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Black Pirate (1926)

Billie Dove (Actor), Tempe Pigott (Actor), Albert Parker (Director) | Rated: NR | Format: DVD
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews) |

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Product Details

  • Actors: Billie Dove, Tempe Pigott, Donald Crisp, Sam De Grasse, Anders Randolf
  • Directors: Albert Parker
  • Format: Black & White, Color, DVD, Silent, Special Edition, NTSC
  • Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
  • Region: All Regions
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Rated: NR (Not Rated)
  • Studio: Image Entertainment
  • DVD Release Date: May 18, 1999
  • Run Time: 88 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00000INTH
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #316,364 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

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  • Learn more about "Black Pirate" on IMDb

Special Features

  • 19-minute supplementary section

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video

The silent era's greatest swashbuckler, Douglas Fairbanks, took to the sea with cutlass in hand and gypsy earrings dangling for the first great pirate movie and a gorgeous example of early Technicolor. In a story that's become almost cliché in the intervening years, Fairbanks is the sole survivor of a pirate attack who infiltrates the high-seas criminals by posing as a master pirate. Defeating their leader in an acrobatic duel, Fairbanks proceeds to capture their next ship single-handedly in a sequence that has him swinging from mast to mast and, in the film's most memorable stunt, slicing the ship's sails with his knife as he slides down the sheet. Along with booty, however, the pirates discover a beautiful noblewoman (Billie Dove) and the Black Pirate must devise a plan to save the prisoners and himself in the face of a bloodthirsty band of brigands. Packed with every classic pirate device in the book, from saber duels to walking the plank, The Black Pirate shows off Fairbanks at his best, a jaunty, resourceful hero performing the most amazing acrobatic feats. The restoration shows the two-strip Technicolor classic at its best as well: a beautiful, delicately hued marvel, painstakingly restored and color-balanced from the original negative by film preservationist David Shepard. This edition also includes 19 minutes of rare black-and-white outtakes. --Sean Axmaker

Product Description

An unqualified masterpiece of the silent era, "The Black Pirate" is now restored to its original Technicolor splendor. Made at the height of Douglas Fairbanks' career, this grand-scale epic tells the story of Michel, the sole survivor of a ship pillaged by buccaneers. To infiltrate the nest of bandits, he poses as the mysterious Black Pirate in order to recover the pilfered treasure and save a divine princess.
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Customer Reviews

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Wahooo! Now this is a fun movie! I was totally taken by surprise. The swashbuckler of swashbucklers! "The Black Pirate" is the great grand-pappy of all pirate movies to come, and every possible genre convention is on display, be it sliding down the sail by splitting it with a dagger, or fencing several men at once, catching all of their blades with one parry. A lot of great films, such as "The Princess Bride," find their roots here in "The Black Pirate." This is like Disney's "Pirates of the Caribean" ride come to life, with the addition of dashing Douglas Fairbanks.

Fairbanks is extrodinarily athletic, and it is incredible to watch his body in motion. They don't make 'em like that any more. He has the smile, the mustache and the skill with a blade. I imagine he would give a jaunty laugh in the midst of danger.

Although it is a silent film, "The Black Pirate" is not black and white, but colored in a two-color Technicolor process. The color gives an excellent, sureal effect. The underwater scenes are amazing.

Ahoy! Hoist the main sail and prepare to Broadside!

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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Douglas Fairbanks was at the top of his form in this film, and that is saying a lot. Every era has its screen giants, and Fairbanks held that status throughout the 1920s through his cheerful heroics in such titles as The Three Musketeers, Robin Hood, The Thief of Bagdad, and The Black Pirate. Crowds loved his film persona because it was memorable: it was larger-than-life; it was splendidly imaginative; and it consistently showed good overcoming evil. Fairbanks perfectly depicted -- in 50-foot form on a big screen full of splendid sets -- acrobatics, stunts, and deeds of derring-do that no one of us could ever hope to do. Call it escapism, if you will, but it enraptured countless moviegoers historically drawn into this world of Mr. Fairbanks's fantasy epics. Here, as well, there is the added joy of seeing a film genre -- that of the pirate adventure -- at a time when fresh minds brought creative ideas and great craft to bear upon the films of their devising. What the viewer gets, then, is an original product that is vivid and memorable -- and not a tired recycling by lesser talents of uninventive themes and ideas. A viewer of this film, even on DVD, is wondrously drawn into an exotic and fascinating (indeed, even an early Technicolor) world and is held there firmly in place by the skilled and entertaining work of able craftsmen for the duration of the 85-minute running time. And, while so drawn in, one is also uplifted, if nothing else than by the very cheeriness of the star's persona. Unless one despises entertainment value as a legitimate goal of movie-making, there is nothing more that one could ask from a good film of this type. Nor should the age of the film, or its being a silent picture, deter any but those who are prejudiced. There is a reason why Douglas Fairbanks was made so wealthy by moviegoers that he was able to become a founder of United Artists. Whatever else there is, there is sort of magic at work in his best films. It is well worth the modern moviegoer's time, then, to see why this film created such excitement back in 1926. The DVD format makes all this vividly accessible. Highly recommended.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
PURE ENTERTAINMENT! January 15, 2000
Format:DVD
This movie is just so darned fun, you'll have a huge smile on your face the whole time. The story blazes along, the performances are exhuberant, and the two-strip Technicolor process gives it all a beautifully surreal look. The new musical score and extra features on the disc are all top-notch. Have fun!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Empire 5 Star 500 - #79
Is there more to being a pirate then sword tricks? In the first couple of minutes of The Black Pirate you see
a group of people get tied up and blown to bits. Read more
Published 7 months ago by The Inquisitor
A true classic
The pirates had been careful to leave no survivors when they took a ship, but they screwed up when they left the young Duke of Arnoldo (played by Douglas Fairbanks) alive. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Kurt A. Johnson
PURE ENTERTAINMET BLISS. My dogs and i love this one.
To begin with, silent movies were made for people like me. I am one of those obnoxious individuals who talk, about the movie I am watching, completely throughout... Read more
Published on May 16, 2010 by D. Blankenship
Ultimate Masterpiece of Swashbuckler Genre
This movie show Douglas Fairbanks at his very best, in top form as an astonishing athlete of great abilities and a natural facility of movement that has not been surpassed to this... Read more
Published on December 23, 2009 by Alberto M. Barral
Fairbanks' Art Director: Only the Best Would Do
Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. had the heart of an artist, and his choice for art director of The Black Pirate reflects that. Read more
Published on October 22, 2008 by Anne Munro
Good film, very good extras
If this DVD had had just the film itself, I would have given it 4 stars, but the extras push it up to 5 stars for me. Read more
Published on December 16, 2006 by Anyechka
Classic Swashbuckler
I have been fortunate to see this film 3 times on the big screen and it is certainly the finest example of a Two-Strip Technicolor silent film still extant. Read more
Published on May 3, 2006 by Matthew A. Richey
THE MASTERPIECE
This adventure of a film has been described several times and what an adventure it is!

So how about the dvd? Read more
Published on September 21, 2005 by Robert C. Graham
Historic but not so much fun as other Fairbanks films
This is the oldest surviving three color film. That is film the stuff in the camera I am talking about. Read more
Published on December 4, 2004 by Gagewyn
It may be of interest...
I thought it may be of interest to those who have seen this film, and those who are thinking of seeing it, and as no one has yet mentioned it, that it seems obviously apparent that... Read more
Published on September 13, 2004 by misspianoforte
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