User reviews

They certainly don't make movies like this one anymore! "The Pirate" shows how MGM dominated the musical genre with stars of the magnitude of Gene Kelly and Judy Garland under Vincente Minnelli's direction, and music by Cole Porter.

The story is just a pretext to present the stars doing what they did best. The film is totally dominated by Gene Kelly, who makes a wonderful contribution to the film as Serafin, an itinerant entertainer who happens to be in Calvados, the Caribbean, a fictional island where the beautiful Manuela is about to get married to a powerful man, Don Pedro Vargas.

After being pursued by Serafin, Manuela's resolve to marry the much older, fatter, and uglier, Don Pedro, is reduced to seeing the would be husband by what he really is, a bully and a man who she will never bring herself to love. The revelations at the end and the happy conclusion gives the film a great finale.

Gene Kelly and Judy Garland were at the peak of their careers. Ms. Garland looks so beautiful in the film and she makes an adorable Manuela. Mr. Kelly gives an excellent performance as the song and dance man who can put people in a trance as he hypnotizes them. The musical numbers in which Mr. Kelly dances are superbly staged.

The supporting players are a delight. Gladys Cooper, makes a great Aunt Inez. Walter Slezak is perfect as Don Pedro, a man who hides deeply rooted secrets. Reginald Owen and George Zucco are also seen. Best of all are the Nicholas Brothers who were amazing in their number.

The glorious Technicolor utilized in the film has kept its luster as it has aged gloriously.

THE PIRATE was a definite departure from the typical fare MGM was churning out during the 40's and 50's and audiences let MGM know immediately that this was not the kind of thing they were accustomed to because, for the most part, audiences stayed away in droves, and sadly, missed one of the most colorful and imaginative offerings to come from the MGM stable. THE PIRATE was the second of three films that Judy Garland and Gene Kelly appeared in together. Judy delivers a smart comic performance as Manuela, a Spanish princess engaged to a rich and sleazy nobleman (Walter Slezak)though at night she dreams of being with an enigmatic pirate she has heard tales of called Macoco or Mack the Black. Manuela meets Serafin (Gene Kelly) an actor in a traveling troupe and mistakes him for Macoco and it is this bit of mistaken identity upon which the thin plot thread resolves. Vincente Minnelli once again shows his penchant and eye for color with some outstanding scenery and art direction, as well as some state of the art special effects for 1948. Despite looking frail, Garland delivers an on target comic performance as Manuela and her voice, in fine form as usual, resonates on the rousing "Mack the Black" and is equally compelling on the beautiful ballad "Love of My Life". Gene Kelly is at the peak of his on screen charm and physical and dancing prowess as the witty Serafin and makes the Pirate Ballet fantasy a must see for musical fans and it goes without saying that his duet with Garland, "Be a Clown" is a classic. Kelly also does an amazing dance number with the Nicholas Brothers. Vincente Minnelli's magical eye, the voice of Garland, the charisma of Kelly, and Cole Porter music...what else do you need?

Gene Kelly and Judy Garland stepped into some mighty big shoes when they accepted the lead roles in The Pirate. On Broadway, The Pirate ran in the 1942-43 season for 177 performances and the shoes that Kelly and Garland were filling belonged to Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne. True it's probably one of the lighter vehicles that Lunt and Fontanne ever did, still it might have been interesting to compare what they did with the snappy dialog of S.N. Behrmann.

Cole Porter signed on to write the score for this musical adaption of The Pirate. Porter had been in a creative dry spell for a few years, most notoriously he was associated with a flop musical based on Around The World In 80 Days, a couple of years back. Believe it or not, he was having trouble getting work in Hollywood and on Broadway when he signed with MGM for The Pirate.

According to the George Eells biography of Porter, it was Gene Kelly who asked Porter to write a clown number for him and Judy Garland. Porter responded with Be A Clown which turned out to be the hit of the film. The rest of the score is not top drawer Porter, but mediocre Cole Porter is better than most songwriters can come up with.

Judy Garland plays another starry eyed youngster in The Pirate which is set in the 18th century Caribbean. She's first seen reading what would later be called a dime novel about the legendary Makoko the Pirate. She's getting into an arranged marriage with the mayor of the town, staid and settled Walter Slezak. When a troupe of strolling players led by Gene Kelly come to town, under hypnosis she reveals that she longs to be the bride of Makoko. What's Gene Kelly to do, but pretend to be Makoko.

That's all well and good except that Walter Slezak is the real Makoko now just trying to live in peaceful obscurity away from the authorities who want to hang him. All this leads to some interesting complications that of course get all sorted out in the end.

Judy gets to do two ballads in her unmistakable style, Love Of My Life and You Can Do No Wrong. And she stars in a rousing production number where the proclaims her enchantment with the legendary Makoko in Mack The Black.

The film got a tepid response in 1948, it's given far better critical notice in retrospect. The Pirate was produced by MGM's legendary Arthur Freed and his unit and directed stylishly by Vincent Minnelli who was Judy Garland's husband at the time. Today's audiences would far better appreciate the combined wit of S.N. Behrmann and Cole Porter.

As for Porter, his next writing assignment would stop all talk of his going into decline. The following year Kiss Me Kate debuted on Broadway which was Porter's biggest critical and commercial success. No one ever said that score wasn't up to his usual standard.

Vincent Minnelli makes sumptuous use of color, costumes and settings in this lush MGM musical teaming Judy Garland and Gene Kelly in their prime. The score may not be one of Cole Porter's best (in fact, Garland expressed her open dislike to the composer for some of her numbers), but just watch her do magic with 'Mack the Black' and 'Love of My Life'. To be honest, it's really Kelly's movie. Garland was having problems at the time and Minnelli decided to give him ample opportunity with additional dance numbers excluding Garland. However, their teaming in 'Be A Clown' is a joyous one, each trying to upstage the other in full exhuberance. And the Nicholas Brothers are worth the price of admission for their climactic routine with Kelly. Gladys Cooper, as always, is a joy in a supporting role as Garland's stern aunt--but it's the comic flair of Kelly that distinguishes much of the fun. Walter Slezak has fun too with his role as the mayor who just happens to be the real Mack the Black. A colorful treat with some of the best color photography ever! Some of the fights between Kelly and Garland get a little strident at times, but overall it's a real gem with Judy showing that her comic timing with a line was just about perfect.

There's something in this movie which make it stand apart from other MGM musicals of that period, and I believe it was precisely this reason the movie ended up as a marketing flop.

First of all, the whole movie has very exaggerated and stylized tone, which combined with the vivid cinematography of Vincente Minnelli, creates rather fantastical, storybook-like (remember the movie actually starts with turning of storybook pages) mood, which might feel too alien to the audiences who expected to see another typical MGM musical like For Me and My Gal.

Of course, other period musicals like Meet Me in St.Louis or The Harvey Girls are far from realistic also. But while we can say that Esther's family or the Harvey House in those are rather idealized or exaggerated, they are by no means fantastic or surrealistic like such an imaginary Caribbean island where things like a pirate in his hot pants cutting ears off a bunny hat look like 'normal'.

If such an intention can be misinterpreted even by a modern reviewer to make him to criticize the movie, based on ethnic demography of a typical Caribbean island, then it's hardly surprising to see why some audiences from the 40s found it to be 'over dramatic' or 'over the top', for example.

As to the movie itself, I think I should give more credit to Gene Kelly than to Judy Garland even though I'm a big fan of the latter, and actually it was because of her that I first decided to watch this movie.

Aside from the "Mack the Black" or "Be a Clown" numbers, which are nice but can't be said to be top notch, music scores of the movie aren't very impressive, so regretfully we don't have much occasion to appreciate Judy Garland's legendary talent.

But as to Gene Kelly, the movie serves as a great showcase to prove that he's much more than a mere good looking actor with some tap dancing skills. By adapting elements of ballet or even pole dancing, he tries to innovate the musical dancing to a whole new level, and sequences like "Nina" or the "Pirate Ballet" feels like a precursor to his later efforts which successfully enlarged and redefined the field.

All in all, it's one of those movies which can be termed as a 'successful failure', which was successful in making a lasting impression with many bold and innovative attempts, and be a marketing flop for the very same reason.

If there were a bit more memorable music numbers, which would give Judy Garland more chance to shine, it might have been remembered as one of a cult classic of MGM musicals.

I'm not a fan of musicals in general, but I like this one. The visuals, though clearly 1948, and very vivid and pleasing to the eye. The story also manages to be cute and silly without degenerating into complete nonsense. Gene Kelly does a pretty impressive job during to musical numbers; at times he seems to defy gravity effortlessly. One can't help but be impressed. The real jewel of this film, though, is Judy Garland. I couldn't tell you exactly what it is about her, but she is absolutely fantastic in this film. Her facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice (especially when her character is irritated) and absolutely irresistable. Even if this movie was terrible, it would be worth watching just for her performance.

On the downside, the musical numbers do get a little exhausting and seem just too long for their own good. Yes, Gene Kelly can sing and dance, but somewhere around the tenth minute of "Be a Clown" I felt like driving a dull steak knife through my skull.

Though Gene Kelly is superb as the athletic strolling player Serafin, and is given some of the best dancing opportunities of his career, this is Miss Garland's film all the way. And what a film! How strange that it isn't better known.

In one of their rare moments of scenic largesse, Metro released Garland from the small town confinements of Hardy--ville, and/or the sweet girl who makes it to Broadway with the corn stalks still in her suitcase, and gave her something of genuine wit and sophistication.

For here, she is Manuela Alvarez, of the colonial Virgin Islands, a well born, cloistered 19th century maiden, (presumably convent educated, i.e., Gladys Cooper to Judy, "...we'll take refuge in the church!") whose only psychic escape from her self enclosure consists in fantasizing about the notorious pirate, "Mack the Black Macoco." That she is tricked into believing a dashing actor, Serafin (Kelly) is the real Macoco, while in fact he is none other than her lumpy affianced, Mayor Dom Pedro (Walter Slezak) is the spindle upon which this cinematic yarn spins its glories.

And what phantasmagoric glories they are! This ranks with "Yolanda and the Thief," (sorry "American in Paris" fans) as Mr. Minnelli's most accomplished Technicolor visual achievement. For working with Jack Martin Smith, he concocts a Caribbean sea port a swirl with color and characters--one can almost smell the salt air a waft with spice and languor, and including as well: a quay brimming with turbanned negroe vendors, a village of Salmon and off white stucco walls, and black filagreed wrought iron against a cerulean sky, and bevys of extras dressed in a fortune worth of rainbow colored moire, velvet and brocade flounces, furbellows, snoods, and gauntlets. The shaded interiors are replete with empire furniture, carved ebony, and bamboo blinds and palmettos.

The effect is dreamlike in an operetta sort of way and deliberately so. A storybook come to life but one which successfully combines the conventions of 19th century aristocratic propriety, (in which young women of quality do not walk out without their duennas) against 20th century show biz colloquialisms to great effect, (one thinks here of Mr. Kelly's delightful reference to a review in the "Trinidad Clarion comparing him to David Garrick","No Noose is Good Noose," and "You should try underplaying sometime."

The players are at the top of their form: Mr. Kelly is in full command of his powers here: his partnering with the Nicholas Brothers in "Be a Clown," as well as the "Pirate Ballet" (in which he pivots with a javelin against a cinnabar sky lit with explosions) almost literally take ones breath away.

But it is in "Ninia" that he achieves the most felicitous display of solo Terpsichore, with Robert Alton's choreography, Harry Stradling's fluid boom camera following his cat like moves over up and through the town, and the delightful Cole Porter lyric and melody, culminating in flamenco steps with torrid and tempting MGM contract dancers in and through the striped poles of a circular gazebo.

Of Miss Garland enough cannot be said. No more Betsy Booth! Manuela offers her a chance to broaden her range in a direction in which (sadly) she would never venture again.

Here her exasperated intonations wring humor out of every line and situation, "Oh Casilda I do wish you were a little more spiritual!" or "Do you call it fun to live in a tent? to go hungry ?, to be looked down on by all decent people?!" give full vent to the drollery the script affords. Indeed, she channels her trademarked nervous energy into her character in such a way, that she, (as "Parent's Magazine" noted in its review) gently spoofs some of her earlier film characterizations. Thus we get the Dorothy like: ("I know it, something dreadful is going to happen, something dreadful...") It's a performance that one cannot simply imagine any other actress playing. Thus, she claims the role and makes it her own.

And who can forget the scene where she pretends to believe Serafin is Macoco once she has discovered the deception, "I can see us now, you with your cutlass in one hand and your compass in the other, shouting orders to your pirate crew, and I, I spurring you on to greater and greater achievements, won't that be magnificent?!" to which she pounds her fist against the table with sugar dipped venom.

Musically she is also a delight from start to finish.

Moreover, she has never been seen to such pictorial advantage in the post war period as she is here, gowned by Tom Keogh and Madame Karinska in one of the most arresting (and beaded!) wardrobes she ever wore on screen, and just as importantly, effectively coiffed throughout, (most particularly in the "Love of My Life" sequence where she is adorned with a coral diadem and matching earrings.)

Similarly, her close-ups are meltingly lovely, such as the nightgown clad scene wherein she begs Gladys Cooper to take her to Port Sebastian, "I'll make him a good wife Aunt Inez--really." (what a vision in feminine charm she is here!) or slightly later when, clad in a broad brimmed straw hat she gazes upon the Caribbean, or perhaps best of all, with a conch shell at her ear, and under hypnosis, she whispers of Macoco to dazzled interlocutors.

Supporting players are top of the mark, and it is interesting to see Garland interact with Gladys Cooper and horror veteran George Zucco.

After it was completed, MGM relegated Garland back to formula vaudeville hokum, but thankfully "The Pirate" was already in the can. Musical film scholar Douglas McVay has declared it to be the best musical film of 1948. He's right. See it to find out why.

On a Caribbean island in the Age of Piracy, Manuela (Judy Garland) is arranged to be married to the governor Don Pedro (Walter Slezak), although she's enamored by tales of the notorious pirate known as the Black Macoco. Traveling entertainer Serafin (Gene Kelly) sees Manuela and falls instantly in love, so he pretends to be the Black Macoco to try and win her heart, leading to much misadventure.

With songs by Cole Porter and dancing choreographed by Kelly, this is an ambitious project that was a box-office disappointment upon release but has since grown in critical estimation. There is a certain artistry on display, visible most predominantly during Kelly's dance numbers. The songs are hit-and-miss, although that's always a question of personal taste, and I'm not a fan of show tunes ("Mack the Black" was particularly grating). I'm also not much of a fan of Garland, often finding her manic, desperate and overbearing, although there's no denying her vocal talent.

It's okay, but it feels like a half-hour of story crammed into 90 minutes, and there's only so much of Judy throwing vases at Gene you can watch before you're wondering why we're supposed to sympathize with either of them. Kelly played as many conniving ladies-man hucksters as he played "nice guys", but if there's not much at stake, his rogues just aren't instantly identifiable. Kelly just did better with Stanley Donen's light touch than he did with Vincent Minelli's "art", and the big filler Kelly Pirate Ballet seems to be the reason the movie was made in the first place.

Slezak continues his streak of roles of dubious ethnicity, during that Hollywood period when any European accent was deemed appropriate for all European parts. The spectacular Nicholas Brothers get some great dancing in, but at a terrible cost: unlike most black performers who were filmed performing alone so that local theaters could easily excise their scenes to placate a racist audience, Gene Kelly insisted that they perform on screen with him, thus making it difficult for those censors to cut their scenes. The result was that the Nicholas Brothers were virtually blackballed from further film roles, and lost many live venue shows as well, forcing them to spend much of the next two decades performing in Europe. All because they dared appear in a scene alongside a white performer.

The movie earned an Oscar nomination for Best Score (Lennie Hayton).

In its classic era Hollywood was not a place where artistes could conceive and execute projects exactly to plan. Often a production would change hands, get scrapped, revived, or overhauled completely into a new genre according to changing needs and resources. That's not an admonition - it's simply the way they created quality entertainment. The Pirate was not the first straight-ahead comedy drama to receive a musical makeover halfway through production.

MGM, in the middle of what would one day be known as its golden age of musicals, probably thought they were onto an easy winner because they had all the finest musical talent of the day at their disposal. They brought in Arthur Freed to produce, Vincente Minnelli to direct, with Judy Garland and Gene Kelly as stars. They even managed to coax Cole Porter into writing the score. It couldn't fail... could it? The trouble is, such hasty talent stuffing sometimes backfires. Let's begin with the two leads. Garland, had worked continuously since childhood and was by now only being kept going with the amphetamines she would eventually become hooked on. She was running out of steam and it shows in her rather uneven performance, veering from theatrical exaggeration to bizarre, doped-up eroticism. Kelly by contrast was at the top of his game, but he looks daft in that moustache, and his performance relies more on his second-rate acrobats than his first-rate dancing. Garland and Kelly are however fantastic in the comical ornament-smashing scene. This is easily the best moment in the picture, which just goes to show how underused their musical abilities are.

Vincente Minnelli was by now established as a unique and highly effective director of musicals. He had a method of giving character and dynamics to every number, making the camera and the colours part of the choreography. A great example is the song Nina, which is shot entirely in two or three continuous takes. Minnelli leads us into the song tracking over to the "Nina" in the boldest colours, then alights on one "Nina" after another, delicately framing each in a painterly composition. He holds our interest throughout this long routine, with the camera in close to establish the premise of the number then moving out to show off Kelly's athletics, moving in again for the cigarette-kiss trick, before moving out again for the final group dance. It's just a shame that The Pirate has too few songs, and not nearly enough dance.

Minnelli was also a competent director of non-musical action, particularly crowd scenes. His expert use of camera movement provides Kelly with a fantastic entrance. We dolly back through the crowds, focus on a crate with the acting company's details on it, then pull back and up to reveal Kelly being hoisted aloft. Shortly after this comes a bit of a misfire though. Minnelli, for very good reasons, often liked to keep actors in mid-shot rather than closeup, drawing attention to them through use of framing and movement. As Kelly strolls through the crowd advertising his company, we are focused on him because he is very animated while his audience are unnaturally still. It gives what should be a lively moment a sense of emptiness, and I can't help thinking of the real world audience getting bored wondering when the first musical number will strike up.

As for Cole Porter's music, it's far from his best. The plot is, as Kelly later pointed out, a huge inside joke that it took audiences twenty years to get, although if it was at the expense of Douglas Fairbanks, wasn't it also being made twenty years too late? The MGM studio-bound look is particularly stifling for such an exotic, adventuresome setting. All in all, The Pirate has plenty of colouring, but not enough flavour, and is one of the most disappointing of MGM musicals.

The Pirate (1948) really won me over! I have never been the biggest fan of musicals, but occasionally I'll try a new one to see if it might make my short list. The story is so romantic and played as such a farce that I was enthralled.

Gene Kelly is very handsome, but I never noticed his sex appeal. His tan, his muscles, his arm band, his charm...I could go on and on! Judy Garland looked so beautiful and gave a brilliant performance alongside Kelly. Their kiss is the most passionate I've seen and certainly not within Hays Code limits of 3 seconds of contact. I just love a little rebellion and this was the perfect movie for it.

The musical numbers were few and Gene's dancing is so fascinating, that I was able to make it through. This was a delightful treat and is now on my short list of musicals. I highly recommend it.

Sixty years ago, the musical 'The Pirate' was a flop. Now, in the 21st century, it can be said to have taken on a new life as a cult...

...flop.

It's a harsh but tempting aphorism. On the face of it the film has everything going for it -- Technicolor MGM production values, Cole Porter songs, Gene Kelly and Judy Garland as the stars, melodrama, athleticism, and homage to Douglas Fairbanks -- but somehow it fails to come together into a convincing whole. Everyone over-acts, especially the principals, and the unintended result of all this ham is that it's hard to find any of them very sympathetic.

The basic set-up of the plot is not without promise -- that of the fake who's more convincing than the real thing -- but while I don't know the original play, I'm not sure that rewriting as a star vehicle for Judy Garland's benefit did it any favours. This isn't one of her best roles, and her performance as the histrionic and self-deluding Manuela is shrill and lacking in appeal. Gene Kelly, looking rather more comfortable in his costumes than she does in hers, fills the shoes of the vain showman Serafin more adequately, with the charm and virility required by the part -- but after the opportunistic opening number it's hard to credit the sincerity of his character's affections.

There is no real dramatic tension, save for the scene in the square after the Viceroy arrives, when we finally begin to care about the characters' fate... but any suspicion of serious intent is then rapidly washed away by the shoe-horned-in 'Be a Clown' routine. A classic it may have become, but it really doesn't belong here, bearing all too clearly the signs of having been inserted at the last minute in an attempt to obtain at least one 'hit' in a sadly unmemorable score. The subsequent inevitable reprise of this number with Judy Garland in clown-face is more than a little tired: we've seen the urchin-act to better effect in 'Easter Parade' and will see it trotted out once more in 'A Star is Born'. It doesn't fit with the very feminine character as she has been presented to date. And the shadow of the noose, for the fake pirate or for the real one, has gone beyond the stage where it can plausibly be laughed off behind the scenes. The finale is just jarring.

The film clearly isn't intended to be taken as a serious melodrama; which is a pity, because I found those few moments towards the end perhaps the most effective. Unfortunately, however, it's not that funny either. There are a few chuckle-out-loud moments, but on the whole it suffers from the illusion that hammed-up acting is in itself sufficient to raise a laugh: as Serafin himself observes to his rival, ''Try understatement -- it's more effective.''

It's *very* stagy, from the ill-tailored pantomime dresses to the total lack of location filming -- the single stock shot of the real sea makes this even more obvious -- the cartoon Spanish (half the cast pronounce the heroine's name laboriously as 'Man-yoo-ella', the other half as 'Man-weila', and her village is the improbably-christened Calvados) and the cheap special effects that have Kelly in one shot walking the tightrope with his teetering feet clearly failing to touch the wire, and dancing around a very fake donkey. None of this would *matter* if only the film's story would take fire... but, alas, by and large it doesn't. Kelly's dance sequences are effective, if largely divorced from the plot; Garland's songs less so, ranging from the forgettable to the embarrassing ('Mack the Black' and 'the CaRIBbean Sea' -- really!)

Something might have been made of this property -- though not as a Judy Garland vehicle -- but Minnelli's 'The Pirate' isn't it. A historical curiosity in the careers of all those involved.

Judy Garland may never have been so funny again (or had such a wonderfully over-the-top script to work with) as in "The Pirate." Her best scene by far comes toward the end, when she discovers that Gene Kelly is not the dashing pirate he's pretending to be. At first, she makes a great show of passion toward her "dream lover," but her temper soon snaps and Kelly is dodging everything from vases to chairs.

Kelly is also marvelous, both in his dancing and his comic delivery, which meshes perfectly with Garland's. My personal favorite: "Oh senorita, don't marry that pumpkin."

Not to be missed!

I would love to have seen this as a child - having only come across it as an adult it doesn't quite have the charm or greatness of other Kelly movies.

The theatricality of "The Pirate" is too obvious - and dare I say, everyone is just playing a little too hard - especially Garland.

The dance numbers and the music are OK, but apart from the last 20 minutes this would be my least favorite - my children adore Gene Kelly and grew up watching "Singing in the Rain" but they weren't thrilled either with this.

We wanted swashbuckling and got a traveling theater -

Fine if you're in the mood, just don't expect full-on greatness, though parts shine.

Being a Judy Garland fan for four years now, I have always loved to watch her and Gene Kelly work together. This is the third time they worked together ('For Me and My Gal' and 'Summer 'Stock' being their first and last repectively) and it is, I think, their best film together. Judy Garland (26 years old at the time) plays Manuela Alva, a young girl in love with the legend of the pirate Mococo. She visits the town of Port Sebastien in the Caribbean, to meet a wondering player, Sarafin (Gene Kelly) who falls in love with her, learning that she is going to be (unhappily) married to the local mayor, and also learns she loves Mococo. He pretends to be the pirate in order to get her, but the fun really begins when she finds out he isn't Mococo at all. Judy and Gene are as usual brilliant together, particulerly in the scene where Manuela is pretending she knows nothing of Sarafin's deceit, and keeps saying how he cannot act. Although the film lost money on its release, it has since picked up a considerable fan club. One of the best Garland films made. Pure magic, as only Judy and Gene can make.

This is one of those films which people remember with decidedly mixed opinions. I never understood why it was so universally nixed by critics if they could rhapsodize over other period stories like "The Harvey Girls," "Meet Me In St. Louis," or "For Me And My Gal." THE PIRATE seems to be telling its story with tongue firmly in cheek; even Ms. Garland appears to be spoofing her screen persona at times (wringing her hands in horror, over-the-top cowering and fainting, and so forth). And the role of a hammy actor-turned vagabond pirate is tailor-made for the swashbuckling bravado of Gene Kelly-- and the fantasy number of him leaping and bounding all over a clouded, fiery, stage is a cinema highlight. (Other highlights are Garland's vocals of "Love Of My Life" and "Mack The Black" and Kelly's stunning gazebo dance of "Nina.") The supporting cast is also fine, especially Walter Slezak's blow-hard (and delightfully awkward) mayor and Gladys Cooper's loving and delightfully frazzled Aunt Inez- who sometimes sounds like Glinda from 'The Wizard of Oz.' One comment that I'm surprised to read so much on this site is on the outdated (but well-meaning) casting of white actors as Caribbeans. (Usually when I comment on this kind of thing, someone is always ready to counter with some kind of nasty 'race card' accusation and remind me that this was the way in films more than 60 years old, and I should just 'get over it.' Sure.) I can accept the premise of the cast for one main reason: Gene Kelly, using his considerable clout with the studio, made a point of racially integrating the background population in PIRATE's Caribbean exteriors (note all the people of color in the 'Port Sebastian' sequence just working for a living), and to specifically include the Nicholas Brothers in the film's athletic climax, "Be A Clown." (Whenever this film is shown in theaters, this number always gets spontaneous applause from the audience.) I'm delighted to see it run on TCM, and now on DVD home video.

There aren't many films you can call pure entertainment, but The Pirate is certainly one of them. It takes a common plot line that is totally predictable, but it is so much fun to watch two of Hollywood's greatest musical actors together on screen that you don't care about the plot. Judy Garland is ravishing as the sheltered Manuela, who is doomed and forced to marry a man she doesn't love, Don Pedro. Then, along comes Gene Kelly as a two-bit actor who falls for Manuela and tricks her, along with the entire Caribbean village, into thinking he is the notorious pirate Macoco, AKA Mack the Black. Stylishly directed by Vincente Minnelli, and wonderfully choreographed, this is one of the better musicals during MGM's golden age of musical productions. Everything here is quite campy, especially Kelly's performance, which is so over the top and outrageous, you won't know whether to laugh or cringe. Take it as pure fun and entertainment. This is a great musical with some good numbers, phenomenal dancing, and two really good looking actors at the top of their game. The Pirate is so much fun.

Take the conceit of commedia del'arte, add the lush fussiness of Vincente Minnelli's artistic taste and then varnish on the glossy, expensive polish of the MGM style...and you have The Pirate, a film that proves the point, too much is just too much. When the actors play second fiddle to their costumes, you know there's a problem.

On a Caribbean island, young and innocent Manuela (Judy Garland) dreams her foolish dreams of the dashing, brave, romantic pirate, Mack, the black macoco. Alas, Manuela is an orphan, living with her aunt and uncle who are loving but who have suffered financial reverses. They tell Manuela that they have arranged for her to marry in a few days the powerful and wealthy mayor of their town, Don Pedro Vargas (Walter Slezak). But then some traveling players arrive, led by Serafin (Gene Kelly), juggler, conjurer, singer and dancer, a dark, curly-haired rogue who oozes macho charm. He woos, wins and leaves all the beautiful women he meets, all of whom he simply calls nina. Well, of course, Manuela and Serafin will meet. He falls in love, she resists and Don Pedro is furious. By the end of the movie we learn a great deal about Mack the Black and who he is, we learn about love and stage folks and, of course, that talent and love must have their way.

For a musical with songs by Cole Porter starring Garland and Kelly, The Pirate turns into a bit of a slog. Fifty minutes into the 101-minute movie and we've experienced only two songs. Minnelli evidently thought that the rococo-tinged acting, especially by Kelly, combined with lavish velvet dresses and Carmen-Miranda turbans for the women, harlequin tights for the men, exploding purple and scarlet smoke bombs and flaming torches in every night scene would wow us groundlings. When we first meet Manuela's aunt, the woman is encased from throat to toe in deep green velvet which has been puffed and fringed to within an inch of its life. It's difficult not to keep staring at this thing while the scene is played. Everything we can see -- the costumes, the sets, the whole mise en scene -- is so overwrought with color and fussiness I wanted to open a window and let fresh air in. The Pirate, even with many of the good things it possesses, is often just plain stultifying and campy.

There are good elements, but none, in my view, are knock-outs. Kelly gives probably the most athletic performance of his career. He swings from ropes, clambers up to balconies and leaps down again, dances with a sword (with all those exploding fire bombs behind him) and stomps about in a semi-flamenco. I'm not a great fan of Kelly, either as an actor or a dancer, but he is supremely athletic and graceful in everything he does in this film. It's a pleasure just to watch him move. The Cole Porter songs, in my view, need to be heard more than once to be appreciated. Some, like Nina and Mack the Black, written to be the basis of big production numbers, depend too heavily for me on their orchestrations. But You Can Do No Wrong and Love of My Life are small-scale gems. Be a Clown is a terrific speciality number used twice. The first time is with Kelly and Fayard and Harold Nicholas. It's fast and heavy on gymnastics. I'll admit I was a little surprised to see that Kelly was able to keep up with the two. The second time closes the movie, with Manuela and Serafin performing in clown costume. Here's Judy the waif, all made up, clowning and singing and dancing, with Kelly by her side. It seems to take a long time to get to this point, but the number is worth waiting for...and the fast forward will make it easier the second time.

Fans of movie musicals will detect an uncanny similarity between Porter's music for Be a Clown and the Nacio Herb Brown music for Make 'Em Laugh, which Brown came up with specifically for Singin' in the Rain. In fact, the similarity is almost note for note. The story goes that when the similarity was pointed out to producer (and the writer of the lyric for Make 'Em Laugh) Arthur Freed, he contacted Porter and asked what he should do. Porter is supposed to have just laughed and told him not to worry about it.

"The Pirate" was a troubled production. Not only was Judy Garland at her lowest due to her health and her addiction, but the film was considered a mess by the studio when they previewed it. So, they re-tooled various parts of the film and released it--to less than stellar reactions from the public. Despite having Gene Kelly and Garland and the full MGM glossy treatment, the film didn't connect with folks and it lost money...a lot according to IMDb. Plus it didn't help that the film was originally meant as a comedy and songs were slapped into the script (sloppily).

The film's basic plot is rather clever. Judy Garland plays a nice young lady who has been betrothed to the Mayor (Walter Slezak)--a seemingly boring old man. She's accepted her fate, though a traveling actor (Kelly) sees this as a waste--as he wants her himself. He tries to court her and is rather unsuccessful until he hypnotizes her and discovers she is a bad girl at heart and wants a blood-thirsty pirate as a lover. So, he does what any guy would do--announces that HE is the dreaded pirate Macoco! The problem is someone in town really IS Macoco but has assumed a respected guise. What's to come of all this? See the film...or not! My advice is NOT!

I must admit that although I have probably seen more musicals than most anyone you'd ever meet, I am not a huge fan of the genre. This is mostly because too often the songs and plot aren't integrated well. Too often, folks break into song for no reason whatsoever. In "The Pirate", for example, Judy bursts into song when she thinks the man she loves is dead. Huh?!? Also the songs themselves often don't fit the story at all (such as "Be a Clown" at the end of the film--where they obviously gave up on the plot and was integrated well into "Singing in the Rain"). But worst of all, despite Cole Porter being the writer, it's obviously NOT his best. Too many of the songs are either dull or have lyrics that made my brain hurt. The worst was the opening song "Niña" which uses words like 'neuresthenia' and 'schizophrenia' (terms that weren't even known at the time the film was set). Finally, some of the production numbers are just insane. This is supposed to be set on a Caribbean Island--yet they have the most ridiculous song and dance number where Kelly performs on a set that only could be on a sound stage. Overall, despite being a nice looking film, "The Pirate" is among the worst MGM made in this era.

You'd think that another Gene Kelly/Judy Garland movie, directed by Vincente Minnelli no less, would go down in history. It's too bad that this movie lacks the proper script. Although Judy makes some parts of this movie hilarious, Gene needs a little help. If you can ever get your hands on this movie, I'd watch it just for the laughs. First of all, this movie is about the Carribean. Now does fair-skinned white as an angel Judy Garland look even the least bit like a Carribean dame? Kelly passes off with his mustache. As I said before, look for the humor. The best scenes in brief: 1. Judy Garland's fight with Gene Kelly in which she cuts him in the butt with her sword 2. Judy and Gene's "Mack the Black" song. Judy sounds all right, Gene dances all right and Vincente directs all right. But that's just it. It should've been TERRIfIC! A litle more effort and this movie would've won an Academy Award. There are a few little steamy parts in here. Judy sings to Gene and Gene looks at her with such loving awe that you can't help but love them both. I liked this movie. 8/10

I know all musicals are a bit inane, but this one takes the cake. Even though it's a fantasy, it could have been better. Plot is weak and the music a little better. Judy is a bit exaggerated and hyper in most of her scenes while Gene is all facade and hammy. Yes, he's portraying an actor, but still---- Nice color but inferior sets. Only Cooper gives a decent performance as Judys Aunt. "Be a Clown' good number, but didn't need to be repeated at the end. Made absolutely no sense as I guess the rest of the movie. It was a flop when released and I can see why.