Nonureva Really Surprised!

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Console best movie i've ever seen.

MissSimonetta I'm not sure if The Black Pirate (1926) is Douglas Fairbanks' best film, but I certainly prefer it to his artsier films, Robin Hood (1922) and The Thief of Bagdad (1924), which were as overlong and poorly paced as they were beautiful to look at. TBP has both pretty Technicolor visuals and a lean story which shows off its star's athletic prowess and charm, so to date, it ranks with The Mark of Zorro (1920) as my favorite Fairbanks adventure.The supporting cast is fine. Donald Crisp is funny as the pirate who befriends Fairbanks. Sam De Grasse is a delicious and cunning adversary, one of the best Fairbanks villains. Billie Dove's role as the imperiled "princess" is limited to looking pretty and swooning at the right moments, unfortunately, but that is the case with most of the female leads in Fairbanks' work.This is a good old-fashioned adventure, proof that a film doesn't need CG-rendered explosions and "stunts" to be a grand time.

ma-cortes Fun silent pirate movie , plenty of action , thrills , exciting sword-play , luxurious costumes , athletic feats , fabulous scenarios ; all meld together under Albert Parker's right direction . This exciting swashbuckling deals with the love story of a bold Buccaneer (Douglas Fairbanks) and a gorgeous princess (Billie Dove) and a subsequent vengeance . As a shipwrecked mariner vows vendetta on the pirates who destroyed his father's ship .As he writes on his father's tomb : ¨My father I solemnly vow¨. Seeking revenge, the athletic young man joins the pirate band led by a nasty captain (Randolf) responsible for his father's death . As Fairbanks uses all kind of shrewdness in order to penetrate a well-defended ship and take the command . Amusing pirate movie , plenty of emotion , astounding adventures , realistic miniature work , evocative cinematography in black and white and luxurious costumes ; this is the quintaessential pirate movie . This classic story of romantic adventure come to life enriched by fabulous scenarios and adapted rightly to the screen . Overwhelming battle ships , sword-play and full of villainy , romance , swashbuckler and heroism . The picture is fast-moving , exciting and thrilling right up to the climatic confrontation between Douglas Fairbanks and his villain enemies . Big budgeted film by United Artists Pictures , using appropriate ship shots and miniature sets when possible . ¨Black pirate¨ results to be Douglas Fairbanks's swashbuckling best and has achieved a classic status . Charming Douglas Fairbanks steals the show when he bounds and leaps , flies and run ; in addition he is the screenwriter of this rollicking adventure . Fairbanks executes athletic feats , moving sword-play and spectacular acrobatics similarly he demonstrated in other classics such as The Mark of Zorro (1920), Robin Hood (1922), Three musketeers , Don Q Son of Zorro , The gaucho , The iron mask , The Taming of the Shrew , Don Juan , Mr Robinson , among others . Douglas performed most of the stunts in his films himself. He was an excellent athlete and used his physical abilities to his best advantage. Douglas was king of Hollywood by that time and he formed his own production company ; during a Liberty Bond tour with Charles Chaplin he fell in love with Mary Pickford with whom he, Chaplin and Griffith had formed United Artists in 1919. In fact, there is a cameo appearance by Mary Pickford as Princess Isobel in Final Embrace . Furthermore , there appears Nino Cochise, grandson of the famous Apache chief Cochise as an extra in this movie , it was his second extra job in Hollywood, his first one being in Douglas Fairbanks' Robin Hood . The crew of Douglas Fairbanks' longboat in the climactic chase and battle were members of the crew of the USS Arizona .Bright black and white cinematography , though also available in color .This silent version was accompanied with an appropriate piano musical score . The motion picture was professionally realized by Albert Parker who directed some vehicles for Douglas Fairbanks . However , Donald Crisp -who plays a secondary role- was the original director, but after a few days of filming had a falling-out with star Douglas Fairbanks and was replaced by Parker.

JoeytheBrit What with this being a silent film there isn't an 'Ah-harr!' in sight (or within earshot), but this pirate film has pretty much everything else in terms of the usual paraphernalia. We have sword fights, plundering and looting, walking of the plank, buried treasure, a damsel in distress, a lusty hero, a black-hearted pirate captain and a fair amount of energetic fighting in the foc'sles.Douglas Fairbanks is the lusty hero in question here and, while he doesn't skip around gaily as he does in Robin Hood he's still a little, shall we say unconventional, for an action hero. We first meet him after his ship has been plundered by a scurvy bunch of dogs (and no mistake). He and his father are the sole survivors from the ship, but dad croaks the moment they wash ashore on a desert island. Doug's so angry about this that he shakes his fist at the sea then sets about carving a notice to the world that he will avenge his father. Quite who he expects to see his words on a desert island is a little vague, but it was obviously something he needed to get off his chest.The captain of the pirates leads a small party onto the desert island to bury their booty. Doug offers to take on the strongest of them, which just happens to be the captain, so that they will let them be in their gang, and a swordfight follows. It's a shame that the captain had to be killed off so early because I quite liked him. He was certainly more interesting than Doug, with far better dress sense. When we first met him he had a cutlass between his teeth, the way a pirate should, and when he spied a prisoner surreptitiously swallowing a ring he had one of his mates cut the poor soul open to retrieve it. Here was a man who got things done, no doubt about it – although he did have a worrying fondness for offing members of his own crew.Having killed their captain Doug next gets the crew of the pirate ship on his side by taking a vessel single-handed in what is an improbable but quite enjoyable section of the film. Aboard this captured ship is a comely wench whose fate looks sealed when the crew start drawing lots for who gets first dibs. Earlier, we saw them doing the same thing over who got ownership of a cute capuchin monkey, so we're left in no doubt here as to the social status of the fairer sex in Silent Pirate World. Doug takes a shine to this damsel in distress (which, considering his outfit, is something of a relief) and hatches a cunning plan to save her from a fate worse than death.Although The Black Pirate is quite slow-moving by today's standards it's still reasonably entertaining for those with patience. The performances are somewhat broad, but the skulduggery that is constantly afoot is diverting enough to stop that from being a major problem. The set design is quite impressive, with a lot of care clearly taken over getting the ship's interior just right. In fact, the set looks even more impressive than those from some much later films. Fairbanks was certainly an athletic leading man but, other than that, what it was about him that made him such a massive star is something of a mystery to me.

wes-connors In this "page from the history and lives of the most bloodthirsty pirates who ever infested the southern seas," the title cards explain, "it was the custom of these pirates to subdue their prey, loot the ship, bind their captives, and blow them up." That's exactly what happens to seafarer Douglas Fairbanks and his father, as the film begins. But, you don't mess with Doug. Mr. Fairbanks survives the attack, and infiltrates the offending ship (as "The Black Pirate"), vowing revenge, particularly due to the death of his father. Fairbanks also finds romance on ship, with kidnapped princess Billie Dove (as Isobel), whom he saves from gang rape.Colorful entertainment, from Fairbanks and company. Notable for the early feature-length color photography, by Henry Sharp; and, for Fairbanks' typically robust performance. Mrs. Fairbanks (aka Mary Pickford) stands in for the kissing long shot, near the film's end. Donald Crisp and Sam De Grasse are among the entertaining supporting players. In hindsight, the use of color probably hampered the production somewhat, as it looks more restrictive than other Fairbanks films of the 1920s. Still, it's a classic.