, booby-traps (including a spiked pit), musket skirmishes, and death by piranha (hence the title, "Blood River") to satisfy the easily amused. It was filmed on the back lots of Hammer's Bray Studios and stereotypes abounded from the sexy, nearly iconic Christopher Lee as the black-clad, one-eyed pirate king to a barrel-chested Oliver Reed as one of his lusty mates. The killed-off-all-too-soon Ollie cut a handsome, husky figure as did an earnest Glenn Corbett who's constipated acting made the rather lethargic Kerwin Mathews look like Sarah Bernhardt. Oddly enough (or not), Kerwin didn't have a femme love interest but Glenn did -the lackluster Marla Landi who looked a lot like Madeline Rhue. All in all, an agreeable time-waster, of interest mainly for it's idiosyncratic international beefcake.

You won't find here any 18th-century ships in full sail photographed against a Caribbean seascape of azure blue skies. Instead, all of the action takes place on a mundane-looking island which offers little in the way of beaches or coves. (The geography of this made-in-England movie is disturbingly vague.) The result is somewhat drab and claustrophobic and makes one wish for the colorful sweep of "Anne of the Indies" or "The Crimson Pirate."

Partially making up for this weakness is an interesting cast which includes not only bound-for-better-things Christopher Lee and Oliver Reed but also a curiously-cast Glenn Corbett. Dennis Waterman pops up as a boy who's sent on horseback to warn of the pirates' attack.

Kerwin Matthews qualifies as an adequate hero. However, while the movie's poster shows him bound bare-chested to a ship's wheel, such a scene never appears in the print under discussion.