The Black Pirate
Encyclopedia
The Black Pirate is a 1926
silent
adventure film
shot entirely in two-strip Technicolor
about an adventurer and a "company" of pirates. It stars Douglas Fairbanks
, Donald Crisp
, Sam De Grasse
, and Billie Dove
.
). His son buries him, vowing vengeance.
The Pirate Captain and Lieutenant bring some crew to the other side of the same island to bury some of their plunder. They then plan to murder the other pirates: "Dead men tell no tales." But first, Fairbanks appears as the "Black Pirate", who offers to join their company and fight their best man to prove his worth. After much fighting, the Black Pirate kills the Pirate Captain. The Pirate Lieutenant sneers, and says there is more to being a pirate than sword tricks. To further prove his worth, the Black Pirate says he will capture the next ship of prey single-handed, which he does. He then uses his wits to prevent the pirates from blowing up the ship along with the crew and passengers, suggesting that they hold the ship for ransom. When a "princess" is discovered on board, he urges the crew to use her as a hostage to insure their ransom will be paid, as long as she remains "spotless and unharmed".
The pirates cheer the Black Pirate, and want to name him captain. The Pirate Lieutenant jeers that they can wait to see if the ransom is paid by noon the next day. If the ransom is not paid, the "Princess" will become the Pirate Lieutenant's prize and the Black Pirate will walk the plank.
It is a long wait. The Pirate Lieutenant tries to attack the "Princess", kill the Black Pirate, and destroy the ship before the deadline. But the Duke and Governor arrive with ships and troops to stop the pirates. There is a fierce fight, with the outcome uncertain.
In the end, the Black Pirate is revealed to be a Duke, and the "Princess" he loves a noble Lady. Even the old, one-armed, one-legged pirate Mac Tavish is moved to tears of joy, by the happy ending.
).
The script was adapted by Jack Cunningham
from a story by Fairbanks, who used his middle names "Elton Thomas" as a pseudonym
. The film was directed by Albert Parker
and has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
.
process that had been first introduced in the 1922 feature Toll of the Sea. This reproduces a limited but pleasing range of colors. Ben-Hur
— filmed around the same time — contains two-tone sequences but is shot primarily in black-and-white with tinting and toning in many scenes.
Fairbanks spent considerable money on color tests before making Pirate. Two-tone Technicolor at that time required two strips of 35mm film to be fused together back-to-back to create the two-tone palette. Due to the added thickness of the film, and the heat of the projector, there would be so-called cupping of the film, making it difficult to keep the film in focus during projection. (Technicolor later perfected its process, so that two-color films required only a single strip of film.)
1926 in film
-Events:*August - Warner Brothers debuts the first Vitaphone film, Don Juan. The Vitaphone system used multiple 33⅓ rpm disc records developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories and Western Electric to play back audio synchronized with film....
silent
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
adventure film
Adventure film
Adventure films are a genre of film.Unlike pure, low-budget action films they often use their action scenes preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way....
shot entirely in two-strip Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
about an adventurer and a "company" of pirates. It stars Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. was an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films such as The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood, and The Mark of Zorro....
, Donald Crisp
Donald Crisp
Donald Crisp was an English film actor. He was also an early motion picture producer, director and screenwriter...
, Sam De Grasse
Sam De Grasse
Samuel Alfred De Grasse was a Canadian actor. Born in Bathurst, New Brunswick, he trained to be a dentist....
, and Billie Dove
Billie Dove
Billie Dove was an American actress.-Early life and career:She was born as Bertha Bohny in New York City to Charles and Bertha Bohny who were Swiss immigrants. As a teen, she worked as a model to help support her family and was hired at the age of 15 by Florenz Ziegfeld to appear in his Ziegfeld...
.
Plot
The film begins with the looting of a ship already captured and badly mauled, by the pirates. After relieving the ship and crew of valuables, the pirates fire the ship, blowing up the gun powder on-board, sinking her. While the pirates celebrate, two survivors wash up on an island, an old man and his son. Before dying, the older man (Douglas Fairbanks' real-life father) gives his signet ring to his son (Douglas FairbanksDouglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. was an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films such as The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood, and The Mark of Zorro....
). His son buries him, vowing vengeance.
The Pirate Captain and Lieutenant bring some crew to the other side of the same island to bury some of their plunder. They then plan to murder the other pirates: "Dead men tell no tales." But first, Fairbanks appears as the "Black Pirate", who offers to join their company and fight their best man to prove his worth. After much fighting, the Black Pirate kills the Pirate Captain. The Pirate Lieutenant sneers, and says there is more to being a pirate than sword tricks. To further prove his worth, the Black Pirate says he will capture the next ship of prey single-handed, which he does. He then uses his wits to prevent the pirates from blowing up the ship along with the crew and passengers, suggesting that they hold the ship for ransom. When a "princess" is discovered on board, he urges the crew to use her as a hostage to insure their ransom will be paid, as long as she remains "spotless and unharmed".
The pirates cheer the Black Pirate, and want to name him captain. The Pirate Lieutenant jeers that they can wait to see if the ransom is paid by noon the next day. If the ransom is not paid, the "Princess" will become the Pirate Lieutenant's prize and the Black Pirate will walk the plank.
It is a long wait. The Pirate Lieutenant tries to attack the "Princess", kill the Black Pirate, and destroy the ship before the deadline. But the Duke and Governor arrive with ships and troops to stop the pirates. There is a fierce fight, with the outcome uncertain.
In the end, the Black Pirate is revealed to be a Duke, and the "Princess" he loves a noble Lady. Even the old, one-armed, one-legged pirate Mac Tavish is moved to tears of joy, by the happy ending.
Cast
- Douglas FairbanksDouglas FairbanksDouglas Fairbanks, Sr. was an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films such as The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood, and The Mark of Zorro....
as The Duke of Arnoldo/The Black Pirate - Billie DoveBillie DoveBillie Dove was an American actress.-Early life and career:She was born as Bertha Bohny in New York City to Charles and Bertha Bohny who were Swiss immigrants. As a teen, she worked as a model to help support her family and was hired at the age of 15 by Florenz Ziegfeld to appear in his Ziegfeld...
as Princess Isobel - Anders RandolfAnders RandolfAnders Randolf was a Danish American actor in American films from 1913 to 1931.Anders was born in Viborg, Denmark where he became a professional soldier in the Danish army and a world-class swordsman. He immigrated to the United States in 1895, quickly giving in to a lifelong passion for the...
as Pirate Captain - Donald CrispDonald CrispDonald Crisp was an English film actor. He was also an early motion picture producer, director and screenwriter...
as MacTavish - Tempe PigottTempe PigottTempe Pigott was a silent and sound screen character actress. She had some stage experience before entering silent films as she is given one 1918 Broadway credit by Internet Broadway Database. Her silent and sound film appearances were numerous. She is remembered mainly for playing the mother of...
as Duenna - Sam De GrasseSam De GrasseSamuel Alfred De Grasse was a Canadian actor. Born in Bathurst, New Brunswick, he trained to be a dentist....
as Pirate Lieutenant - Charles StevensCharles Stevens (actor)Charles Stevens was an American actor.The grandson of Geronimo, Stevens appeared in nearly 200 films between 1915 and 1961...
as Powder Man - Charles BelcherCharles Belcher (actor)Charles Belcher was an American film actor. He appeared in 17 films between years 1919 and 1928.He was born in San Francisco and died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles.-Selected filmography:* Blood and Sand...
as Chief passenger (Nobleman) - E.J. Ratcliffe as the Governor
Production notes
Donald Crisp (MacTavish) had directed Fairbanks' Don Q. Son of Zorro (1925) in addition to playing the villain in that film. Crisp, who had been in films for over a decade at this point, was also a major director of silent films. He continued as a character actor for another forty years, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1942 (How Green Was My ValleyHow Green Was My Valley (film)
How Green Was My Valley is a 1941 drama film directed by John Ford. The film, based on the 1939 Richard Llewellyn novel, was produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and written by Philip Dunne. The film stars Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Anna Lee, Donald Crisp, and Roddy McDowall...
).
The script was adapted by Jack Cunningham
Jack Cunningham (screenwriter)
Jack Cunningham was an American screenwriter. He wrote for 132 motion pictures between 1913 and 1939.He was born in Ionia, Iowa, and died from a cerebral hemorrhage in Santa Monica, California.-Selected filmography:...
from a story by Fairbanks, who used his middle names "Elton Thomas" as a pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
. The film was directed by Albert Parker
Albert Parker (director)
Albert Parker was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. He directed 36 films between 1917 and 1938. In the early 1930s Parker left Hollywood for England where he continued to direct films and also opened an actors' agency office...
and has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
.
Technicolor
The Black Pirate was the third feature to be filmed in an early two-tone TechnicolorTechnicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
process that had been first introduced in the 1922 feature Toll of the Sea. This reproduces a limited but pleasing range of colors. Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur (1925 film)
Ben-Hur is a 1925 silent film directed by Fred Niblo. It was a blockbuster hit for newly merged Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This was the second film based on the novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace...
— filmed around the same time — contains two-tone sequences but is shot primarily in black-and-white with tinting and toning in many scenes.
Fairbanks spent considerable money on color tests before making Pirate. Two-tone Technicolor at that time required two strips of 35mm film to be fused together back-to-back to create the two-tone palette. Due to the added thickness of the film, and the heat of the projector, there would be so-called cupping of the film, making it difficult to keep the film in focus during projection. (Technicolor later perfected its process, so that two-color films required only a single strip of film.)
External links
- Black Pirate at Rotten TomatoesRotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
- The Black Pirate; allrovi.com