Black Pirate (United Artists) (1926)

Here is Feature Material that is Worth While Boyhood Inspired My Pirate Film By DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS Friends frequently ask me how it is that I happened to make a pic¬ ture dealing with buccaneers in the heyday of the Spanish Mam, as does “The Black Pirate.” Somehow to me it seems the most natural thing m the world that I should, for I have always been interested in pirate lore and stories. I recall as a boy how we used, to be always playing pirate, and invariably I wanted to be cast as Captain Kidd. As a matter of fact I had definitely planned on doing a pirate pic¬ ture for quite a number of years. The difficulty was to locate a suit¬ able story. Then when Elton Thomas brought me his exciting yarn, I knew I had the material I wanted. Originally, “The Black Pirate” was scheduled for production preceding “The Thief of Bagdad”. Soon, however, I realized that the developments of such a story was taking the research department so far afield that several years of preliminary work would be necessary before we could actually commence the pro¬ duction, so I had to abandon it for the time being. There were a thousand and one details to set aright before en¬ deavoring to make an authentic picture of piracy. The costuming was fairly simple to arrange correctly, but we had to learn all about the habits of pirates, their manner of duelling, their routine when not en¬ gaged in fighting, their caste system, manners and customs. There were innumerable properties to be collected or fashioned in the style of val¬ uable originals—swords, flintlocks, sabres, cutlasses, and the like. We also had to build 18th century galleons, and see to it that their rigging and accoutrements were authentic in every detail. It was a glorious adventure, though, this delving into the lives of the roistering sea-brigands whose bloody deeds have covered many a page of history, and while the task of producing such a picture was gi¬ gantic, it was in every way worth while. DOUG WHIPS THUGS BY THE SHIPLOAD A long-awaited attraction at the ... is Douglas Fairbanks in “The Black Pirate”, starting on .. Manager . feels that he has been exceptionally fortunate in obtaining this screen classic and urg¬ es all his patrons not to overlook this opportunity of seeing it. “The Black Pirate” is a rousing tale of the sea with Fairbanks romping with high enthus¬ iasm on adventures amid buried treas¬ ure, plank walking, and pirate battles. Two ships are sunk in the picture. Doug does many athletic “stunts” and some distinctly appealing love-making. Billie Dove is the leading lady, and the star whips a whole shipload of pirates to win her. “POT CALLS THE KETTLE BLACK” The huge “Black Pirate” sets at the Pickford-Fairbanks studio were being wrecked, and “Doug” took Mary for a stroll over the lot to watch the work. They came upon four small boy*, perched high on the< mast of a “ship on the studio “ocean.” The boys had scaled a fence and were having the time of their lives. Douglas immediately began to give them a lecture. “Don’t you boys know I would be responsible if you got hurt in here?” he asked. “You shouldn’t be climbing around and jumping over things, any¬ way. It’s dangerous.” Doug was very much In earnest. Mary, however, was laughing heart¬ ily throughout the lecture, as he told about the dangers of climbing and jumping, for which he is noted. The boys, too, got the drift of her amuse¬ ment, and laughed. Finally “Doug” saw the point, and also laughed. Queer Problems Met and Overcome in Color Film Behavior of Same Hues Indoors and Out Varied Strangely, Says Albert Parker, Director of “The Black Pirate” “Doug” Gets Away With It When Douglas Fairbanks arrives in town with a new film in his bag, the movie fans, which include every¬ one but the inhabitants of cemeteries, indulge in broad, expectant grins, and wonder what on earth (or over it) Doug has done nowl Upon which they start promptly for the box office. And, be it said, The Outlook, being perfectly human, is just as naively interested as anyone else! So writes Charles K. Taylor in The Outlook. He continues: e Every now and then I have tried to explain how Douglas the Dynamic manages to create such an uproar wherever he goes—or wherever his films go. In the last analysis, no doubt, it is all a matter of personality —only in this case it is a personality that has but one rival as the most popular in the world, the other be¬ longing to that incorrigible horseman, the Prince of Wales! Many of us had our doubts for the first time when we heard that in “The Black Pirate” he had departed from the usual white-and-black world to which we have become accustomed on the screen. We would accept without a qualm the perfectly natural idea that Doug, if he so desired, could defend his life joyously with a twenty- foot lash, and that should he feel so inclined, he could easily enough slide down the bellying surface of a great sail with only his knife ripping the Canvas by way of a brake. But why should he go out of his way and sim¬ ply court disaster by trying to make a picture in colors? And even if by some miracle the result did not close¬ ly resemble an explosion in a paint works, would it not be, for a Fair¬ banks film, merely the painting of a lily? There was left to us but one Blender hope—that Doug would have the same complete luck with his col¬ ors that he has had in the past with his hosts of implacable enemies, his gangs of unscrupulous villains, and his devouring monsters of the air, the sea, and the land. Well, he seems to have accom¬ plished the impossible, but there cer¬ tainly was no luck about it, unless, as some philosophers say, that luck comes only as the result of good hard work. However that may be, it is certain that Mr. Fairbanks has produced a picture of exquisite del¬ icacy and beauty, a composition in subdued sepias, pale greens and buffs, in comparison with which the usual “white-and-black” is likely to look very flat indeed. MASTS ABOVE STUDIO Douglas Fairbanks built five "fight¬ ing sets” for his new picture, “The Black Pirate.” These sets, designed by Carl Oscar Borg, represent interiors of galleons such as sailed from Europe to Amer¬ ica in the days of the Spanish Main. They were employed as scenes of the conflict which occurs between “Doug” and the pirates when he at¬ tempts to rescue the heroine. While filming “The Black Pirate,” Doug gave the studio the appearance of a shipyard. In order to work to best advantage on all close-ups, sev¬ eral portions of ships were con¬ structed on the lot. Their masts rose high above the studio buildings and attracted much attention. The studio sets duplicated the four argosies and galleons which were used at sea for long-shots. Ever since the advent of motion pictures, there have been periodical forecasts that the films were about to be immediately revolutionized by talking movies and natural color movies. Each year, however, black and white as a medium advanced rapidly, while natural color remained confined to the laboratory. There were some expensive attempts to make color on the screen commercial¬ ly acceptable, but with no conspicu¬ ous success. This problem has at last been van¬ quished in the new picture of Doug¬ las Fairbanks, Titled “The Black Pir¬ ate,” Albert Parker, the director, ex¬ plains. The film, done in color en¬ tirely, has the mellowed look of an oil painting, the ripeness of a Rem¬ brandt. "Color,” began Mr. Parker, "is a delicate medium. You have to care¬ fully choose the tone with, which you wish to express in the film. For ‘The Black Pirate’ we favored sepias. Instead of the raw primary hues of the usual color films we have mahog¬ any reds, dark hunter greens, and no blues. We learned, incidentally, that purple cannot be reproduced well, that blues become greenish, and that yellows have a reddish brown cast of unwelcome quality. To avoid these tones we evolved settings and cos¬ tumes that have the rich,, subdued tones of old oil paintings. "Fully fifty thousand feet of film was spoiled in making tests. Finally we discovered that colors changed most disastrously under sunlight and artificial lights, and that our costumes were sometimes perfectly all right in the studio, but all wrong on loca¬ tion. “We found that make-up presented new problems; powders of much darker shades had to be used rather than the usual white or pinkish white tones. For Miss Billy Dove, who has the feminine lead, the cosmetician prepared a powder that in the film gives the impression of the ivory skin in an old canvas. Sam de Grasse, prominently cast, has no need of make-up at all in color pictures, al¬ though in black and white he has. “Mr. Fairbanks had a serious time with his make-up. Because of the texture of his skin, his face appeared greenish in the proofs, but by apply¬ ing a reddish powder the green was counteracted, and his skin had the brownish color desired for the role. "Color affected most of all the actual working out of the story. You must be exceedingly careful all the time that your story and your color are in harmony, each bringing out greater possibilities in the other. If ‘The Black Pirate’ had been destined for ordinary black and white treat¬ ment the whole story would have been changed, with directorial meth¬ ods of another type. Mr. Fairbanks, however, built the story with color always in mind. “Every moment we had to watch for the composition of each scene. Fifty extras looked like two hundred, because the eye has so much to take in. If we had too many in a scene the proportions were wrong, and the whole scene had to be done again. Again, color eliminates many details that would stick out in black and white. There is nothing to tell how this happens or what causes it. You have to know by instinct really just what will go over in color. “While we were making the pic¬ ture one of the professors at the Uni¬ versity of California made tests to show the eye strain involved in look¬ ing at films in color. These tests revealed that colored films offer less strain than black and white, and that black and white films less strain thaa ordinary reading.”