Product Description

Notorious raider of the eighteenth century sea lanes, Captain Vallo, a.k.a. The Crimson Pirate, and his band of buccaneers overtake a Spanish galleon filled with guns and ammunition. When he decides to sell the stolen arsenal to rebel leader El Libre on the island of Cobra, the representative of Spain, Baron Gruda, offers Vallo 50,000 florins if he will deliver El Libre instead. Vallo is soon caught between the Spanish, the rebellion, and even the mutiny of his own men. But having allen in love with El Libre's daughter Consuelo, Vallo gains back his crew's trust and leads the island of Cobra to freedom.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10484 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-07-01
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 104 minutes

Amazon.com
Released well after Douglas Fairbanks's and Errol Flynn's heydays, this good-natured Burt Lancaster vehicle is, nevertheless, a superior example of the classic swashbuckler: set in the 16th century, along the Spanish Main, this lusty adventure both expands on and explodes genre conventions. Lancaster, a circus acrobat before turning to movies in the '40s, gives what may be his most physical performance as sword-for-hire Captain Vallo, a.k.a. the Crimson Pirate.

Nick Cravat, Lancaster's real-life circus buddy, matches the star leap for leap, somersault for somersault as Vallo's mute sidekick. The fetching Eva Bartok causes Vallo to throw over the Spanish for rebel forces, and a young Christopher Lee demonstrates the swordsmanship that would later make him a natural in Richard Lester's The Three Musketeers.

Director Robert Siodmak, known for his claustrophobic noir thrillers (1946's The Killers), handled most of the interiors, while Lancaster coordinated the tongue-in-cheek humor and macho derring-do. The broadly played action scenes, including the climactic 18-minute battle aboard a frigate, wouldn't be improved on for another three decades--by Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark. The big difference: Harrison Ford needed a stunt double, Lancaster didn't. --Glenn Lovell

Customer Reviews

Pirate comedy at it best!
Fans of Bloom and Deep's Pirates of the Caribbean, should check out pirate camp is done by the old pro Burt Lancaster. This is one riotously funny movie with Burt Lancaster and partner Nick Cravat (they were real partners in a circus act, childhood pals, before breaking into film!) and they get to strut them stuff in this really great film. Lancaster and Cravat play Pirates, in the true tradition, and while tweaking the local authorities nose and robing them blind, they come across Consuelo (Eva Bartok). She is the daughter of a local rebel who they are going to hang and she wants Lancaster to help free him. Tossing
James Hayter's absentminded Professor Prudence and Christopher Lee (an actual sword-fighter!! - watch Saruman in his younger days!!) you get all the perfect mix for slapstick humour at its best.

A long neglected classic and is fun for the whole family.

CRIMSON LANCASTER, THRILLING PIRATE CAPER
"The Crimson Pirate" is the film that really cemented Burt Lancaster's career in Hollywood as a major player. Aside from the fact that Burt does all of his own stunt work - some of it so harrowing I almost had to close my eyes, this nimble, garishly colorful and thoroughly captivating spectacle really grabs the viewer in. Burt plays a pirate, out for revenge and gold. Stop me if you've heard this one before. But the script moves the story along with witty dialogue and plenty of eye boggling acrobatic routines that will leave you thrilling for more.
Warner Home Video has given us a nice looking DVD. Though age related artifacts are present throughout the transfer, colors are nevertheless rich, bold and well balanced. The film has a decidely "warm" look to it with flesh tones that are perhaps a bit too orangy. But oh, how the Technicolor photography will simply take your breath away. Edge enhancement, shimmering and minor pixelization are all present but at extremely low levels. The audio is mono but nicely cleaned up and well balanced.
EXTRAS: NOT A ONE. I have to say that I'm not really happy with Warner's classic DVD policy of late. While many of the Warner Titles from the library get extra features packed into them the MGM titles of late are generally getting shafted with substandard transfers and no extras (Father of the Bride and Broadway Melody of 1940 come immediately to mind). A classic is a classic, no matter the studio that originally made it. Do them all right or don't do them at all!
BOTTOM LINE: This is the swashbuckler to get. Aside from "Scaramouche", which is bar none, the best sword play movie in this latest crop of Warner DVD's, "The Crimson Pirate" will certainly not let you down and the transfer is pretty good besides!

The swashbucklers return!
OK, the wait is over. Finally someone has decided to bring the classic swashbucklers to the DVD medium and it is about time. "The Crimson Pirate" is one of two Lancaster swashbucklers--the other is "The Flame and the Arrow"--and a wonderful mixture of comedy and acrobats. While not on a par with the older Flynn/Tyrone Power epics, "Pirate" stands above most of the pirate films of the late 1940s and 1950s. It is not to be missed by any fan of Burt Lancaster, especially those who wish to see how good he probably was as a circus performer. This is one to hold on to and, hopefully, will be the beginning of more of these grand entertainments on DVD!!