FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Dotsthavesp I wanted to but couldn't!

Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

Tymon Sutton The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

bkoganbing One of Douglas Fairbanks best known roles is The Black Pirate in which he's not so blackhearted after all, but instead the son of a duke who was treacherously killed by the pirates Fairbanks joins and upon whom he plans to wreak vengeance.Along the way Doug meets and falls for a genuine princess as well in the person of Billie Dove. She too has fallen into their hands, but a quick thinking Doug persuades his new companions that they could do far better holding her for a nice ransom.The Black Pirate is primarily known for the spectacular stunts that Doug was still doing as his fans expected him. He was 43 when he made The Black Pirate, but was a man who kept himself in remarkably good shape even at that age. After the coming of sound, middle age would descend on Fairbanks rapidly. The most famous stunt of all was repeated several times in the film with Fairbanks descending down a length of sail by sticking his cutlass in it and going down like an elevator. Errol Flynn tried the same thing in Against All Flags and broke an ankle in the process.Fans might recognize Donald Crisp who was also directing the film originally as one of the pirates. The screenplay was written by Fairbanks himself under a pseudonym. Some artistic differences got Crisp replaced, but still in the film as an actor.The film holds up remarkably well as do all of Douglas Fairbanks silent films, the action is infectious and engrossing as is the larger than life personality of Douglas Fairbanks.

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.

MartinHafer This was an excellent pirate movie and was better than many sound pirate films. However, it's really hard to rate the movie---compared to other silent pirate films, it might just be the best. But, compared to THE SEA HAWK, CAPTAIN BLOOD or THE BLACK SWAN (all wonderful sound pirate films from the 30s and 40s), it isn't as good a film.So what does the movie do that worked so well for me? First, being a Douglas Fairbanks film, it had wonderful stunts and impeccable production values--something he was known for in his silent films. Second, this film had excellent sets and was the best film money could buy in its day. In fact, it was such a lavish production that it was supposedly the first full-length film made in 2-color Technicolor--an early and somewhat crude way of producing a color movie. Because the film was dyed with green-blue and orange-red dyes, the film mostly looks reddish-green--definitely NOT true color. But, it doesn't look that bad--certainly much better than the horrid colorized films destroyed in the 1980s. Plus, if it hadn't been for films like this, the infinitely better 3-color system might never have been developed by Technicolor. And, finally, the plot is pretty good for a silent film--not the most complex when compared to later films, it's not nearly as simplistic as most other silents.This video was produced by KINO FILMS. Some of their silent films in the past were less than wonderful (especially some of their Buster Keaton videotapes), but this videotape is top quality and has nice extras at the end of the tape. Some cheaper prints apparently are only black and white, not color. Nice job for the restoration, KINO! However, despite what the video box said, it was apparently NOT the first full-length two-color Technicolor film. I recently saw a restored print from TOLL OF THE SEA (1922) and it was in fact made using this process four years earlier than THE BLACK PIRATE.

khedges1 I saw this with live orchestral accompaniment at the local high school. We cheered and booed the dashing hero and dastardly villain and had a fantastic time. They were amazingly professional and should take this on tour at old theaters with orchestra pits. Go ArMack! If your local symphony orchestra does this as a silent movie show, the movie is good enough to enjoy even if the music isn't as great as ours was.This is definitely the sort of thing that inspired The Princess Bride, one of my all-time favorites. Lots of swashbuckling adventure, romance, and humor. The plot worked a lot better than most movies I see (or don't bother seeing) these days, and it was very well paced. I was surprised how few dialog cards they needed to use, too.I thought the color looked kind of washed out, but maybe that was the computer projector they were using. I'd love to see a 35-mm print on a big screen.If you're looking for a movie to perform live accompaniment with, this is an excellent choice.