Event date and time: May 27, 7pm PDT, 10p EDT.
In this doughty 1952 addition to the canon of star-produced maritime vehicles, the nimble and charming Burt Lancaster steps into the sea boots of Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn before him. Lancaster’s entertainment work prior to his cinematic career was as an acrobat in the circus and in this film, as well as others, he brings along his former tumbling partner Nick Cravat as Captain Vallo’s on-screen sidekick, the wordless Ojo. In the film, the two apparently performed the majority of their characters’ stunt work.
Vallo operates in the Spanish Caribbean and takes a Royal ship bound for the island of Cobra, bearing a crown envoy and stock of arms to deal with the rebel leader El Libre. Vallo initially proposes selling the arms to El Libre and ransoming the envoy but is recruited instead to capture El Libre. Hijinks ensue and eventually Vallo meets El Libre’s beautiful daughter Consuelo who sways him back to her father’s side. In the effort to rescue El Libre, the pirates liberate a dotty scientist who proceeds to invent an array of anachronistic devices that lead to a decisive rebel victory.
| Director | Robert Siodmak |
| Starring | Burt Lancaster, Nick Cravat, Eva Bartok |
| Links | IMDB. Rotten Tomatoes score: 100. TMDB: The Crimson Pirate. JustWatch streaming availability. |
The script began life as a serious allegory about the cold war but when people involved with the film, including Lancaster, came under Congressional scrutiny by the House Un-American Activities Committee, the script was reworked to be presented as a light-hearted comedy. However, just a passing glance can tell you whose nose was being tweaked. The pirate is definitely red.
The film was released to universally positive reviews, did well at the box office and has remained influential since that time. The title of Terry Gilliam’s live-action short film The Crimson Permanent Assurance was inspired by this film. The film is a primary source for much of the spirit and at least one specific sequence in the first Pirates of the Caribbean film, our next voyage, The Curse of the Black Pearl.
Two of the ships seen in this film also appeared in a prior voyage, the Lydia and the Marcel B. Surdo. They were the primary ships employed for full-size shoots in the 1950 feature Captain Horatio Hornblower. The Crimson Pirate was shot primarily on the Italian island of Ischia.
Let the mains’l fall! Away hawsers and make fast the hogsheads and cassowaries! Beware the jabberwock, there! Make ready the strongboxes and the branding irons! Steel your guts me hearties, for we make sail this very instant and set course for the fair island
of Cobra!
7.3
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