zardoz-13 Burt Lancaster is at his athletic best in "The Killers" director Robert Siodmak's light-hearted 18th century, seafaring fantasy "The Crimson Pirate" co-starring Lancaster's former circus acrobat partner Nick Cravat. When you see these two swinging from the yardarm as well as perform other death-defying stunts involving trapeze artist skills, you can be sure that it is in fact Lancaster and Cravat. Before Lancaster broke into Hollywood, Cravat and he had been a big top pair. Scenarist Roland Kibbe, a frequent Lancaster collaborator over the years, wrote this rollicking but far-fetched pirate caper the bristles with loads of action. Mind you, this is not as serious as some of Errol Flynn's best swashbucklers, but it contains enough amusing shenanigans to keep you entertained throughout its 105-running time. Earlier, Kibbee penned Willis Goldbeck's Foreign Legion actioneer "Ten Tall Men" (1951), Robert Aldrich's western "Vera Cruz" (1954), Guy Hamilton's revolutionary war tale "The Devil's Disciple" (1959), the made-in-Spain western "Valdez Is Coming" (1971), and the mystery thriller "The Midnight Man" (1974), all top-lining Lancaster. In "The Crimson Pirate," Lancaster plays the grinning pirate Captain Vallo who doesn't always play strictly by pirate rules as his first mate Humble Bellows (Torin Thatcher) laments. Siodmak stages enough sea battles both with cannon and pirates boarding an enemy ship to keep things interesting. Siodmak and lenser Otto Heller lensed some of the action on location in Bay of Naples, Naples, Campania, Italy, as well as Ischia Island, Naples, Campania, Italy, so the picture boasts some captivating Technicolor scenery. Indeed, the story unfolds in the imaginary Caribbean islands of San Pero and Cobra. Christopher Lee fans will notice the future Dracula as the villain's right-hand man, but he doesn't utter a syllable of dialogue. Initially, Vallo makes bargain with his slimy chief adversary, Baron José Gruda (Leslie Bradley of "The Buccaneer"), after his crew and he capture the Baron's ship. The way that they overtake the Baron's ship is slick. The Baron sees a ship wallowing in the ocean with everybody strewn topside in full sight, looking like they have suffered the ravages of scurvy. Of course, it is a ruse concocted by the wily Vallo. When Gruda's sailors take the ship as booty to bring back with them, Vallo's defunct crew springs back to life and they take Gruda's ship. Now, Vallo plans to capture the leader of an uprising on an island under Spanish rule and then sell the rebel Sebastian known as "El Libre" (Frederick Leister of "Dear Octopus"). Again, Vallo's first-mate doesn't think self-respecting pirates would pull such a stunt. Vallo releases Gruda after they have made their deal and lets him take their old ship. Later, they plan to rendezvous, and Vallo will sell El Libre to Gruda. Unfortunately, things don't work out as smoothly as Vallo had envisaged. When they land on the island, Vallo gets his first look at Sebastian's beautiful daughter, Consuelo (Eva Bartok of "Norman Conquest"), and he is smitten, especially after she plants a kiss on his lips. Despite all his conniving deals, Vallo falls hopelessly in love with Consuelo, and he decides to help the revolutionaries. This act of treachery turns his own pirates, particularly Humble Bellows, who plots against him and cuts a deal with the unscrupulous Baron Gruda. Okay, despite these surprises and reversals, our heroes save the day. The one jarring scene occurs after Vallo puts Sebastian and Consuelo into a boat so they can escape. Gruda's soldiers ambush them during their escape and kill Sebastian with musket fire. Usually, in a colorful adventure like this, only the villains die, so this added a smidgen of realism. Anyway, Vallo and his buddy Ojo (Nick Cravat of "The Veils of Bagdad") turn the tables on the scheming Gruda who has subdued the rebels after Sebastian's demise and orders Consuelo to wed the governor of the island. The finale has Vallo and Ojo commandeering a balloon and hurling explosives as the garrison. No, little about "The Crimson Pirate" is remotely believable, but Lancaster's charisma and the non-stop action make it worth watching.

William Brighenti I ranked this film very high for several reasons: 1. I enjoyed the acrobatics in the film of Burt Lancaster and his former circus partner,Nick Cravat. They bounce and swing as if on trampolines and parallel bars throughout the movie.2. I especially loved the scene where Lancaster and Cravat are chased by the soldiers: it is choreographed so amusingly.3. I would watch any film in which Eva Bartok appeared. She is beautiful and enchanting.4. How refreshing it is to watch a pirate movie where the sets are not so fake looking in appearance. And the quality of the cinematography is superb for 1952.5. Stellar cast. Besides Lancaster, Cravat, Bartok, add Torin Thatcher and Christopher Lee.6. It's fun: a comedy. It satirizes pirate films while retaining the action and romance of the genre.Add some popcorn and you have an evening's entertainment.

siacono This would have to be one of my favorite films of all times and for many reasons. The Crimson Pirate was filmed on the island of Ischia in the Bay of Napoli in Italy. My parents were both from this island and they remember the cast and crew during the summer of 1951 when it was made. My mum to this day remembered Burt Lancaster sitting outside a bar, drinking a coffee and thinking "Oh he is so handsome". Many locals were given parts as extras. I remember my first visit to Ischia in 1988. In a doorway opposite Castello Aragonese, sat an old man with a wooden leg dressed as a pirate. Who would sit there everyday having his photo taken with tourists as he made a name for himself as "the pirate" from the movie as an extra.Ischia has been used in other Hollywood films, notably "Avanti" starring Jack Lemon and Juiliet Mills, and "The Talented Mr Ripley" starring Jude Law, Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Phillip Seymor Hoff.

barbb1953 I watched this movie after hearing that the "walking underwater" scene in "Black Pearl" was in reference to it. The comments that Bloom and Depp make during that sequence, about genius and madness, may have been meant to apply, as well. "Crimson Pirate" is uneven, with high and very low points. Well, it's bad enough that it makes "Black Pearl" look like classic fiction; and yet there is a Pythonesque quality to it I think comes from the team of Lancaster and Cravat. I hadn't realized Lancaster was a true acrobat, and the performances he and his partner give here are sublime. The big fight scenes, particularly the last one, are extremely well choreographed, too. I would easily have given this a 10 on that basis, and there are some other good performances (especially among the pirates), but overall not everybody seems to have gotten the word it had become a comedy, and a few of the actors also seem rather wooden: hence the 6/10.I do think the luxury sea liner in the background on those shots was intended -- any Film-Making 101 student could easily have changed the setup to avoid it, particularly at this point in the movie, where there are so many near-vertical shots. Given Lancaster's instruction at the beginning of the film to only believe half of what you see (and he was exaggerating even then), it had to be part of the joke. Maybe it's considered a goof or anachronism because that type of humor wasn't very common in mainstream movies in the 50s.One thing to remember as you watch Lancaster's hair: they didn't have mousse back then, or blow dryers. Wow! Also bring sunglasses, because the reflection from his teeth when he grins can be blinding (BG).All in all, it's not "The Black Pearl," but it's overall fun to watch and the acrobatics and some of the fight choreographies are must-see scenes.