Paul Henried tries valiantly to carry this movie, which is badly written, badly directed, and badly edited. Large portions of the film are devoted to people looking blankly around at something or other (or at each other), or perpetually riding horses about the countryside. Actors often seem to be still waiting for their cues even as they're on camera ("oh! am I on?"). At one point, a cannon ball explodes behind a soldier but he grabs his stomach. The sense of scale often is missing due to the overuse of close-ups. The best scenes take place on board ship, and the pursuit scenes are fairly well done. But for the most part, the acting is wooden and formulaic, and the sword fight scenes are poorly choreographed.
Review of Pirates of Tripoli
