Silent Film Sources - Reviews

General Manager, Robert Fairbanks. Manager of Production, Theodore Reed. Photography in Technicolor. Technicolor Staff, Arthur Ball, George Cave. 

Scenario Editor, Lotta Woods. Research Director, Dr. Arthur Woods. Consultants, Dwight Franklin, Robert Nichols. 

Supervising Art Director, Carl Oscar Borg. Associate Artists, Edward M. Langley, Jack Holden. 

Musical Score by Mortimer Wilson. Marine Technician, P.H.L. Wilson. Film Cutter, William Nolan. 

The Players: Billie Dove, Tempe Piggot, Donald Crisp, Sam de Grasse, Anders Randolf, Charles Stevens, John Wallace, Fred Becker, Charles Belcher, E.J. Radcliffe, Douglas Fairbanks.

To bring the pirates to justice, Fairbanks must become their leader. He kills the captain (Anders Randolf) in a swordfight, and offers to take the next ship single-handed. This wonderful sequence demonstrates Fairbanks' mix of athleticism. and grace mixed with cleverness. He climbs up the stern of the ship, silences the lookouts, and disables the ship, slicing open the sails by sliding down them, moving about by swinging from rope to rope. 

The Black Pirate provides adventure laced with humor, romance and suspense. Fairbanks avoids the epic sweep of Rafael Sabatini's "Captain Blood" or "The Sea Hawk" which had been filmed the previous year. The film features Fairbanks' usual high production values with two full-scale ships, and is well cast with Donald Crisp, unrecognizable behind his Scottish make-up, and Sam de Grasse as a villainous second in command. Billie Dove has little to contribute beyond looking beautiful, which she does very well. The entire film is presented tongue in cheek, as if it were all the imagination of a schoolboy reading "Treasure Island" with illustrations by Howard Pyle. 

After The Mark of Zorro, this adventure is probably the best introduction to the Fairbanks canon. The Black Pirate was Fairbanks' shortest film in five years, and marked a welcome return to the fast pace of Zorro and his earlier successes. The story is compact and well constructed, though the narrative never explores how Fairbanks' effectiveness as a would-be pirate captain inadvertently dooms the passengers and crew of the ship he captures. 

The Black Pirate is best remembered for the novel use of two color Technicolor, although the film was long available only in black and white. The color process enhances the visuals, but the film works equally well without it. The Killiam Shows edition, prepared in 1972, offers the black and white version with color tints and features an original piano score by William Perry. While all of the titles are original, the film's six main title cards have been reduced to two. 

There are several different versions in distribution by The Rohauer Collection/Douris Corporation. Raymond Rohauer acquired a color negative restored by the British Film Institute. Rohauer prepared a "restored" version in 1972 in 35mm and 16mm with rewritten title cards, some re-editing and a score of stock orchestral music. The colors are not entirely accurate. The titles were rewritten and placed on a parchment-style background; some titles were dropped, picking up the pace of the film. The score of stock orchestral music is adequate. 

In 1974, Rohauer released a version in 35mm with a heavy sepia tint that obscured most of the original color, although in some scenes the different color tones are evident. The print features the original opening credits, and most of the intertitles are original. For the last 20 minutes (or so) through the end, the intertitles have been replaced, and, apparently, additional titles inserted, slowing the pace of the climax. 

The 1996 Kino International/Image Entertainment edition restores the film to its original release version. The video was transferred from the restored negative, and required substantial post-production work to accurately represent the original Technicolor hues. The soundtrack presents the original jaunty score by Mortimer Wilson, performed by a chamber orchestra conducted by Robert Israel. 

The laserdisc is extremely elaborate. The gatefold jacket has an essay by Rudy Behlmer, and he provides a spoken commentary which covers the production of the film and its pioneering use of Technicolor. The disc also includes 19 minutes of black and white outtakes, which are meaningless by themselves, but when placed in context by Behlmer, reveal some of the tricks of Fairbanks' filmmaking. To top it off, the disc includes a color reproduction of the original souvenir program. (Review © 1997 David Pierce)