Blackbeard, the Pirate (1952)

Good movie but grossly overrated

Don't Believe the Hype

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

As far as telling a reasonably accurate account of Blackbeard's career as a pirate, forget it! It reminds me more of certain westerns that have Billy the Kid, Wild Bill Hickok, and Jesse James, for example, interacting. The two main pirates in this yarn are Blackbeard and Henry Morgan. Well, Morgan was active as a pirate toward the beginning of 'The Golden Age of Piracy', whereas Blackbeard was a pirate near the end of this period, in the next century! Nonetheless, why not have probably the 2 most famous pirates who operated in the Caribbean tangle with each other in a classic tale, irrespective of the historical impossibility......RKO was taking advantage of the success of the mesmerizing characterization by Robert Newton of Long John Silver" in the 1950 hit "Treasure Island" to hopefully produce another pirate tale hit. Throw in a ravishing Linda Darnell as a major player, to spice things up even more....Keith Andes is criticized by most reviewers for being too bland in his role as the romantic lead Robert Maynard. I found him OK. If you need an Errol Flynn or Burt Lancaster, check out "Against All Flags" and "The Crimson Pirate", which were also released that year('52). Torin Thatcher makes an excellent Henry Morgan, while William Bendex is OK as Blackbeard's first mate. Irene Ryan(of "The Beverly Hillbillies")makes an occasional impression as a tipsy Maid in Waiting for Linda. While drunk, Blackbeard got her to reveal the location of Morgan's treasure: right on his ship!........The final scene , in which Keith and Linda are sharing a romantic interlude in their flight from a dying Blackbeard and his crew ignores the reality that the crew is probably hot on their tail in the other landing craft. Good luck!......Blackbeard found the presence of Linda on his deck a great aid in discouraging bombardment or boarding by Morgan or others. Linda claims to be the daughter of one time pirate captain Edwin Mansfield. This name is a slight alteration of Edwin Mansvelt: an actual pirate captain of these times........Blackbeard finally gets his due from his crew for being excessively greedy with the treasure. The ultimate fate of the treasure is ironic......Robert Newton would get yet another opportunity to display his unique charisma as a classic pirate 2 years later in "Long John Silver"

This movie is a disappointment. The story line isn't up to the usual Raoul Walsh pictures. The main player in the picture was very dry and dull. Poor Linda Darnell didn't live up to her usual billing. Irene Ryan was funny. But her role was very horrible. William Bendix turns in a good performance with the script he was given. Keith Andes was very disappointing. It seems he's not comfortable at all. The main character Blackbeard (Robert Newton) lines was crisp nor was dry and very boring. The lighting in the picture was extremely poor. Making the color very dull. You can see RKO executives of the time should have been shot for releasing this sinking ship of a movie.

a really nice story. its basic virtue remains the performance of Robert Newton who creates the perfect pirate image. than, the charming couple Linda Darnell - Keith Andes and the flavor from other space, land, sensitivity. it is a classical story about treasure with the veil of romance. but it has the gift to be more than an another movie with pirates, adventures and victory of good guys. it is a not brilliant but beautiful story. the humor, the clever solutions, the fight scenes are nice and almost touching. so, more than entertainment, it is a trip in heart of a fashion and chance to admire a special actor in clothes of a legendary hero.

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.