weezeralfalfa 1948 was Gene Kelly's banner year for swashbuckling roles. Not only did he here play a combination of an itinerant gymnastic carnival actor and pirate imposter, he also starred in the non-musical "The 3 Musketeers". .....Having missed the opportunity to costar with Judy in "Easter Parade" that year, due to an injury, this was their second pairing, but the first photographed in color, and what color! It was also the first of 3 films starring Kelly that was directed by Judy's husband at the time: Vincente Minnelli. The second, 2 years later, was the Oscar-winning "An American in Paris", also a very colorful experience. Reportedly, Judy became increasing mentally unstable, missing many days, or being late, which put a strain on their marriage.......The screenplay is scripted to occur in Calvado: a town on a small Caribbean island, with it's many colorful people and costumes. Judy is cast as the unmarried Manuela, who lives with her aunt and uncle. Arrangements have been made for her to marry the plump middle-aged Don Pedro(well played by Walter Slezak), who is the new town mayor. But Manuela yearns for her imagined hero: the infamous pirate Macoco. She first encounters the athletic performer Serafin(Kelly) and his troupe at the wharf, as they arrive. He takes an immediate fancy to her. Upon learning of her infatuation with her imagined Mococo, Serafin decides to masquerade as the pirate: quite believable to Manuela. Later, we will meet the real Mococo, presently masquerading as one of the town folk. I will stop my introduction here......The tacked on finale centers on the tumbling, slapstick and singing associated with Cole Porter's new song : "Be a Clown". It's certainly the most memorable of Porter's scores composed for this film. It was done twice, with a brief interlude. First, Kelly teamed with the African American Nicholas Brothers: who specialized in gymnastic dancing and stunts. They were incorporated into several musicals in the '40s, but never before in an act that included a Caucasian. Although their version was cut out in copies sent to The South, many people found that combination unacceptable. Hence, they relocated to Europe until the Civil Rights revolution brought them back. The second version included Judy, with Kelly. This was more oriented toward slapstick rather than tumbling, and is the version seen in all copies. It was a great way to finish the story, with Manuela reinventing herself.......Four years later , the tune of "Be a Clown" was resurrected for "Singing in the Rain", with new lyrics by Arthur Freed. The result was the much remembered "Make 'Em Laugh" production, starring Donald O'Connor. Strangely, at the IMDB site for the present film, Nacio Brown is listed as the tune composer and Arthur Freed as the lyricist, published in 1948, rather than 1952! I don't imagine MGM cared much who got the credit for composing the tune, as they presumably owned the copyrights for both.

bigverybadtom Yes, this is another old MGM musical with Gene Kelly and Judy Garland, which is more an excuse for singing and dancing rather than plot. Problem is, the singing and dancing (especially by Gene Kelly) is good, but too sparse compared to the rest of the movie's running time, and worse yet, the musical scenes are almost peripheral to the movie's story line itself.The plot actually had potential. Judy Garland is a young adult raised by her aunt, who has arranged for her to marry her small town's wealthy, but fat and seemingly dull mayor. The marriage is for financial reasons, and Garland isn't impressed by her fiancé. In fact, Garland has her mind in a fantasy world, dreaming of leaving her sheltered existence and travailing the world, even being taken away by the legendary pirate Macoco. Gene Kelly is the head of a group of strolling entertainers who learns about Garland's fantasies and wants Garland for himself. But then comes a shocking plot twist which, if the producers had properly developed it, could have added real tension and depth to the movie. Instead, the movie ends up drifting toward an unsatisfactory conclusion.You might enjoy this if all you want to see is Gene Kelly singing and dancing. But there are far better musicals out there that you can see instead.

mmallon4 At the beginning of The Pirate we learn Manuela (Judy Garland) has a life of servitude ahead of her while she yearns for a life of adventure. She desires to be taken away by the legendary Mack the Black, swooning over dreams of stolen treasure, maidens captive, of villages destroyed; kind of twisted don't you think? Regardless I don't think anyone can project an innocent yearning for adventure better than Judy Garland. The Pirate was a different role for Garland; more exotic, less girl next door and more grown up. For once she plays the object of desire and I find she pulls this off perfectly as although I've never found Garland to be a woman of sexual appeal, I do find her one of great beauty (why she was ever referred to as an ugly duckling is beyond me). At heart however Manuela is still very much a Judy Garland character, a down to Earth girl with aspirations for greater things.The title of The Pirate could come off as misleading. Gene Kelly isn't a pirate but rather a performer named Serafin masquerading as one. No the pirate of The Pirate is Mack the Black, whom in a odd turn of events is actually the man Manuela is going to wed in an arranged marriage known as Don Pedro, the mayor of a small Caribbean town who has put his life of crime behind him and kept it a secret. The Pirate is enhanced on second viewing knowing the true identity of Don Pedro as he speaks of his dislike of travelling on the sea and telling Manuela home is the perfect spot; remind you of another Judy Garland film? There is even a moment in which Manuela frantically tells Auntie Inez (Gladys Cooper) she wants to go home which feels like Wizard of Oz redux. The second half of the pirate is one huge comic, screwball like farce which doesn't fully work for me; it's amusing but not so much laugh out loud making me prefer the first half to the second. The Pirate shows Gene Kelly had the ability to be a natural swashbuckler while his introductory sequence in which he gives a lengthy monologue promoting his acting troupe has to be one of his most entertaining non-musical moments on screen. However what really makes his role in The Pirate stand out among his other films is the oozing sexuality he projects on screen; more than any other film he did. Serafin is a real Don Juan with his Gable like moustache as well as with his tightly fit pirate attire and the wipe he is seen sporting in the film (plus that cigarette trick, what a play-a!) His introductory song Nina is one steamy number with Kelly flirting and dancing with oodles of women (just look at that state his hair is in by the end of the number) while the topical setting just enhances the eroticism. The Pirate is another movie in the "how did they get away with that club". You can censor all you want but you can't tell someone to simply stop projecting natural sexuality. Although Judy and Gene do display affection for each other at points in the film, the romantic element of The Pirate comes off to me as secondary. Serafin pursues Manuela for reasons other than love as he can tell she is going into a life she doesn't want due to his ability to know an entire woman through their body language. This gives his character another element and shows he isn't totally shallow and just out to get laid; he wants to prevent Manuela from going down a path she doesn't want to and expose the adventuress that she is as well as her hidden performing talents. By the end it's evident they share a more of a professional association than a romantic one, nor is there even a final kiss between the two.Mack the Black is the musical highlight of the film and an interesting change of pace seeing Judy Garland doing a more racy number. Mack the Black was the replacement for a number titled Voodoo of which the negatives where burned at Louis B Mayer's instance over the number's reportedly scandalous content. Would it be considered shocking by today's standards, was it even that shocking to begin with? - One can only imagine. As the audio still survives, the song itself is one of the darker, more eerie songs in the MGM library but doesn't strike me particularly memorable. Perhaps going with Mack the Black was the right decision after all. Be a Clown on the other hand is notably the basis for the song Make 'em Laugh from Singin' In the Rain and plagiarised it may be, Make 'em Laugh is a far superior rendition in my view. The ballet sequence in The Pirate however is a treat with a real sense of three dimensional depth. The sequence with its many explosions and Gene Kelly's masculine athleticism makes for one of the more primal musical numbers in film history.The production values of The Pirate aren't quite up to MGM's usual standard with clear dividing lines on the sky backgrounds, visible wires holding Gene Kelly on the tight rope and even a very visible thread attached to Judy's hat as its hoisted away by the wind. Come on MGM, you can do better than that. Ultimately The Pirate is not my favourite MGM musical but is unique enough to make it worthwhile.

Steffi_P In its classic era Hollywood was not a place where artistes could conceive and execute projects exactly to plan. Often a production would change hands, get scrapped, revived, or overhauled completely into a new genre according to changing needs and resources. That's not an admonition - it's simply the way they created quality entertainment. The Pirate was not the first straight-ahead comedy drama to receive a musical makeover halfway through production.MGM, in the middle of what would one day be known as its golden age of musicals, probably thought they were onto an easy winner because they had all the finest musical talent of the day at their disposal. They brought in Arthur Freed to produce, Vincente Minnelli to direct, with Judy Garland and Gene Kelly as stars. They even managed to coax Cole Porter into writing the score. It couldn't fail... could it? The trouble is, such hasty talent stuffing sometimes backfires. Let's begin with the two leads. Garland, had worked continuously since childhood and was by now only being kept going with the amphetamines she would eventually become hooked on. She was running out of steam and it shows in her rather uneven performance, veering from theatrical exaggeration to bizarre, doped-up eroticism. Kelly by contrast was at the top of his game, but he looks daft in that moustache, and his performance relies more on his second-rate acrobats than his first-rate dancing. Garland and Kelly are however fantastic in the comical ornament-smashing scene. This is easily the best moment in the picture, which just goes to show how underused their musical abilities are.Vincente Minnelli was by now established as a unique and highly effective director of musicals. He had a method of giving character and dynamics to every number, making the camera and the colours part of the choreography. A great example is the song Nina, which is shot entirely in two or three continuous takes. Minnelli leads us into the song tracking over to the "Nina" in the boldest colours, then alights on one "Nina" after another, delicately framing each in a painterly composition. He holds our interest throughout this long routine, with the camera in close to establish the premise of the number then moving out to show off Kelly's athletics, moving in again for the cigarette-kiss trick, before moving out again for the final group dance. It's just a shame that The Pirate has too few songs, and not nearly enough dance.Minnelli was also a competent director of non-musical action, particularly crowd scenes. His expert use of camera movement provides Kelly with a fantastic entrance. We dolly back through the crowds, focus on a crate with the acting company's details on it, then pull back and up to reveal Kelly being hoisted aloft. Shortly after this comes a bit of a misfire though. Minnelli, for very good reasons, often liked to keep actors in mid-shot rather than closeup, drawing attention to them through use of framing and movement. As Kelly strolls through the crowd advertising his company, we are focused on him because he is very animated while his audience are unnaturally still. It gives what should be a lively moment a sense of emptiness, and I can't help thinking of the real world audience getting bored wondering when the first musical number will strike up.As for Cole Porter's music, it's far from his best. The plot is, as Kelly later pointed out, a huge inside joke that it took audiences twenty years to get, although if it was at the expense of Douglas Fairbanks, wasn't it also being made twenty years too late? The MGM studio-bound look is particularly stifling for such an exotic, adventuresome setting. All in all, The Pirate has plenty of colouring, but not enough flavour, and is one of the most disappointing of MGM musicals.