Les pirates de Capri

The Pirates of Capri is a cheaply made B movie shot on location in Italy. Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer who, a few years earlier had made Detour, the quintessential B movie, it is probably better than you might expect, although hampered by a treatment too short on action.

Louis Hayward plays Captain Sirocco, the Zorro-like champion of the downtrodden peasants and defender of the Queen Carolina (Binnie Barnes), the sister of Marie Antoinette, who is kept ignorant of her people's treatment by the evil Baron von Holstein (Rudolph Serato) and who is so fearful of suffering the same fate as her sister that just the mere mention of the word 'people' sends her into something of a tizzy.

Like Zorro, Captain Sirocco leads a double life. Not only is he the fearless do-gooder intent on bringing down the evil Baron, he is also the outrageously foppish Count di Amalfi, a member of the Queen's court who delights in baiting the Baron. Serato makes a fine villain with his sculpted beard and mistrusting gaze, but Hayward's effete portrayal, while no doubt exactly what was required of him, quickly grows tiresome.

Ulmer's direction is interesting throughout, and Anchise Brizzi's cinematography is exceptional for such a low budget feature.

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.

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?

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.

Louis Hayward is at his foppish best in this somewhat derivative swashbuckler as the "Count de Amalfi" (alias "Scirocco") who plays the buffoon at the Neapolitan court of the well meaning, but feeble Queen "Maria Carolina" (Binnie Barnes) who is pretty much under the thumb of her minister "Baron Holstein" (Rudolph Serato) and his savage regime. This isn't just your usual "Zorro" style story, though - the "Scirocco" wants change - he is working with his fellow freedom fighters, but he wants as peaceful transition as possible and that's his challenge... The rest of this is all pretty set-piece, Hawyard is the star with little around him to eclipse his status. Plenty of sword fighting and intrigue does keep it going, though, and although you have certainly seen it all before (and better with Douglas Fairbanks or Errol Flynn), Hayward still makes a decent fist of it - it looks stylish enough, and I quite enjoyed it all.