Edward Maynard (Keith Andes) hopes to prove that Sir Henry Morgan (Torin Thatcher), the governor of Jamaica, is still a pirate. To do that, he joins the crew of the infamous Blackbeard (Robert Newton), who has his own score to settle with Morgan. Blackbeard also kidnaps Edwina Mansfield (Linda Darnell ), an upper class lady whose father was a pirate and who stole a treasure from Morgan. Maynard decides that he must add rescuing Edwina to his mission.
“ARRRRRRRR! Shiver m’timbers. Yo ho ho.”
If that dialog makes your heart race, then you’ll love Blackbeard, The Pirate, a film that’s never met a pirate cliché it didn’t like. There are wooden legs, buried treasure, rum, hangings from the main mast, cackling, and even a parrot. Everything is set up like a comedy parody, but then is played as an adventure romance.
At some point in the scriptwriting process, I’m sure that Maynard was the main character. He’s the young romantic hero. But along the way he became insignificant. It’s all about the over-the-top pirate. Partly that comes from Keith Andes’s white-bread portrayal verses Robert Newton’s too-broad-for-the-screen antics. The film ends up as two stories: Maynard’s romance with Edwina and Blackbeard’s conflict with other pirates. Only Linda Darnell’s liquid eyes and ample breasts are of any interest in the first.
Newton, who first hammed it up as a pirate in 1950’s Treasure Island, and would do it again in 1954’s Long John Silver, roars, rolls his eyes, and speaks with an accent that would fit in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. His act is entirely artificial, but still has charm. His is the iconic pirate that everyone copies, as long as they aren’t taking pirates seriously. Newton’s Blackbeard is the reason you watch this film, and your ability to enjoy his lack of subtly will determine if this is a film you repeat.
The rest of the film is acceptable, but hard to remember by comparison. The story has more than the average number of twists, and with them, a few gapping holes. The cast members generally do their job as background for Newton. A few of the other pirates dig deep into children’s pirate theater, but most are hardly noticeable. William Bendix is miscast as the ship’s first mate as he can’t find the line between childlike and stupid. The colors sparkle and deliver all the fantasy Caribbean that anyone could desire.
An excellent family film that should have the kids in the yard with eye patches and cardboard cutlasses for weeks, Blackbeard, The Pirate loses much of its excitement once the viewer ages past grammar school. I like it now mainly when I remember how well it worked for me when I was a child.
Darnell appeared in the classic Swashbuckler, The Mark of Zorro.