Black Pirate (United Artists) (1926)

Lively Advance and Feature Stories^ SEARCHED LONG FOR A SCREEN HEROINE Billie Dove Chosen Out of a Thousand Girls for “The Black Pirate” For two months Douglas Fair¬ banks sought a leading lady for “The Black Pirate,” which is coming to the . theatre. He wanted a tall, stately girl to play the part of an unsophisticated Princess of two hundred years ago. That girl was finally found. She is Billie Dove, and she won out in competition in which more than one ■thousand girls were considered. Miss Dove, born and educated in New York, was deemed the ideal type for the role. “Miss Dove was chosen after two months of tests,” Douglas Fairbanks stated. “We tried girls with screen experience and without. We tried blondes and brunettes, and made thorough search for just the right type. “Her success, however, is no reflec¬ tion upon the other girls who tried for the part. Many of them were talented, and all of the girls given screen tests were beautiful. Miss Dove seemed to best represent just the type we wanted, and her screen tests in color were marvelous. “Much good has come of tl?e com¬ petition, too. Several girls, some of them without screen experience, have been given contracts by other com¬ panies as the result of their tests with us.” Billie Dove is five feet six inches tall, is slender and graceful, and has dark brown hair and blue eyes. Her screen experience has extended over a period of four years, during which time she has played many important roles. Recreation an Aid In Photoplay Work A casual visitor to the Pickford- Fairbanks studio might think that Douglas Fairbanks’ policy is “never let business interfere with pleasure.” Husky young men can be seen putting the shot, vaulting bars or swimming in the big pool at almost any hour of the day. And “Doug” is usually the ringleader of the group. Nevertheless, it is not “all play and no work” there. In fact, strenuous periods of recreation comprise Doug’s method of maintaining the morale of his organization. The games that keep the star and his co-worker in trim for the exacting work they do in pictures also aid concentration in that work. Tournaments that are held on the Doug” court (“Doug” is a game in¬ vented by Fairbanks, a combination of tennis and battledore and shuttlecock) arouse the keenest rivalry between the Fairbanks and Pickford staffs. And the pictures that are turned out on the lot give the answer to this spirit of competition. One example is “The Black Pirate” now showing at the ..* Theatre. “The moments of play which we al¬ low ourselves in the studio, get results in our work,” says Fairbanks. “It helps to lighten our task, and when we do that,we have accomplished what em¬ ployers everywhere are striving for.” London “Times” Waxes Sprightly In Reviewing “The Black Pirate” It remained for the traditionally sedate Old World journal, The Times, of London, England, to step out of the conventional fashion of motion picture reviews and to treat a new production in a gay, adventuresome spirit appropriate to the theme. The picture, “The Black Pirate,” has been given by The Times, a review not only in a bright and original vein, but also in a marvel¬ ous specimen of English, which tells in a most graphic manner the atmosphere and story of Douglas Fairbanks’ new photoplay—all masterfully getting its effects without the use of adjectives. As a literary model, this review, sent from the London premiere, is worth reprinting. “JOLLY ROGER” FLIES ON CIVILIZED SEAS Douglas Fairbanks and his gang of trusty buccaneers got their sea legs fully adjusted on a voyage out into the Pacific to make long shots of galleons going bust and other free-booting ac¬ tivities. It was when “The Black Pi¬ rate” was under production. Several weeks of sea duty was done by the cast, in which many of the most dramatic scenes of the story were shot. During their stay at sea the picture players were quartered aboard the Llewelyn J. Morse, famous old clipper ship, which Fairbanks bought and re¬ molded into a pirate craft. Albert Parker, director, and Fair¬ banks were accompanied by the follow¬ ing principals: Donald Crisp, Sam de Grasse, Charles Stevens, A1 MacQuar- rie, Charles Gorman, and Roy Coulson. Also a gang of prizefighters and wrest¬ lers who turned “pirate.” Between spells of working in the picture, they furnished considerable diversion in box¬ ing and wrestling bouts. “He can have nothing of boyhood surviving in him who has no pleasure in ‘The Black Pirate,’ ” says the critic. “The Spanish Main was never more perilous than when Mr. Fairbanks sailed it. If the pirates had but known of his presence, they would have abandoned their profession before daring to hold up the ship that con¬ tained him and his father—‘a gentle¬ man of high degree.’ Of what avail to lash the captured crew in bundles to the masts and lay a trail of gun¬ powder round them? To what pur¬ pose blow up the captured vessel and imagine your piratical triumph com¬ plete? “Somehow Mr. Fairbanks will es¬ cape and swim ashore with his dying father in his arms. The shore he strikes will inevitably belong to the island where the pieces of eight are hid. Having carved an oath of ven¬ geance on the paternal tombstone, he will watch the pirates digging for their hoard, will leap forward un¬ armed to enlist in their band, will de¬ feat their captain in single combat, and impress them all mightily (in spite of the scepticism of the villain¬ ous second mate) by swearng to cap¬ ture the next merchantman with his own unaided hand. “He does it, too. Behold, in the morning, the unfortunate merchant¬ man suspecting no danger from the young man who hails her. How is her crew to know that this is the film actor of the ocean, or that in five minutes he will have swum be¬ neath their stern and put their steer¬ ing gear out of order? How are mere sailors to Icompete with J a heroic gymnast who does not climb a mast by mere shrouds and lubber’s hole, but is swept aloft on the corner of a flapping canvas and descends with his great knife plunged in the ripping sails? In an instant they are sub¬ dued and the princess is a prisoner. But shall they all be blown up and the princess handed over to the sec¬ ond mate? Not if Mr. Fairbanks’ eye falls upon her, which most oppor¬ tunely it does. She shall be held to ransom—‘spotless and safe,’ until to¬ morrow’s noon. The captured ship, sent ashore with the pirates’ demands, will have had time to return by then. “Mr. Fairbanks, who is none other than the Duke of Arnoldo (you will recall that his late father was of high degree), sends ashore his ring with a demand of reinforcements. Noon will bring not ransom but rescue. But he has reckoned without the second mate, who reveals to the pirates that they are betrayed. There, after kisses of farewell, is Mr. Fairbanks walking the plank. As if a plank were any¬ thing to such as he! Can he not swim? Can he not mount a snow- white steed and ride over the sands by night? Can he not return, at the stroke of noon, with a legion of sec¬ ondary Fairbankses, who swim under water like a shoal of fish in a tank, and swarm over the bulwarks of the doomed pirate vessel? Nothing now but a formal introduction separates the Duke and the Princess. What fun it is—and all in colors, tool” DIRECTOR SEES THE COLOR FILMS TRIUMPH A new frontier is being crossed by the men in motion pictures who are now working in color, according to Albert Parker, who directed Douglas Fair¬ banks’ new all-color film, “The Black Pirate,” coming to the.Theatre next ... “Many things are being discovered,” said Parker, “which are bound to have great bearing on picture production in the future, assuming of course that color photography is to encroach more and more upon black and white. In fact, it begins to appear now that not only will we have color photography but also stereoscopic effects on the screen. Present indications are that the big strides in picture making are to occur in the mechanical end of the busi¬ ness rather than in the creative depart¬ ment. In “The Black Pirate”, Douglas Fairbanks has accomplished a marked stereoscopic effect in several instances, which no doubt will be but the fore¬ runner of greater development along this line.” According to Parker, the men who are now doing the pioneer work in color and stereoscopic photography are in much the same position as those who participated in the early development of black and white motion pictures. Nat¬ urally they will have a big advantage as these improvements advance and be¬ come more general. “We have learned astonishing things about make-up, lighting, and color val¬ ues,” he stated. “These absolutely rev¬ olutionize the methods that apply to black and white photography. We know now how to keep players with certain kinds of complexions from going green in color; what shades a foreground must carry in order to give value to the background; what kinds of color should never be used; these and many other more baffling problems have been solved, all to the general advancement of film production.” Parker spent almost a year at re¬ search work before undertaking the task of directing “The Black Pirate.” “DOUG’S” BUCCANEERS HAD BATTLE CRUISE Douglas Fairbanks and his crew of “Black Pirates” had interesting location work in his new photoplay. For three weeks the company pitched up and down on the high seas twenty- five miles off Catalina Island, where battle scenes were made featuring the destruction of Spanish galleon and also a gigantic galley. During the period required for the taking of these scenes, the company was quartered aboard a famous old clipper ship which served as “flag ship” for the fleet and also did its bit in the photoplay. The special players used on this location num¬ bered hundreds. As a means of com¬ munication between the ships and the shore, two tugs and two sea-going speedboats were kept in constant use. Thei speedboats carried passengers, while the tugs were used as supply boats.