Black Pirate (United Artists) (1926)

The Opening Gun in Your Press Campaign IN “THE BUCK PIRATE” ARRIVES ANOTHER BIG FAIRBANKS SPECTACLE DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS “THE BLACK PIRATE 7 7 Story by ELTON THOMAS Adapted by JACK CUNNINGHAM Directed by ALBERT PARKER Photographed by HENRY SHARP RELEASED BY UNITED ARTISTS CORPORATION THE PLAYERS MR. CHARLES STEVENS MR. JOHN WALLACE MR. FRED BECKER MR. CHARLES BELCHER MR. ANDERS RANDOLF MR. E. J. RATCLIFFE MR. DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS MISS BILLIE DOVE MISS TEMPE PIGOTT MR. DONALD CRISP MR. SAM DE GRASSE PHOTOGRAPHY IN TECHNICOLOR PRODUCTION PERSONNEL Robert Fairbanks, General Manager; Theodore Reed, Manager of Produc¬ tion ; Lotta Woods, Scenario Editor; Dr. Arthur Woods, Research Director; Dwight Franklin and Robert Nichols, Consultants; Carl Oscar Borg, Supervising Art Director ; Edward M. Langley and Jack Holden, Associate Artists; Mor¬ timer Wilson, Musical Score; Arthur Ball and George Cave, Technicolor Staff; P. H. L. Wilson, Marine Tech¬ nician ; William Nolan, Film Cutter. A knife between his teeth, a burly pirate sat on a strand, tearing the rings from the fingers of limp bodies borne past him. He had just taken a treasure-laden ship with his cut-throat crew. He had lashed the merchant crew to the masts, lit a powder fuse to the magazine, and then pushed off to an island to watch the ship blow up. Only two persons survived this explosion—a gentleman of high degree and his youthful son. Although this young man succeeded in getting his father ashore on the island, the elder died in his arms, and thereupon the son took a solemn vow to avenge his loss. Ascending a low rise from his father’s grave, the young man discovered the pirate band burying treasure. Walking into their midst he proposed to join them as his only means to escape from the island. When they demanded his qualifications he challenged their best fighter, their murderous leader, and dispatched him in combat. The fellow’s fickle lieutenants at once wished to accept the new comer. But the villainous second mate objected upon the ground that it would be wise to test him. At this the young man offered to prove his mettle by taking a ship single-handed. His challenge was accepted, and much to the surprise of all, the young man, unaided, took the very next ship they met. Disguising himself as a fisherman, he boarded the vessel from a small boat after fouling the rudder. He knocked out the helmsman, scampered into the rigging and slit the sails as he passed from mast to mast, finally arriving on the forecastle where he trained two cannon on the crew and held them at bay. Thus he won the undisputed right to join the band, and he was forthwith dubbed “The Black Among the passengers of the captured ship was a beautiful girl for whom the pirate crew drew lots. It was her misfortune to be won by the villainous second mate. Upon seeing her, the Black Pirate immediately fell in love, and his problem thenceforth was to protect her. This he did by suggesting that she be held a day, unharmed, for ransom. The captured ship was dispatched to fetch this ransom. As the boat left, the Black Pirate smuggled aboard a note, summoning aid to take the pirates. Thus would the young man avenge his father’s death. But the second mate’s henchman aboard the vessel blew it up that night. While attempting to rescue the girl, the Black Pirate was discovered by the scheming second officer, and denounced to the crew. He was made to walk the plank. From the beginning, however, a Scottish third mate had been the Black Pirate’s friend, and his last favor was to make it possible for the condemned man to slit his bonds and swim. The Black Pirate finally reached the main¬ land, made his way to a friendly town, returned with a ship and men, and captured the pirate vessel, thus saving the girl. Vivid Adventure in the Days of Morgan New Topic of Screen’s Most Active Romantic Hero, Filmed This Time in Color In presenting “The Black Pirate” which is coming to the .~. Theatre.Douglas Fairbanks is up to one of his pioneering tricks again. The film is in natural color, and a vast improvement, we are told, over past efforts at presenting color. “Doug” has picked out tones which are calculated to rest the eye—principally browns and greens and their complements. And all the color is selected in accordance with its dramatic value. Four months of experimental work was done along this line before a crank was turned on pro¬ duction. The story is an original from the facile pen of Mr. Elton Thomas. All me “yo-hoes” and “avasts” of 17th cen¬ tury piracy are in “The Black Pirate”, along with everything that any pirate ever did, from burying treasure to walk¬ ing the plank. Without being specific, Fairbanks chose the Southern Seas as his locale, thus giving his adventure plenty of sea room. Albert Parker was custodian of the megaphone on “The Black Pirate.” Billie Dove, that lovely young lead¬ ing lady who is rapidly heading for stardom, furnishes the pulchritude in this picture and also Doug’s motive for cleaning up a couple of shiploads of pirates. Mr. Fairbanks opens this picture, we are told, where most of them end,—with the freebooters blowing up a galleon along with the passengers, cargo and crew. After this placid incident things get exciting, and the first thing we know the star is the black pirate, rowing about and capturing ships single-handed and all that. All told two ships are blown up, and one is sunk under fire. The hero is made to walk the plank, and just how he extricated himself from that unhappy predicament after his hands have been tied behind his back is quite a story in itself. After view¬ ing this film there no doubt will be an exodus of small boys to the equatorial seas of various vacant lots and back yards to dig for the huge quantities of doubloons and pieces of eight that “Doug’s” pirates bury. With a story flavored by the tang of the sea and highly spiced with Fair- banksian stunts and the wildest sort of adventure, along with a pleasing ro¬ mance, it would seem that much -is in store for those who go do\yn to the screen in cushioned chairs to watch the unfoldment of flickering fantasies. The cast for the picture is of very compact dimensions. There are only two women in the piece,—Billie Dove and Tempe Pigott, the latter in the role -of maid to the heroine. Other featured players include Anders Randolf as pi¬ rate captain; Sam De Grasse as the villainous pirate, and Donald Crisp as a genial kind of pirate. In support of these are some 500 of as wicked-look¬ ing freebooters as ever stepped out of a story book. A DRAMATIC FLASH OF COLOR TEMPO In Douglas Fairbanks’ new photo¬ play “The Black Pirate”, a vivid, swashbuckling affair of the Spanish Main, the Technicolor process has been used to heighten the dramatic effect in an unusual way. Up to the climax—which is the blowing up of an expensive, especial¬ ly designed Spanish galleon—the col¬ oring is in a somewhat minor key, unobtrusive, muted, yet picturesque and pleasing. But when the galleon is resolved into its component parts by a movie explosion, there is a climactic splurge into primary tintings. Vivid reds sprawl over the film. A slightly less vivid yellow makes its evening bow to the audience. In short, when the action takes on sudden violent move¬ ment the coloring turns from the mild to a sublimely dramatic flash. FAIRBANKS BOOKED WITH HUGE PICTURE “The Black Pirate,” This Sea¬ son’s Tremendous Success of the Star, Coming Good news! Douglas Fairbanks opens at the.Theatre, on. in “The Black Pirate.” This picture, a new Fairbanks super¬ production, is laid in that part of the southern seas known in the Seventeenth century as the Pirate’s Main, where Morgan and his blood-thirsty rovers had their secret island, on which they hid the tribute exacted at guns’ points from traders and. travelers. It is said that Fairbanks has never before had such a fitting vehicle for his blithe sort of adventuring. He plays the part of a young nobleman, who swears to avenge the killing of his father by pirates. This he does in a series of exciting episodes, that demand every known variety of dueling, fight¬ ing, and daredevil cleverness. He cap¬ tures a big ship single-handed, steals the heroine from the villains, and fights his way through the ranks of the cut¬ throats. “The Black Pirate” is rated the fastest moving story Fairbanks ever made, and this is a promise of considerable speed. Starting with the blowing up of a ship and maintaining an explosive tempo throughout, this picture should afford all the interest and suspense forecast for it. Fairbanks’ production is the first pic¬ ture of such magnitude to be made in color, and marks an entirely new de¬ parture in this regard through its elimi¬ nation of all glaring hues. It is claimed that he has succeeded in incorporating color into this film in such a bewitching fashion that the spectator is completely charmed by it, and sees it only as one sees a panorama in real life. The star’s leading lady is the beauti¬ ful Billie Dove, she and Tempe Pigott as a duenna make up the entire femi¬ nine contingent. Donald Crisp, famous as an actor and director, has an in¬ teresting Scottish character part. Sam de Grasse, Anders Randolf, Charles Belcher, Roy Coulson» John Wallace and Charles Stevens complete a cast that in type and ability are well fitted for their picturesque roles. The film was directed by Albert Parker, to whom much credit is given for the handling of the many gripping situations of Fairbanks’ most pretentious picture, which has been hailed by tremendous patronage during its New York and London premiere engagements. There are only seventy-eight titles in “The Black Pirate,” which has but 750 scenes, a small number for its length, considering that some film productions of the same footage have from 1,000 to 3,000 scenes. The pic¬ ture was photographed in nine weeks, five weeks being spent on exteriors. A huge tank, holding 700,000 gal¬ lons of water, was built by Douglas Fairbanks to hold boats used for close-ups in “The Black Pirate.”