Pirates of Tortuga (1961)

An English captain and his crew are dispatched to the Spanish-controlled island of Tortuga, where famed privateer Henry Morgan has defected from his support of the English Empire and is ... See full summary »

Director:

Robert D. Webb

Writers:

Jesse Lasky Jr. (screenplay) (as Jesse L. Lasky Jr.), Melvin Levy (screenplay)

Stars:

Ken Scott, Letícia Román, Dave King

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Ken Scott	...	Bart Paxton
Letícia Román	...	Meg Graham
Dave King	...	Pee Wee
John Richardson	...	Percy
Rafer Johnson	...	John Gammel
Robert Stephens	...	Henry Morgan
Rachel Stephens	...	Phoebe
Stanley Adams	...	Captain Montbars
Edgar Barrier	...	Sir Thomas Mollyford
James Forrest	...	Reggie
Patrick Sexton	...	Randolph
Arthur Gould-Porter	...	Bonnett
Hortense Petra	...	Lola
Malcolm Cassell	...	Kipper

Storyline

An English captain and his crew are dispatched to the Spanish-controlled island of Tortuga, where famed privateer Henry Morgan has defected from his support of the English Empire and is running a strictly piratical venture, stopping any and all vessels including English.

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Plot Keywords:

ship | pirate | 

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Genres:

Adventure

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

October 1961 (USA)

Also Known As:

I pirati di Tortuga

Company Credits

Production Co:

Clover Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Average Shot Length (ASL) = 9.5 seconds

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Goofs

At the start of the movie is a shot of Trafalgar Square with Admiralty Arch in the foreground and Nelson's Column in the middle. The movie is about pirates during the reign of Charles II (1660-1685). Trafalgar Square was named after the famous sea-battle in 1805 in which he died. The Arch was erected by order of king Edward VII and completed in 1912. Part of the text on it is visible: "(:ANNO:DECIMO:EDWARDI:SEPTIMI:REGIS: :VICTORIAE:REGINAE:CIVES:GRATISSIMI:MDCCCCX:)"

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Connections

Edited from Anne of the Indies (1951)

User Reviews

How bad can a film get ...?

Oh my. 20th Century Fox must have burned with shame and embarrassment at this wretched turkey being released under their aegis. I enjoy almost all old movies, and up until viewing Pirates of Tortuga had never seen a film that was ALL bad, without any redeeming qualities or entertainment value at all ... but this is the one. Pirates is so very inept in every respect that it can't even be enjoyed as one of those "so bad it's good" pictures. The direction is almost non-existent, with scenes that drag on as is a first rehearsal had been filmed, and filmed before it had even been blocked. This plodding footage is interspersed with stock shots and, in cases, entire scenes lifted from earlier (and MUCH better) movies, and the inserts are glaringly obvious, particularly in the first battle at sea (thirty or so background extras listlessly waving swords at each other as if half asleep, never varying their position, suddenly interrupted by a genuinely action-packed insert from The Black Swan!). The cast is headed by lacklustre Ken Scott, who had lent his wooden presence to other Fox productions (his supporting role in Stopover Tokyo helping to sink that particular dud). John Richardson looks fabulous, but has no technique, looks somewhat lost, and after this film went back to virtual extra status until his breakthrough a few years later in She and One Million Years BC. Worst of all, in fact the worst performance I have ever seen by a leading lady in a studio production, comes from Leticia Roman, a pretty but spectacularly untalented Italian girl playing a cockney and spouting lines like "lord love a duck" and "you ain't ever treated me like a lay-dee" in a voice that's a cross between Monica Vitti and Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. I am in danger here of making Pirates of Tortuga sound like something worth sitting through in order to have a giggle, but believe me it is NOT!