milliefan Oh my. 20th Century Fox must have burned with shame and embarrassment at this wretched turkey being released under their aegis. I enjoy almost all old movies, and up until viewing Pirates of Tortuga had never seen a film that was ALL bad, without any redeeming qualities or entertainment value at all ... but this is the one. Pirates is so very inept in every respect that it can't even be enjoyed as one of those "so bad it's good" pictures. The direction is almost non-existent, with scenes that drag on as is a first rehearsal had been filmed, and filmed before it had even been blocked. This plodding footage is interspersed with stock shots and, in cases, entire scenes lifted from earlier (and MUCH better) movies, and the inserts are glaringly obvious, particularly in the first battle at sea (thirty or so background extras listlessly waving swords at each other as if half asleep, never varying their position, suddenly interrupted by a genuinely action-packed insert from The Black Swan!). The cast is headed by lacklustre Ken Scott, who had lent his wooden presence to other Fox productions (his supporting role in Stopover Tokyo helping to sink that particular dud). John Richardson looks fabulous, but has no technique, looks somewhat lost, and after this film went back to virtual extra status until his breakthrough a few years later in She and One Million Years BC. Worst of all, in fact the worst performance I have ever seen by a leading lady in a studio production, comes from Leticia Roman, a pretty but spectacularly untalented Italian girl playing a cockney and spouting lines like "lord love a duck" and "you ain't ever treated me like a lay-dee" in a voice that's a cross between Monica Vitti and Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. I am in danger here of making Pirates of Tortuga sound like something worth sitting through in order to have a giggle, but believe me it is NOT!

JoeytheBrit This is a fairly ordinary boys' pirate adventure memorable only for the over the top performance from Leticia Roman as the reluctant stowaway aboard Ken Scott's galleon embarked for the Caribbean and a battle of wits with Captain Henry Morgan (Robert Stephens) who has returned to his buccaneering ways after briefly working for the King of England.Roman acts as if she's just downed a pint of strong black coffee, and no doubt most self-respecting sailors would have thrown her overboard after having had their way with her. Somehow, though, not only does she make it intact all the way to Jamaica but she also manages to get Scott's insipid Captain Bart to fall in love with her.Robert Stephens as a slightly unhinged Morgan given to smacking the rump of his ever so slightly raddled lady companion is the highlight of the film, although he doesn't receive the amount of screen time he deserves. Curious to see British comedian Dave King appearing as one of Scott's swashbuckling sidekicks too. Other than that there really isn't a lot to say about this flick.

MARIO GAUCI One of the myriad cheapies churned out by independent film producers (here Sam Katzman) under the aegis of a major Hollywood studio (20th Century Fox) and which revolves around the exploits of a notorious pirate figure (Sir Henry Morgan). Despite being fully aware of the film’s non-reputation even among others of its type, I was still taken in by the relatively decent cast (Robert Stephens, Leticia Roman and John Richardson) and the promise of colorful entertainment (brought on by my recent spate of similar superior outings).Unfortunately, PIRATES OF TORTUGA falls far short of earlier movies about Morgan – THE BLACK SWAN (1942) or even the contemporaneous MORGAN, THE PIRATE (1961) – and proves to be a lackluster affair with a poverty of imagination on display that is quite dispiriting. To start with, Morgan (an over-the-top Stephens) himself only appears half-way through with the result that we are left largely in the company of a truly overbearing gypsy of a leading lady (Roman), a listless hero (Ken Jones) and his puerile cronies (Richardson and Dave King). Add to that the intermittent usage of action stock footage lifted from earlier Fox seafaring productions, the uncharacteristic popping up of modern slang in the dialogue and the sheer predictability of the whole venture and it’s small wonder that very little time has elapsed before the film starts to sink…right out of one’s memory! For the record, director Robert D. Webb had much earlier won an Oscar as an assistant director (in one of the few times these awards where handed out) on IN OLD CHICAGO (1937) and had also guided Elvis Presley through his first film LOVE ME TENDER (1956); incidentally, I might get to check out six(!) of his other directorial chores in the future: not just two notable Westerns WHITE FEATHER (1955; with Jeffrey Hunter and Robert Wagner, which I have in my DVD collection) and THE PROUD ONES (1956; with Robert Ryan and Jeffrey Hunter again, which I intend to acquire) but also a few more available at local DVD rental outlets: BENEATH THE 12-MILE REEF (1953; which I haven’t watched in ages), the aforementioned LOVE ME TENDER, THE CAPE TOWN AFFAIR (1967; a remake of Samuel Fuller’s PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET [1953]) and THE JACKALS (1967; featuring Vincent Price and a remake of William A. Wellman’s YELLOW SKY [1948], which I own and intend to watch presently as part of my ongoing Richard Widmark tribute).

gryphon-6 It has been a long time since I've seen this film, over 20 yrs in fact, but there were bits of detail that made it stick in my mind this long. For instance, the character named PeeWee had a distinctive style of sword fighting: he had the rapier or saber in the right hand but he wore a black glove on his left. After some research, I found the glove was used to bat away the blade and acted as a main gouche. Those types of details kept me watching the screen and firmly seated it in my memory. It was a typical pirate movie with the usual stereotypical roles, but it was fun to watch and little bits of the unusual peeked out here and there. I wish I had a chance to watch it again.