Blackbeard, the Pirate Reviews

There weren't many better villains than Robert Newton. From Bill Sikes in the original OLIVER TWIST, to Long John Silver in TREASURE ISLAND, to Pistol in HENRY V, Newton rolled his eyes and his r's and was always a pleasure to watch. Blackbeard is pestering the sea lanes again. The king of England dispatches Thatcher (as Sir Henry Morgan, a reformed pirate himself) to free the briny from the likes of Blackbeard. Andes, handsome and jut-jawed as always, allows himself to be shanghaied. Once on board, he takes up with luscious Darnell, who is due to marry the captain of the ship. Andes and Darnell team up and learn that the captain has been killed, that the ship is really being run by Blackbeard, and that Thatcher is in cahoots with him! Well, thank goodness Darnell is only his "adopted" daughter and not a blood relation. Andes and Darnell wind up in a clinch after a series of piratical adventures, most of which you've seen before in at least ten other films. It's a lot of fun, but Egan, Ryan, and especially Bendix are misused. Walsh didn't have a good grip on Newton, who went straight over the top in his portrayal and seemed to be doing a caricature of himself. Supposedly the role was to be played by Karloff with Val Lewton directing. But when Lewton died in 1951, Walsh took over and the result was what might be called broad, bubbling,and hammy.