Os Piratas de Capri

I first caught this movie (english version) on TV when I was about 12. I thought it was terrific! Now, much older and wiser, I've seen it again--terrific it isn't, but it's a nice grade-B costume flick, replete with revolution, a Zorro-like hero, a villainous Baron Scarpia of a police chief, and a dandy duel-to-death at the end. What still makes it fun is its Italian neo-realist visual style and lighting, and even a few touches of the Italian classics of the late '40's (shot of suffering child in raid on the island). It's fun as a no-brainer. I wonder what the Italian version was like? Was it shot in two versions or just dubbed?

Like all Ulmer's films, it gives the impression of a somewhat haphazard shooting all the way, the characters being rather superficial and not all of them convincing enough (the chief of police is totally out of place, acting only with artifice,) while the cinematography is overwhelmingly well carried out and the most professional element of the film. To this comes Nino Rota's slightly Pucciniesque music giving everything an extra lustre, and it is all filmed on location in the most romantic surroundings of Naples and Capri, with almost only Italian actors except Hayward and Bonnie Barnes, the queen. The story is the revolution of Naples around 1800 when the old royal house was disposed of, Louis Hayward leading the rebellion as the Queen's favourite but acting also as a masked leader of the rebels, he gives a good show all the way, and there are some comical instances as well. Naturally you wait through the entire film for the final settlement between the tyrannous police chief and Hayward, and of course it takes appropriate place in the finale. The whole set-up and action is like a classical Italian opera by Verdi or Puccini, and Nino Rota's music closely relates to that tradition. It is a great swashbuckler entertainment in the tradition of Fairbanks and Errol Flynn, who couldn't have done it better.

one of so many adventure films from the same period. seductive for story, for acting and for fight scenes. for noble message, references to Zorro and a form of clever simplicity, mixture of love, revenge and justice. it is a must see for the performance of Louis Hayward. and for Binnie Barnes who gives a vulnerable admirable queen Maria Carolina of Naples, more interesting role if you do not ignore the events of her reign. a charming portrait of an interesting period. this is all.

Exciting court-intrigue, costume drama, propelled to almost greatness by Nino Rota's beautiful score. I was impressed with its tempo and enjoyed the action-filled scenes, and even when the scenes were loaded with dialogs, they were delivered with passion by the fine cast. It is one of those movies in which you do not know who directed what, and where you find Edgar G. Ulmer co-directing with another filmmaker, in this case Italian Giuseppe Maria Scotese (although each artist was given the sole director credit in the copies of their respective countries). It is interesting that both men had backgrounds in the art field, Ulmer being a production designer early in his career, and Scotese starting as a painter and exhibiting his works. The richly detailed sets and costumes, as well as the lush cinematography are more impressive being this a black and white production, and it helped very much filming in Italy, using real and imposing buildings of the past and a majestic ship. Although Louis Hayward was no longer the dashing young man of «Anthony Adverse» (1936) or «The Saint in New York» (1938), first screen outing of the Simon Templar, he was still the agile action man as Captain Sirocco, the swashbuckling alter ego of the effeminate and ironic Count Amalfi. To Hayward's fine characterizations, Massimo Serato effectively counterpoints as the villainous Baron Holstein, the chief of police who wants to seize power of the kingdom of Napoli, ruled by weak queen Marie Caroline, played by Binnie Barnes. Mariella Lotti is the love interest and Mikhail Rasumny provides the comic elements of the plot. Recommended.

PIRATES OF CAPRI (aka: Captain Sirocco) is an intelligently made action movie which is fun to watch, and which benefits from Louis Hayward's remarkable ability to play this kind of role to perfection. Forget Johnny Depp or Jerry Bruckheimer's nonsense; this is the real McCoy.

Good movies like this were commonplace 50 or 60 years ago, but this one benefits from being filmed at authentic-looking locations in Italy -- not Capri or Napoli they say, but the shots of Napoli couldn't be anywhere else, and those in the grottoes of Capri same thing. This was an Italian movie, carefully dubbed in English. Now in DVD.

Incidentally, Louis Hayward, like today's Charleze Theron, are/were both authentic African/Americans. Each was born in the Union of South Africa.