Piratas do Rio Sangrento

Fleeing religious persecution, a group of Huguenots settle on the Isle of Devon and establish a village where they can live and worship in peace. Unfortunately, many years later the leadership of the village is taken over by greedy and self-serving men who begin to enforce a type of religious tyranny on the residents. In one particular case a man by the name of "Jonathon Standing" (Kewin Matthews) has fallen in love with a woman named "Maggie Mason" (Marie Devereux) who is the wife of one of the leaders. Although neither have actually committed adultery when they are found in each other's embrace the decision is made to punish both all the same. In fear Maggie tries to escape by swimming to the other side of a river but is attacked and killed by piranhas. Meanwhile Jonathon is caught and then tried for adultery with Maggie's husband as one of the jurors. Although he protests his innocence, he is sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in a penal colony. A couple of months later, he attempts to escape but is captured by a band of pirates and taken to their leader, "Captain LaRoche" (Christopher Lee) who decides to march to the village and loot it. Now, rather than detail any more of the film and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that this turned out to be a decent pirate movie despite the fact that almost all of the scenes happened on dry land. I especially liked the performance of Christopher Lee who I thought played the part quite superbly. In any case, I recommend this movie to all of those who think they might enjoy a film of this type and rate it as slightly above average.

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.

Different to what you might expect from the Hammer studios. It's better than "The Devil Ship Pirates", anyway. Christopher Lee is, as usual, brilliant as Captain La Roche (yes, I think they made up that name, too), speaking in very convincing French accent. It's fun, good for the family and Hammer fans. Watch out for Kerwin Matthews as the hero (would you believe!)- he's convincing hero.

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.

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.