Exciting and entertaining action comedy when Lancaster was fit and vigorous along with his sidekick Nick Cravat. They were partners in nine films and this was one of the most popular of them. They worked the circus together as acrobats prior to doing films. The early action scene in the town was a bit cheesy but it demonstrated both of their athletic abilities. Many scenes are done very tongue-in-cheek which to me added to the entertainment value. Cravat was often mute in their films because he had a thick New York City (Brooklyn to be exact) accent. But again it made his characters even more likable. And Christopher Lee! He was a young 29 years old. He had only been acting less than 5 years before he played the military attaché Joseph. Writer Roland Kibbee had a successful career in TV with series like Barney Miller and Columbo for which he won Emmy's. The stunt of tipping the boat and walking to shore was clever. If you want to know where Bruckheimer got the idea for Pirates of the Caribbean, here it is. In fact, the ride at Disneyland was inspired by this movie. The fast tempoed symphonic score lended itself to the comedy. Torin usually played a villain or dirty rotten character and he excelled at it. His character redeemed himself this time around by allowing himself to be destroyed with the ship. One of the things I enjoy about older pictures is the stunt work. They did not have CGI and camera tricks were limited. So it was up to the actors and stunt team to make it look convincing. They did a marvelous job to create a swashbuckling adventure. "A slam-bang, action-filled, Technicolored lampoon" as the New York Times described it.
Review of The Crimson Pirate
