Against All Flags (1952)

From the golden age of pirate movies!  It stars Errol Flynn (probably Hollywood's greatest swashbuckler), Maureen O'Hara, and Anthony Quinn as the infamous Captain Roc Brasiliano.  It is set off the coast of Madagascar, and I thought that since the world has been dealing with serious modern piracy in the waters off the coast of Somalia, also in the western Indian Ocean, an African rabble of classic, good old fashioned Hollywood high seas deck fighting was in order.

Also this comes from a collection of classic pirate films (shown above) that we gave our now really sick cat Alexina (Weena for short, you know, like in The Time Machine) for Christmas last year, along with the Blackbeard mini-series we put on for her last night.  So this is for her and hopes for a full recovery!

My last reason for choosing this over the 3 other films in the set is because of Maureen O'Hara.  She got her start in a pirate film, also viewed last night, Hitchcock's Jamaica Inn (1939)--see below.  I just resist.  Also, it's the only one of the 4 that I actually remember seeing sometime on one of Turner's channels.

The film was directed by George Sherman, who is mostly remembered for the westerns that he directed.  It shot in the luscious "over look" that only Technicolor can deliver!  This is one of the very first movies to present the story line of the British officer going "under cover" to infiltrate a pirate organization.  There was some historical president for this, but it had to be cobbled together from a variety of sources--there's no evidence that any operation of this magnitude ever took place.  Besides, the British distinction between "privateer" and "pirate" were pretty damned blurred! Still one has to give the script credit for putting together a tall tale that would provide so much action, even if it's low on real history....I mean even veteran actor Robert Warwick puts in a brief appearance as Cap. Kidd!  And a female pirate captain....??  Well this is Hollywood!

Here's Errol in Action!

Here's the closest thing that there was of a real notorious female pirate.  She was Ching Shih of Canton China.

REAL PIRATE FACT NUMBER 3

As mentioned below, no evidence has ever been found of anyone "walking the plank."  It seems to be a solid invention of movies in general and Hollywood especially.  But no good pirate film worth it's weight in salt would be without it.  Pirates did maroon people on islands, occasionally tying them up, if they wanted to be especially vicious about the matter.  And there are cases of leaving the wretch with a means off himself before he died of lack of fresh water.  At least in The Curse Of The Black Pearl, the walking of the plank is done as part of the marooning process.