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The Crimson Pirate (1952)
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…
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Treasure Island (1950)
Today, mariners, we’ll be clapping eyes on to the 1950 adaptation of what may be the foundation of modern maritime adventure fiction, Treasure Island. We’ll be screening the Anglo-American Disney adaptation, one of at least 37 screen and 24 theatrical productions based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1881 work, originally serialized in the United Kingdom for…
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Damn the Defiant aka HMS Defiant (1962)
Released ahead of Mutiny on the Bounty in both the US and UK in 1962 under differing titles – Damn the Defiant and HMS Defiant – the outline of this fictional tale is somewhat like that film’s but inverted, with a kind and effective captain pitted against a sadistic and manipulative first mate who drives…
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Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951)
Captain Horatio Hornblower stars Gregory Peck in what at the time may have been the highest profile role of his career. Today, of course, we recall him more for two other roles, as Atticus Finch in the 1962 adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird and as Captain Ahab of the whaler Pequod in the 1956…
Sailin’ ye seas o’ social distancin’ since 2020
