Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: VHS Tape EAN: 9786300269798 Format: Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC ISBN: 6300269795 Label: Warner Home Video Manufacturer: Warner Home Video Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Warner Home Video Release Date: November 10, 1993 Running Time: 105 minutes Studio: Warner Home Video Theatrical Release Date: September 27, 1952 Sales Rank: 8488
Amazon.com: Released well after Douglas Fairbanks's and Errol Flynn's heydays, this good-natured Burt Lancaster vehicle is, nevertheless, a superior example of the classic swashbuckler: set in the 16th century, along the Spanish Main, this lusty adventure both expands on and explodes genre conventions. Lancaster, a circus acrobat before turning to movies in the '40s, gives what may be his most physical performance as sword-for-hire Captain Vallo, a.k.a. the Crimson Pirate.
Nick Cravat, Lancaster's real-life circus buddy, matches the star leap for leap, somersault for somersault as Vallo's mute sidekick. The fetching Eva Bartok causes Vallo to throw over the Spanish for rebel forces, and a young Christopher Lee demonstrates the swordsmanship that would later make him a natural in Richard Lester's The Three Musketeers.
Director Robert Siodmak, known for his claustrophobic noir thrillers (1946's The Killers), handled most of the interiors, while Lancaster coordinated the tongue-in-cheek humor and macho derring-do. The broadly played action scenes, including the climactic 18-minute battle aboard a frigate, wouldn't be improved on for another three decades--by Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark. The big difference: Harrison Ford needed a stunt double, Lancaster didn't. --Glenn Lovell
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - I did not receive this DVD
I know this great movie from way back. I have ordered it, but it did not arrive. I wish still to get it, and if this review has any influence, maybe it still can be organised to get it. Surely someone ... Read More
Rating: - Better than Pirates of the Caribbean
It was fun to watch Burt Lancaster frolic on the ropes of his sailing frigate. After watching serious roles that he played in Elmer Gantry, Mr. 880, the Train, Bird Man of Alcatraz, and Judgment at Nurenberg, ... Read More
Rating: - Burt Lancaster at his funniest, totally outragious
Recomended for anyone with a sence of humor. I've loved this movie sence the first time I saw it, too many years ago to count. Sword fighting, brawling, and misplaced (timewise) inventions. All done to tickle ... Read More
Rating: - Lancaster has given the modern cinema more "pure enjoyment" than almost any other major star!
It's doubtful whether any pirate ever looked like Lancaster, rigged out in a succession of exaggeratedly modish outfits and bleached-blond hair... He is the 18th-century pirate swashbuckler to end all swashbucklers! ... Read More
Rating: - The Crimson Pirate seen again after many years
I saw the original theater release - and was reminded again of one of the funniest takeoffs on "Pirate" movies. Lancaster is often thought of as a dramatic actor (see Elmer Gantry), but here he shows great comedian ... Read More
- I did not receive this DVD
- Better than Pirates of the Caribbean