The Black Pirate Reviews

A fantastic pirate movie! I really enjoyed it, it's got adventure, action, excitement, romance, and even technicolor! Fairbanks was an amazing acrobat, and a good choice for a pirate movie. If you like pirate movies, I highly recommend this classic film.

As far as pirate classics go them this is cinema treat. It was released in 1926. Shot in black and white and above all a silent movie, its still 1.5 hours in length and all the action and mystery you would expect from a pirate film.

A Classic from the silent-era and a wonderful pirate film that has action, romance and amazing stunts. Douglas Fairbanks is incredible in the lead role and the film is just a pure pleasure to watch! Highly Recommended if you are into Silent films!

I knew little of this film before watching it, but am glad I found it. It's an excellent early film about a group of cutthroats. The thing that surprised me the most was that it was in color. It was filmed using the experimental two-color technicolor process. After watching the "Making of", apparently Douglas Fairbanks was a real pioneer in that area and did much research on color film. This was my first Fairbanks film and I was quite impressed with not only his screen presence, but his ability to do impressive stuntwork, including the infamous sliding down a sail on a knife. This film had all the requirements of a pirate movie... Swordplay, torture, murder, robbery, kidnapping, romance, and even walking the plank. As well as the infamous quote, "Dead men tell no tales!". It had a decent score by Mortimer Wilson that was mostly fitting. One scene I found amusing, was when the pirates drew lots for the monkey. If you're a fan of pirate movies, this is a must see. I found it quite enjoyable.

A Classic from the silent-era and a wonderful pirate film that has action, romance and amazing stunts. Douglas Fairbanks is incredible in the lead role and the film is just a pure pleasure to watch! Highly Recommended if you are into Silent films!

Astonishing silent film, Douglas Fairbank's performance is amazing and so energetic. Superb cinematography. The film may be over 80 years old, but it is still engrossing and exciring. Great story, impressive sets and costumes. A must for srious film fans.

This was the final film in The Douglas Fairbanks Collection, which I got for my birthday. One of the earlier Technicolor films. Some sources name it as the first feature length Technicolor film, others simply as the first Technicolor epic, which could mean something different. The fencing in this movie has come a long way from The Mark Of Zorro. Fairbanks and the bald guy look like they know what they're doing with the swords this time, and they look like they're really trying to hurt each other.
Some of the violence is shocking even for today. Early on the pirate captain sees a captive swallow a ring, and points him out to one of his henchman. The pirate walks offscreen briefly and returns covered in blood up to his wrists, with a knife in one hand and the recovered ring in the other. Some time later, the second in command is sitting, and seems to be examining a sword, much as someone today might examine a gun before purchase. He makes a couple of swipes with it, then looks at a pair of captives tied to a pole next to him. He casually stabs one of them, like a child crushing a bug just to hear the crunch, then withdraws the bloody sword and goes back to examining it, all without a second thought. Finally, Doug himself has another strangling scene, almost as grusome as the one at the end of Robin Hood. Having had the satisfaction of pummeling his chief antagonist at the height of the climax, he places the man's throat across his thigh, then leans against the back of his neck with his full weight until he's dead. Very convincing and very satisfying.
The story is minimal. Doug is the only survivor of an attack by the pirates, and joins them to destroy them from within as revenge for the death of his father. Things get complicated when a princess is taken captive, and Doug falls in love with her. A sort of bonus subplot comes from the intrigue raised by the question of the Black Pirate's true identity. The first hint that he's not what he seems comes when a captive from another ship seems to recognize the ring given to Doug by his father, then again shortly after when Doug tosses the man a note to be given to the governor.
The colors look great, the music is perfect, and the running time isn't as overwhelming for Fairbanks fans who have trouble finding two or more hours for a movie in a typical day.