The Black Pirate (1926)

Director:

Albert Parker

Writers:

Douglas Fairbanks (story)
Jack Cunningham (adaptation)

Release Date:

8 March 1926 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Action

Tagline:

The Love Story of a Bold Buccaneer

Plot:

Seeking revenge, an athletic young man joins the pirate band responsible for his father's death.

Plot Keywords:

Pirate | Revenge | Good Versus Evil | Sabotage | Sundial

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Douglas Fairbanks	...	The Duke of Arnoldo aka The Black Pirate
Billie Dove	...	Princess Isobel
Anders Randolf	...	Pirate Captain
Donald Crisp	...	MacTavish
Tempe Pigott	...	Duenna
Sam De Grasse	...	Pirate Lieutenant
Charles Stevens	...	Powder man
Charles Belcher	...	Chief passenger (Nobleman)
E.J. Ratcliffe	...	The Governor

Also Known As:

The Black Buccaneer

Runtime:

88 min | USA:94 min (restored version)

Country:

USA

Color:

Color (2-strip Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Spain:T

Filming Locations:

Santa Catalina Island, Channel Islands, California, USA

Company:

Elton Corporation

Trivia:

The double-thick Technicolor prints (two strips of dyed film, cemented together) presented numerous screening problems for untrained projectionists. If screened improperly, they would warp, scratch, etc. and due to the expense of printing in Technicolor at this time (since there were no optical printers, or any easier way of printing such technology in those days) forced the Fairbanks studio to issue a black-and-white version as well.

Goofs:

Continuity: At about 31 minutes into the film, there are several shots of the "Black Pirate" aiming two swivel cannons at the viewer, interspersed with reaction shots of other actors. The first shot shows him in front of a whitish background (eg an overcast sky), the second such shot (a few seconds later) has a pitch black background. All such shots after that have the white background.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Goonies (1985)

Fun swashbuckler aided by early two-strip Technicolor

This restoration of the original 1926 production almost seems like an anachronism. We feel somewhat creepy watching a silent film in color. Although color entered the realm of silent film around 1923, over 95% of the silent films in color are lost. This is a rare treat (even though we only see browns, reds and blues and even though the water is sometimes red, sometimes blue) and along with the original score re-recorded and 19 minutes of outtakes following the 90 minute feature, it is somewhat of an event. The content is the usual formulaic action film, a real swashbuckler in the Errol Flynn sense of the word. Fairbanks, Billie Dove and Donald Crisp all perform well. Not a great film by any means but lovely to look at in this early color process' infancy. (For great two-strip Technicolor see Michael Curtiz' back to back horror films of the early thirties - DOCTOR X and MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM.