Captain Pirate (1952)

Powerful

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Intrigued as to the selection of the title for this mostly superior pirate adventure story. Perhaps it is meant to convey that several(4 to be exact) pirate captains, as well as the captain of a slaver, will play a significant role in this tale. John Sutton plays Evans, captain of the slaver, He is the chief villain, in blaming a recent attack on the Columbian city of Cartagena on Doctor Blood(Louis Hayward), former slave and scourge of the Caribbean, recently reformed into exercising his skill as a medical doctor. Evans' primary motive for getting rid of Blood seems to be to eliminate his chief rival for the hand of Dona Isabella, arrived from Spain. Sutton was an imposing, handsome, fellow with an aristocratic bearing and lingo. Although occasionally playing the romantic lead(as in "Hudson's Bay"), he was mostly type cast as an oily villain or 'the other man'. Evens' partner in his scheme was French pirate Coulevain, who reportedly claimed he was Blood, in his one recent raid, on Cartagena, where it was eventually deduced that he stole an especially valuable jewelry collection, featuring large high quality emeralds.(Columbia has most of the world's premier emerald deposits). Coulevain would eventually pay for his impersonation and theft...... On the way to Tortuga, Blood encountered the friendly pirate captain Tomas Velasquez , who had just come from Tortugo, where he acquired his latest mistress: Celeste(Genevieve Aumont), who makes a play for Blood while they are alone in the captain's cabin. Blood notices that she is wearing emerald earrings that fit the description of those stolen. Asked where she got them from, she refuses to give a straight answer. However, later, Tomas answers that she stole them from Pirate captain Easterling, while he was drunk and asleep. Easterling then becomes the prime suspect in the impersonation of Blood. According to Tomas, he is probably in Martinique, to which Blood sets sail. Incidentally, George Givot, who played Tomas , was easily the most charismatic character in the film, with his booming friendly voice and manner. Easterling enters the tavern where Blood is talking to Easterling's favorite mistress, Amanda((Malu Gatica). He's not pleased, but keeps quite. The next morning, Blood goes to her address to accompany her to his ship. However, he finds her murdered, and her expensive stolen emerald necklace missing. Blood soon has an altercation with Easterling and his aid, the Egyptian. Eventually, Easterling reveals that he obtained the necklace from the pirate captain Coulevain, whom he claims has a ship large enough to attack Cartagena alone, whereas he himself doesn't have such a ship. Easterling directs Blood to Santo Domingo as the likeliest place to find Coulevain. Upon arrival, Blood goes to Madame Duval's tavern, where he finds information about Coulevain. By trickery, Blood gets into Coulevain's room and sea chest, where he finds an emerald-studded tiara, similar to the one described as stolen. Blood and Coulevain independently head for the Panamanian port of Puerto Bello(Porto belo). Blood gets there first and, posing as the new military advisor to the new Viceroy there, has the cannons from his ship placed in front of the fort, aimed in a particular direction. Serendipitously, he meets Isabella, who is a prisoner there, for her involvement in a Blood takeover of Evan's ship, a while back.....When Coulevain attacks the fort at Porto belo, his ship gets stuck right where Blood planned, in the line of fire of his shore cannons, and his ship is pulverized. He claims he is Blood, thus confirming his guilt as the impersonator of Blood. Blood is pardoned of wrongdoing, as is Isabella......I found the story and characterizations superior to the previous related film, "The Fortunes of Captain Blood"(1950), which also starred Hayward and Medina, but was shot in B&W as opposed to the Technicolor of the present film. However, I did miss Dona Drake, as the extra-flirtaceous tavern wench Pepita. In the present film, Celeste, more or less her equivalent, wasn't nearly as enticing to me.

Notice the billing of Louis Hayward swashbucklers after 1948. While always getting top billing he began getting top solo billing. He was one of the first to get a percentage of the profits of his pictures. They did well and Hayward retired comfortably. Often playing dual roles in his films, the dandy by day and swashbuckler by night, he mutes the dual characterizations in "Captain Pirate" and it is sorely missed. The lifted eyebrow, that haughty Louis Hayward laugh, which made him so unique in "Man in the Iron Mask" and "Pirates of Capri" he tempered in later films. However, with his dash and élan, that velvet voice, his decoration for World War II valor giving him extra gravitas, Captain Louis Hayward is always a joy to watch and "Captain Pirate" is wonderful, innocent fun.

"Captain Pirate" qualifies as a mediocre 85-minute sequel of sorts to actor Louis Hayward's earlier epic "Fortunes of Captain Blood." Not surprisingly, since this studio-bound Columbia Pictures release is based on Rafael Sabatini's swashbuckling novel "Captain Blood Returns," Hayward reprises his role as heroic Captain Peter Blood. The South African native is serviceable enough as Blood, but he lacks the charisma that Errol Flynn brought to the role in the 1935 Warner Brothers picture "Captain Blood." "Lady in the Iron Mask" director Ralph Murphy establishes the setting of "Captain Pirate" with a map of the island of Jamaica behind the opening title credits. As this yarn unwinds, Blood is providing free-of-charge medical attention to a couple of escaped Negro slaves. Blood's nervous pal Angus McVickers (Charles Irwin of "Bomba on Panther Island") warns him that the government has the right to hang him for such treasonable acts. History wise, at the time that this tale takes place, the English were at war with the French. Jamaican authorities arrive at Blood's house and arrest him on charges of piracy for the bloody plunder of Cartagena, a seaport on the northwestern side of Columbia on the Caribbean coast. Everybody recognized Blood from his distinctive blue and silver outfit. Spanish officials are especially upset with Blood because Cartagena is a Spanish port and Spain is one of the Crown's allies. Blood's fiancée Dona Isabella (British actress Patricia Medina of "Botany Bay") is flabbergasted by this turn of events. She rushes to the governor's office and defends Blood. Like the previous Captain Blood movie, this one includes Blood's back story as an imprisoned British subject and his subsequent pardon. Although cinematographer Charles Lawton, Jr. of "The Black Arrow" lensed "Captain Pirate" in color, the flashbacks that accompany Medina's expository dialogue about her future husband consist of black and white footage lifted directly from "Fortunes of Captain Blood." Dona Isabella suspects that Hilary Evans (John Sutton of "Thief of Damascus") of the Royal Africa Company that has a profitable business in slave trading may be behind this ruse to discredit Blood. Later, after she visits briefly with Blood, she sends Angus out to round up Blood's old crew. This brief recruitment episode is presented as a montage with music instead of dialogue. Isabella meets with Hilary once more before he sets sail. Ostensibly, she shows up to apologize for her defiant behavior at the governor's office, but she comes on board largely to distract Hilary so that Blood's men can free their leader. As a result, British authorities later clap Isabella in irons herself and imprison her for her treachery. "Captain Pirate" is one of those buccaneer movies where the hero's reputation is tarnished, and he has to find the rogue who has made his life a nightmare in order to clear his name.Like Medina, several of these thespians appeared earlier in "Fortunes of Captain Blood." While they play essentially the same characters, Medina's Dona Isabella here differs enough from her role as Isabelita Sotomayor in "Fortunes of Captain Blood" that she must have been playing a different character. Altogether this low-budget movie ranks as just another predictable, uninspired, though slightly more complicated pirate saga, bolstered somewhat by Hayward's agreeable performance. Like "Fortunes of Captain Blood," "Captain Pirate" features a surprise scene toward the end where the good guy pirates turn the tables on the bad guy pirates and pay them back in spades. Veteran villain Ted de Corsia of "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" has a brief role as a slimy pirate who crosses swords with our hero.The best line of dialogue has Hayward defending his actions to his future wife. He says, "A man cannot live like a man without making enemies."

This is the latest retelling of the film which made Errol Flynn a star. Louis Heyward plays a convincing Peter Blood, a doctor who becomes a pirate when he is convicted unjustly. I enjoyed the movie when I saw it as a kid. I don't know if I will still like it now. I will have a chance to see it again as Sony MGM is planning to release it on DVD on June 27, 2006 as a double program with "Fortunes of Captain Blood". "Captain Pirate" is a loose remake of "Fortunes..." made 2 years later again starring Heyward as Blood and in color this time and written by the same screen writers, Frank Burt and Robert Libott. However, at that time, I found "Fortunes..." to be a better film. Now I'll be able to judge them when the DVD comes out. By the way, my favorite pirate movie of all time, then and now, is still "The Crimson Pirate" with Burt Lancaster.