Rating: NR
Genre:
Romance
Release Date: 07/24/2007
SubTitles: English/French
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD1
Run Time: 101 Minutes
Flags: Suitable for Children
Distributor/Studio: Warner Home Video
When
Alfred Lunt and
Lynn Fontanne appeared in
S. N. Behrmann's
The Pirate on Broadway, there were no musical numbers whatsoever. But with
Gene Kelly and
Judy Garland in the leading roles of the 1948 filmization of
The Pirate, the
MGM production staff would have been drawn and quartered had there not been song after song. The story is merely serviceable: on a Caribbean isle in the early 19th century, sheltered young
Garland comes to believe that travelling troubadour
Kelly is in reality "Mack the Black," a notorious pirate.
Kelly realizes that the surest way to win
Garland's heart is to impersonate the romantic buccaneer, and this is what he does--nearly getting himself hanged in the process.
Cole Porter's marvelous score yielded only one bona-fide hit:
"Be a Clown", which has practically nothing to do with the storyline, but do you care? Highlights include the magnificently staged "Mack the Black," a heady combination of Broadway glitz and
Caligariesque nightmare. Seven
MGM screenwriters toiled away on
The Pirate, though only the team of
Albert Hackett and
Frances Goodrich were credited. While
The Pirate was not a huge moneymaker on its first release, it has since been embraced by the cultists, who apparently can never get enough of
Judy Garland.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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