This colorful adventure set in the 17th century deals with various styles of piracy including the leading character, Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard, played by Robert Newton who had just played the fictional Long John Silver in the Disney remake of "Treasure Island". It's pretty much the same performance, filled with very sharp pronunciations of any word with the letter "R" in it, sometimes just opening his mouth to angrily or playfully just say the letter. Some viewers would call his performance hammy. I call it campy and sometimes unintentionally funny.
Having taken Linda Darnell and her lady in waiting (a frantic Irene Ryan in a very hammy performance) hostage, he finds out that she's the daughter of the recently deceased Charles Bellamy who turns out to have been a nobleman who made his fortune on piracy. He also deals with a similar nobleman, Henry Morgan (Torin Thatcher), who's also gotten his fortune through piracy.
Basically an old fashioned version of many modern wealthy businessmen or organized criminals. Handsome Keith Andes is British naval lieutenant who seeks to rescue Darnell and falls in love with her. William Bendix bellows delightfully as Blackbeard's sidekick. Colorful and filled with non stop action, it's perfect as a popcorn movie, no masterpiece but frequently exciting and the type of movie that they couldn't make today even if they tried desperately to.
Having taken Linda Darnell and her lady in waiting (a frantic Irene Ryan in a very hammy performance) hostage, he finds out that she's the daughter of the recently deceased Charles Bellamy who turns out to have been a nobleman who made his fortune on piracy. He also deals with a similar nobleman, Henry Morgan (Torin Thatcher), who's also gotten his fortune through piracy.
Basically an old fashioned version of many modern wealthy businessmen or organized criminals. Handsome Keith Andes is British naval lieutenant who seeks to rescue Darnell and falls in love with her. William Bendix bellows delightfully as Blackbeard's sidekick. Colorful and filled with non stop action, it's perfect as a popcorn movie, no masterpiece but frequently exciting and the type of movie that they couldn't make today even if they tried desperately to.