The Black Pirate (Review)
Wednesday, 27th April 2011, 10:16

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If one were to compile a list of the most acrobatic and physically gifted actors, it would probably contain Buster Keaton, Gene Kelly, Burt Lancaster and Douglas Fairbanks. Fairbanks, like Keaton, predominately worked in the silent era and, with his wife Mary Pickford, was part of the powerful group (along with Charlie Chaplin and D.W. Griffith) that established the independent production company United Artists. Fairbanks had a long and distinguished career with several notable films including The Thief of Baghdad,, Robin Hood and The Gaucho. Amongst these celebrated films is The Black Pirate, directed by Albert Parker, with Fairbanks as producer, and is a film that hasn't previously been released on DVD in the UK.

The film begins with some intertitles establishing who the pirates were and what they did to merchant ships before moving on to the ship which has been taken by pirates who, now in the process of removing the ship's cargo, have tied the crew to the mast and have led a trail of gunpowder around them leading to several barrels. With the plunder now in the lifeboats and the pirates almost all off the ship, the gunpowder trail is lit and, with the pirates a safe distance away, the ship explodes.

Not everyone perishes in the explosion as a young man and his father make their way to a nearby island and the father, just before he dies, gives a ring to his son. Having buried his father and carved a promise of vengeance against his killers onto a piece of wood, the man notices the pirates stashing their treasure and recovering directions to a haul of buried treasure.

Seeing this as his opportunity for revenge, he approaches the pirate gang and says he would like to join them. When questioned as to why they should let him join them, he boasts of his physical abilities and says he will defeat their best fighter. What follows is a sword fight of amazing reality in 1926 with the two combatants using rapiers with amazing skill and ruthlessness but, of course, our hero prevails and is welcomed into the group. When they tell him what they do to ships, he protests they are wasting one of the most valuable commodities and says it is better to capture the ship and use it for ransom rather than simply plunder the vessel and then blow it up.

In order to prove he is as good as his word, The Black Pirate persuades the pirates to let him try his luck on the next ship and, by disabling the rudder and quickly and quietly boarding the ship, he captures it by himself and, much to the chagrin of the pirate captain, is elected their leader. Recognising the necklace worn by a well-dressed woman on the boat as something only worn by royalty, he says they should get a decent ransom from the ship and the people on board, so a letter is written and several men in the pirate ship take it with them in order to deliver their ultimatum.

Unbeknownst to the Black Pirate, the pirate captain has no truck with hostage taking and simply wants to get the riches and leave and then blowing the boat up so sabotages the delivery of the letter, wins back the affections of his men turn on their former leader, ordering him to walk the plank.

This is swashbuckling fun at its finest and Douglas Fairbanks is such a great screen presence that the film belies its age. It was the very first film shot in (two strip) Technicolor and, with incredible sets and great action sequences, is a great watch. I'm not quite sure how many times I've seen someone in a film or TV show making their way from the crow's nest (or somewhere else high up on the ship) to the deck by sliding down a sail with a knife in one hand, slicing it as they go but had no idea it was taken from The Black Pirate with Douglas Fairbanks doing the stunt.

There have been so many pirate movies made over the years, most of which I haven't seen, that it is impossible to say where this ranks – it is certainly a great deal better than the recent Pirate-themed franchise with the fourth instalment on the way. However, it is a terrifically made film with superb direction, a good story by Fairbanks (writing under the pseudonym Elton Thomas) and acting, great stunts and sets and is utterly entertaining.

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