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Avast Me Hearties! Tis the Pirate movies with which we start this week!
Any list of Essential Movies with historical settings after 1500 has to begin with Pirate movies and what better pirate movie to begin with than Captain Blood and Errol Flynn at his finest. The Sea Hawk is another good Flynn pirate movie as is Against All Flags (though in this one Flynn is a British officer fighting the pirates). Against All Flags does have Maureen O’Hara as a pirate. In The Spanish Main and The Black Swan she played the love interest of Paul Henreid and Tyrone Power respectively. While not a particularly good movie, Cutthroat Island allows Geena Davis to play the pirate. And of course, no listing of pirate movies these days can be complete without mentioning The Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man’s Chest, and At Land’s End, collectively part of the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Captain Peter Blood to Captain Jack Sparrow.
Power did a fair share of period movies beyond The Black Swan as well. Captain from Castille and Prince of Foxes as well as The Mark of Zorro. Other Zorro movies have included a re-make of The Mark of Zorro with Frank Langella in the title role, The Mask of Zorro and The Legend of Zorro each with Antonio Banderas as Zorro and who can forget Zorro, The Gay Blade with George Hamilton in a dual role.
There are many movies that have been set around the time of the Colonial period but the one that I like and have watched many times is Northwest Passage. Spencer Tracy and Robert Young.
Then we come to The Three Musketeers. It sometimes is difficult to choose which one is best. Is it the version with Gene Kelly as D’Artagnan, Michael York, or Chris O’Donnell? Cardinal Richelieu as played by Vincent Price, Charlton Heston or Tim Curry? MiLady De’ Winter played by Lana Turner, Faye Dunaway, or Rebecca DeMornay? Constance played by June Allyson or Racquel Welch? Michael York probably got the most mileage out of D’Artagnan with The Four Musketeers and The Return of the Musketeers. Then there is The Man in the Iron Mask. . . .
Some films set around the time of the French Revolution and leading to the Napoleon era have to start with The Scarlet Pimpernel. I am partial to the Leslie Howard Pimpernel. The Count of Monte Cristo is a good yarn. In a bit of a change of pace, I prefer the 2002 version rather than the 1934 version. Captain Horatio Hornblower and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World are interesting sea yarns as well.
Moving forward to the end to the 19th century and very start of the 20th century there are a handful set during the British attempts at ruling the world. Gunga Din, The Man Who Would be King, and The Charge of the Light Brigade are probably not that historically accurate and I have to make allowances for some of the inherent racism but they are all good stories. And I will end this round with The Wind and the Lion, another one of those not quite politically correct movies but still a tale worth watching.
Previously: Essential Movies, Essential Movies (Westerns), and Essential Movies (Historical Setting pre-1500).
And because I can:
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Please Note: The Sea Hawk will be on Turner Classic Movies at 8 Eastern time tonight.
Aye! Captain Blood!!
dakine, you swashbuckling devil you. I always enjoyed these movies and thanks for reminding me of them. The Gay Blade was wonderful – laughed until I cried.
More pirate flicks: The Buccaneer with Yul Bryner and The Crimson Pirate with Burt Lancaster. They’re both good, although I’m partial to The Buccaneer which takes place in New Orleans during the War of 1812, with Charles Heston playing Andrew Jackson. Lancaster was a circus acrobat, so in The Crimson Pirate he makes the most out of swinging on ropes all over the rigging.
As always, there are a few that I forget and The Crimson Pirate should have been on the list.
The Swashbuckler should also have been on this list as well
Duh, Charlton Heston.
Lancaster’s fellow acrobat, 5’4″ Nick Cravat, is also in “The Crimson Pirate.” Cravat was the gremlin terrorizing and/or terrifying airline passenger William Shatner in a famous episode of “The Twilight Zone” tv series. Robert Siodmak directed CP and also directed Lancaster and Ava Gardner in the famous film noir “The Killers” (1946).
” Northwest Passage,” is one of the most realistic and historically accurate movies ever made. The saga was taken directly out of Roger`s hand book.They did lock arms to get across the flood swollen torrent.The ghastly things done by both sides were not covered up. The slaughter at the Abanaki village was portrayed with no glory or honor just the murderous event it was. The end where the British troops come marching in with the food was trumped up but it`s over all realism puts ” El Cid ” , “Brave Heart”, “Spartacus”,and ” The Ten Commandments,” to shame. It`s only equal was the last remake of,” The Last of The Mohicans “. I really liked how they handled the soldier eating the head. Both movies showed the absoulte genocide both sides practiced during the French and Indian war.
Zenostoa