Pirates

Errol Flynn plays Brian Hawke, who goes undercover to join a syndicate of pirates off Madagascar. Hawke even orders himself lashed in the opening sequence in the event that he is examined.

The two gang leaders - played by Maureen O'Hara and Anthony Quinn - each have their own ideas as to the sincerity of Hawke's alleged defection from the British Fleet. Brasiliano (Quinn) wants him dead, and Spitfire Stevens (O'Hara) wants beauty advice. Hey, you think I'm kidding???

Plans for Hawke grow complicated when the pirates raid a royal ship from India and unknowingly include a princess among their hostages. Hawke knows of course, and so he tries his best to protect both her virtue AND identity.

The shining star here is Maureen O'Hara, in top form as a lady pirate. This was a role she was well-acquainted with, having previously appeared in THE BLACK SWAN opposite Tyrone Power; she handles a blade well.

Released: 1965
Length: 104 Minutes
Rated: NR
Format: Color
Language: English
Genre: Adventure

Synopsis: The parents of children living in Jamaica, afraid that the kids are growing up uncivilized, decide to send them to England. But during the voyage, the children's ship is boarded by pirates and in the confusion the children wind up trapped on the pirate ship. The children view it as a lark, and one of them, a girl named Emily, develops an unusual bond with Chavez, the pirate captain.

The superstitious pirates can't wait to unload the kids at the first port, but a tragedy prevents it, and Emily's relationship with Chavez takes a fateful twist.

Released: 1971
Made in: Spain
Rated: PG
Format: Color
Language: English
Genre: Adventure

Synopsis: Pirates take over a lighthouse on a rocky island in the South Atlantic during the 19th century. They then execute a devious plan to cause ships to run aground, pillaging their wrecks.

A lone member of the lighthouse crew survives, and he deperately fights their plot. A shipwrecked maiden that avoids the pirates slaughter soon complicates the situation.

Released: 1953
Made in: USA
Length: 89 Minutes
Rated: NR
Format: Color
Language: English
Genre: Action, Adventure

Synopsis: Master of Ballantrae has fantastic script and score and the color cinematography is fantastic. The main asset, of course, is Flynn who really shows up in this one. He proves, probably for the last time, why he was such a big star.

Also, its a good buddy picture with a funny Irish actor playing Alan Hale role. There are some fabulous locations and a couple of solid villians to round things out.

Another asset is the use of real sailing ships. There are very few process shots or back projection garbage. If you're a Flynn fan and you've missed this one, check it out. It's a terrific, action packed swashbuckler.

(Gilbert & Sullivan)
Released: 1983
Made in: USA
Length: 112 Minutes
Rated: G
Format: Color
Language: English
Genre: Musical, comedy, Dance

Synopsis: In my opinion, this 1983 version of the "Pirates of Penzance" is the BEST of all the movie versions.Kevin Kline's performance in the role of the "Pirate King" was so incredible no-one has yet managed to equal it.

An adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan's hilarious comic operetta of the same name, the story involves a series of wild and funny conincidences that result in side-splitting laughter.

The plot of the story is that the dying father of Frederick instructs the nanny to apprentice the child to a pilot (ship navigator.) Since the nanny is hard of hearing, she mistakes "Pilot" for "Pirate" and apprentices him to a Pirate.

At his 21st birthday he is finally free of the indenture and wants to leave the crew. This causes many complications because he is actually the only effective pirate among them and the crew do not want him to leave. Pursuing his dream of marrying the woman he loves is not easy.

Released: 1944
Made in: USA
Length: 94 Minutes
Rated: NR
Format: Color
Language: English
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Musical

Synopsis: Bob Hope is felicitously teamed with luscious Virginia Mayo. Hope plays Sylvester the Great, a two-bit entertainer "touring" the West Indies in the 18th century. Mayo is Princess Margaret, who is kidnapped by a rough,tough buccaneer known only as "The Hook."

Through a series of unbelievable circumstances, Sylvester rescues Margaret, and the two of them pose as travelling troubadours in a treacherous pirate colony.

One of the performances that I really enjoyed in this movie was offered by Walter Brennan as an addled pirate named Featherhead, a character right out of a Tex Avery cartoon!

Released: 1987
Made in: USA
Length: 98 Minutes
Rated: PG
Format: Color
Language: English
Genre: Adventure, Comedy

Synopsis: The Princess Bride is staged as a book read by grandfather (Peter Falk) to his ill grandson (Fred Savage.)

A tongue-in-cheek fairy tale depicting a stable boy-turned-pirate. She gets kidnapped, he gets killed, but it all ends up okay. Do not miss this one!

Released: 1940
Made in: USA
Length: 127 Minutes
Rated: NR
Language: English
Genre: Adventure, Romantic

Synopsis: In the 1580's the Sea Hawks -- the name given to the bold privateers who prowl the oceans taking ships and treasure on behalf of the British crown are the most dedicated defenders of British interests in the face of the expanding power of Philip of Spain. Captain Geoffrey Thorpe (Errol Flynn) is the boldest of the Sea Hawks, responsible for capturing and destroying more than 50 Spanish ships and ten Spanish cities. His capture of a Spanish galleon, however, leads to more than he bargained for, in a romance with the ambassador's niece (Brenda Marshall).

The Sea Hawk was the last and most mature of Flynn's swashbuckling adventure films, played with brilliant stylistic flourishes by the star at his most charismatic.

Released: 1977
Made in: USA
Length: 124 Minutes
Rated: GP
Format: Color
Language: English

While not a pirate movie per se .. this is one of the most suspenseful adventures ever. The underwater photography throughout this movie is gorgeous, all accented by one of John Barry's finest musical scores which lends mystery and expectation to various scenes and sustains an atmosphere of suspense throughout the movie.

Released: 1954
Made in: USA
Length: 106 Minutes
Rated: NR
Format: Color
Language: English
Genre: Adventure, Romantic

A family/adventure classic, based on the characters created by Robert Lewis Stevenson. Robert Newton repeats his Treasure Island role as Long John Silver. The ruthless pirate "El Toro" Mendoza has kidnapped the Governor's beautiful young daughter and captured Jim Hawkins along with her.

Around Jim's neck hangs a medallion that will help Long John find more of legendary Captain Flint's buried gold, still waiting to be discovered on Treasure Island.

It is almost impossible to see a pirate movie without seeing earrings. Naturally the question has often arisen, did real pirates wear earrings? Surprisingly, the answer is yes.
The Black Swan is one pirate movie I remember well. Tyrone Power (pictured above) was the handsome, and very rough I must add, pirate.

While I'm sure Hollywood was trying to make leading men such as Erroll Flynn and Douglas Fairbanks look suave and exotic, real pirates were piercing their ears for a more practical purpose. It was believed that piercing the ears with such precious metals as silver and gold, improved one's eye sight. This was the main reason pirates performed such a ritual. It must also be noted that most other sea faring men also indulged in the practice.

While for years this was considered an old wives tale, today the art of acupuncture lends some credence to the practice of ear piercing. The ear lobe is an acupuncture point for several eye ailments. It is quite possible that the practice of ear piercing was brought to the west from the oriental trade routes.

Still another source says:
They used the earring as payment when they crossed over to the next world (when they died). Now this sounds logical considering the superstitious nature of mariners but it has one problem. A fellow pirate was quick to pull your payment from your earlobe rather than send a perfectly good earring with you to Davy Jones.

Danny from the UK says:
"As you are aware, sailors are superstitious and religious in their own way, and they carried gold from their ear so that if their body is washed ashore, they might buy a proper Christian burial. Because of this association between the earring and drowning, it soon became a good luck charm protecting the wearer from drowning. Later, an earring in the other ear became a charm to protect the wearer against fire (which was the other great danger sailors faced)."

And as always it may have simply been a "fashion statement" on the wearers part. As pointed out by many people, pirates (at least the successful ones) were a colorful lot.

It seems like all of my life I have been canning. I remember when I was a very young girl of six helping mum to can/preserve raspberries. In those days, most families didn't even own a refrigerator much less, a freezer. Therefore it was necessary for us to preserve eatables if we wanted to store them for use during the long winter months.