The Black Pirates

1954's "The Black Pirates" was a US-Mexican coproduction starring one time Valentino Anthony Dexter as pirate leader Zargo, his crew without a ship, seeking to recover buried treasure on the site of a 1777 Salvadoran community beneath the church presided over by Padre Felipe (Lon Chaney), confessing that he believed it a gift from God to be used to build his 'Village of Miracles.' These pirates are not the romanticized type represented by John Payne in 1953's "Raiders of the Seven Seas" (also with Chaney), but a ruthless, despicable lot whose climactic comeuppance is surprisingly bloody. Shot in the cheap Ansco color process at a genuine 350 year old church on location in Panchimalco, El Salvador (under hot and humid conditions such as muffled sound recording), a fairly unexceptional land-locked outing with few redeeming features, Chaney cast against type as a sympathetic priest, a part he wisely held out for as he was initially tabbed for one of the interchangeable pirates. Robert Clarke plays a lovelorn villager who gets whipped for his troubles before leading his people against the invaders, and Martha Roth makes the 'scarlet woman' more sympathetic in turning the tables on her employer to show her how to be subservient. Anthony Dexter was already a huge celebrity in Central America due to his starring role as "Valentino" in 1951, but quickly settled into lesser features such as "Fire Maidens of Outer Space," "The Story of Mankind," "12 to the Moon," and "The Phantom Planet." Lon Chaney's decade-long collaborations with producer Robert L. Lippert began in 1953 with "Bandit Island" and "The Big Chase," followed by "The Silver Star," "The Alligator People," and 1964's "Witchcraft."

I have watched some shockers in the past but this one takes top billing. As another reviewer states a (no ship is ever seen) they never leave the island the female actors are not only super plain but can't act Anthony Dexter (Captain Kidd and the Slave Girl) miles apart from this mess Lon Chaney king of the b minus movies the best feature of the film was the closing credits and this won't be of any interest to anyone who actually enjoyed this it took me four attempts to finish it I am still looking for a colour print of Captain Kidd and the Slave Girls also The Lading In The Iron Mask (got it in Germain am at present attempting to get the soundtrack from the black and white copy onto the colour eith that or learn to speak Germain Cheers happy viewing Al Watts Australia.

To date, only one other viewer has reviewed this obscure item from 1954, and while I sympathize with that viewer's lack of enthusiasm, I feel "The Black Pirates" deserves a few words of mild commendation. True, it's land-locked and doesn't have a single scene set on the High Seas, but this terrestrial setting helps "ground" the action and keeps it focused on the interrelationships between the bereft pirates and the residents of the village where buried treasure may be located. Perhaps surprisingly, the villagers receive a majority of the attention, and they're presented not as a united force but as a collection of varied interests. Also surprisingly, the leading man (Anthony Dexter) and the leading lady (Martha Roth) are not the story's hero and heroine. In fact, Lon Chaney jr. provides the movie's moral core, being cast (against type) as a benevolent and determined priest. These and other factors are then shaped into a brisk, efficient, and thankfully short feature. In summary, those with even a bit of adventurous taste may find hints of value in this unassuming effort. (A point of possible interest: a bare-chested Robert Clarke, tied to the village's T-shaped whipping post, suffers a vigorous flogging in the movie's opening reel. This scene, probably because of its obscurity, doesn't make the list in the book "Lash! The 100 Great Scenes of Men Being Whipped in the Movies," but it's a good scene and worth noting. Curiously, the other two whipping scenes from 1954 movies both involve the same victim. Ricardo Montalban was flogged across his bare chest in "The Queen of Babylon" and was then flogged across his bare back in "The Saracen Blade.") Alas, surviving prints of "The Black Pirates," in fading color, are not in good shape.