The Black Pirate (1926)
Continuing my exploration of Douglas Fairbanks movies, I just watched The Black Pirate. It seems to me that Fairbanks is just playing Fairbanks at this point, and I'm not really in love with this jaunty, smiling, cocky, but chivalrous character. However, this movie is chock full of pulpy pirate goodness (hint: someone walks the plank), and it's Hollywood at the top of its technical game. Wonderful sets, a huge cast of extras, great stunts (flying around in the rigging), great miniatures and explosions. Hollywood is all about the explosions.
The other interesting thing about this movie is that it's in two-strip Technicolor, which was what preceded the three-strip Technicolor that is celebrated in song and story. Two-strip Technicolor resulted in a much paler, pastel palette, but it is, by gum, color, and it's fascinating to see a silent movie in color. I'm guessing that the negative or print used for this Kino DVD had lost some of its pigment, because at times Fairbanks looks like he's in black and white while the characters around him look tan and flesh-colored. I doubt the star would have intentionally allowed himself to look corpse-colored in contrast. It was no doubt due to his primacy as a film star that he was given the budget to shoot this in color. I'm not aware of any other silent feature films shot completely in color, although I certainly could be ignorant on that front.
There was one bit of almost shocking implied violence that said volumes about how such things can be handled in an essentially PG way. A hostage swallows a valuable ring so that the pirates can't take it. The pirate captain calls over a villainous fellow and makes a gutting motion. The villainous fellow draws his knife and goes off screen in the direction of the hostage and returns momentarily. He hands the ring to the captain, who shakes it as if to shake off blood. Cut to next scene, which climaxes in an explosion. Arrrrrrrh!
This is a big budget Hollywood movie, and the ending is utterly dopey. It's also pretty much a boy's adventure throughout, with one woman to serve as the maguffin and prize and another to be her servant (because she's a princess, of course). I'm guessing this was still considered the gold standard of pirate movies when Michael Curtiz and Errol Flynn made Captain Blood in 1935, and even then it was shot in black and white. Becky Sharp, released that same year, is considered the first feature length film shot in three-strip Technicolor. Flynn would have to wait until 1938 to make his own debut in color, in The Adventures of Robin Hood.
The other interesting thing about this movie is that it's in two-strip Technicolor, which was what preceded the three-strip Technicolor that is celebrated in song and story. Two-strip Technicolor resulted in a much paler, pastel palette, but it is, by gum, color, and it's fascinating to see a silent movie in color. I'm guessing that the negative or print used for this Kino DVD had lost some of its pigment, because at times Fairbanks looks like he's in black and white while the characters around him look tan and flesh-colored. I doubt the star would have intentionally allowed himself to look corpse-colored in contrast. It was no doubt due to his primacy as a film star that he was given the budget to shoot this in color. I'm not aware of any other silent feature films shot completely in color, although I certainly could be ignorant on that front.
There was one bit of almost shocking implied violence that said volumes about how such things can be handled in an essentially PG way. A hostage swallows a valuable ring so that the pirates can't take it. The pirate captain calls over a villainous fellow and makes a gutting motion. The villainous fellow draws his knife and goes off screen in the direction of the hostage and returns momentarily. He hands the ring to the captain, who shakes it as if to shake off blood. Cut to next scene, which climaxes in an explosion. Arrrrrrrh!
This is a big budget Hollywood movie, and the ending is utterly dopey. It's also pretty much a boy's adventure throughout, with one woman to serve as the maguffin and prize and another to be her servant (because she's a princess, of course). I'm guessing this was still considered the gold standard of pirate movies when Michael Curtiz and Errol Flynn made Captain Blood in 1935, and even then it was shot in black and white. Becky Sharp, released that same year, is considered the first feature length film shot in three-strip Technicolor. Flynn would have to wait until 1938 to make his own debut in color, in The Adventures of Robin Hood.