Barbe-Noire le pirate

Some people are born to play certain roles. Robert Newton was born to play a pirate. No one comes close to his wild pirate performances and the film Blackbeard provides this in spades. If you liked watching him as Long John Silver in Disney's Treasure Island, you will absolutely love him running amock in Blackbeard.

In 1674 , the ¨reformed" pirate Sir Henry Morgan (Torin Thatcher) results to be a high official in Jamaica , but he's subsequently appointed as island governor residing at an impregnable fortress . However , Edward Maynard (Keith Andes) hopes to win a huge reward by proving Morgan still dabbles in piracy . Maynard goes undercover as ship's surgeon under the famed pirate Blackbeard who is deemed to be the bravest pirate of the seven seas , along with his henchman Ben Worley (William Bendix) . As Blackbeard rolling his eyes wildly by executing enemies and charging up and down the deck (like a bearded captain Bligh). Also on the ship shows up Edwina Mansfield (gorgeous Linda Darnell) , seemingly a charming damsel in distress , to whom there's much more than meets the eye . Along the way , a loner inhabitant of a solitary island's been supplanted by infamous Blackbeard himself . They took what they wanted...and they wanted the world!.The thunder of their plundering shook the earth, the seas, the sky!

This is a fun and bewildering flick with a disconcerting and little credible story shot as a fun festival of sword-play , noisy action , fights and sea battles. The 18th-century buccaneer is given the full-blood , Hollywood treatment , being an amusing and funny adventure comedy/drama movie , being especially made for enhance the hilarious qualities of the always likeable and prestigious actor Robert Newton who steals the show as a sly pirate . Although Newton is a bit overzealous at times , but puts in an enjoyable acting . Here's an attractive pirate yarn with fine characterizations and some good action. Robert Newton revels in this yarn , his second pirate movie , going on his top-notch portrayal of Long John Silver in The Treausure Island , two years before . While the gorgeous Linda Darnell plays the damsel in distress saved by honest Edward Maynard well played by Keith Andes who finds himself serving as ship's surgeon . There are enjoyable appearance from prestigious secondaries as William Bendix , Torin Thatcher , Irene Ryan , Alan Mowbray, Richard Egan, Skelton Knaggs , Dick Wessel , Anthony Caruso and Jack Lambert.

The motion picture was professionally directed by Raoul Walsh . From his starts in the silent cinema Raoul achieved successful films until the 50s and forward , early 60s , when he was less dominant , but is still stayed lots of lusty adventure , stories of comradeship and friendship , and Raoul made the most of plentiful action scenes . He was an expert director of all kind genres but with penchant in Western as ¨Colorado territory¨ , ¨They died with their boots on¨, ¨Along the great divide¨, ¨Saskatchewan¨, ¨King and four queens¨ , ¨The sheriff of fractured jaw¨, ¨A distant trumpet¨ ; Adventure as ¨Thief of Bagdad¨, ¨Captain Horatio Hornblower¨, ¨World in his hands¨, ¨Blackbeard the pirate¨ , ¨Sea devils¨ ; Warlike as ¨Objetive Burma¨ , ¨Northern pursuit¨, ¨Marines let's go¨ ; and Noir film as ¨White heat¨, ¨High Sierra¨, ¨They drive by night¨, ¨The roaring twenties¨. Rating : 6/10 . Fairly straightforward movie . This interesting adventure and action film makes it of the finest of Raoul Walsh genre entries.

Within the 17th century a reformed pirate known as Sir Henry Morgan is given the role of governor in Jamaica and the job of ridding the ocean of Blackbeard the pirate. A young surgeon Edward Maynard believes Morgan is still a pirate and takes the assignment of becoming part of Blackbeard's crew to get his large award and hopefully take care of these two men. Blackbeard manages to kidnap Morgan's adopted daughter Edwina Mansfield, and now Maynard has his hands full if he wants to complete his mission.

Arrrrrrr. I could throw around some pirate lingo, but it looks like everyone was having a jolly good time on this colourfully swashbuckling pirate romp from director Raoul Welsh. This one feels like its parodying the whole set-up and including the clichés we've come to associate with pirates. We get double-crossings, greedy intentions, gallant sword fights, a bathing beauty, treasure chests and rum to name a few. Alan LeMay's enthusiastically crackling script (off DeVallen Scott's story) covers it all and offers some clever surprises with plenty of tooting drama to boot. The romance sub-plot comes off quite stuffy though and a few plot holes do work there way in. Welsh's lively direction makes sure something is always happening and never lets it flag about with focused photography. Scenes are well delivered and vigorously active, despite that it comes across more stagy than one big adventure packed outing. Surprisingly for its time (very tame now) it can be terribly violent and vulgar in its actions and the pirates (good casting I might add) look and act truly scum. The bellowing musical score gets into the spirit and the Technicolor format brings many vibrant flushes to make-shift sets. What's most captivating is Robert Newton's bawdily fiery and over-the-top turn as Blackbeard. His probably the most memorable thing out of this and what lifts it from the average crowd. A true scene stealer, that still leaves his mark when his not even on the screen and very much influential performance for latter pirate flicks. A goofy William Bendix is equally as enjoyable in a broad sense as his first mate. Linda Darnell looks irresistibly magnetic and grand, but is not offered too much. Keith Andes is acceptable, but is very much overshadowed as Edward Maynard. Torin Thatcher, Irene Ryan and Skelton Knaggs give capable support.

"Blackbeard the Pirate" is far from flawless, but definitely an entertaining foray my matey.

The cast and crew must have had a ball making this flick, since it has so many funny bits in it.Just listen to this exchange between Robert Newton doing his never-equaled pirate character as Blackbeard, and the lovable lug Bill Bendix, of Life of Riley fame, as Worley, the dim-witted first mate. Blackbeard is pulling up a rope that the hero has used to climb into the Captain's cabin, and says, "I be fishin' for a rat!" Worley: "Why, are ya hungry?" Don't miss The Funeral at Sea ("For distance this time!") Watch Edward Maynard eye Linda Darnell's lavish expanse of bosom and say, "Never mind the measurements!"

And while you're thinking about the plot...how _did_ they ever get off that island?

Enough has been said by other reviewers about Robert Newton's performance, so I want to make some comments about Linda Darnell's appearance in this film. Although she was given second billing, her part is rather small in the overall script. There wasn't much great dramatic effort required to do her part.

I'm guessing her star power had something to do with her being cast in this film. The incidental love story involving her character could have been eliminated from the film without the film being affected. I guess it was needed to give the film a "happy ending".

Since most of her work was filmed in black and white, it's nice to have another opportunity to see her photographed in Technicolor.