Arrr! Ha-Harrr, me buckos, that there brigand Robert Newton be playing the likes of Blackbeard with red ribbons in his fuzzy black beard and a liking for sturdy legs of ham, so he does. Shame he couldn't find himself a more decent plot than the one he's given here. Even that ever-reliable one-eyed old dog Raoul Walsh, director of so many classic Warner pics of the thirties and forties, can't salvage more than a few decent action scenes from a hodge-podge of comedy, romance and adventure that never really catches the wind in its sails.
That rascally Blackbeard is out to shiver the timbers of that old foe of his, Harry Morgan and to salvage for himself a chest of treasure his mateys believe is buried with a dead man but which he's secretly buried beneath some polystyrene rocks. Handsome (but bland) Keith Andes is after Blackbeard's hide and manages to sneak himself aboard the crusty old mariner's ship. Despite his blandness he also manages to undress the luscious Linda Darnell not once but twice no mean feat for any landlubber, ah-harr! Newton looks like he's having the time of his life, ah-harring for all he's worth, and he alternates between straight and humorous, leaning mostly toward the comical despite the essentially serious nature of the story. He comes to a sticky end blast those scurvy mutineers! and suffers a fate that was obviously nicked and expanded upon by the makers of eighties horror compendium Creepshow, curse their eyes.
This is the type of film you'd have loved as a kid but, as an adult, its shortcomings too often interfere with your enjoyment. Arrrr.
That rascally Blackbeard is out to shiver the timbers of that old foe of his, Harry Morgan and to salvage for himself a chest of treasure his mateys believe is buried with a dead man but which he's secretly buried beneath some polystyrene rocks. Handsome (but bland) Keith Andes is after Blackbeard's hide and manages to sneak himself aboard the crusty old mariner's ship. Despite his blandness he also manages to undress the luscious Linda Darnell not once but twice no mean feat for any landlubber, ah-harr! Newton looks like he's having the time of his life, ah-harring for all he's worth, and he alternates between straight and humorous, leaning mostly toward the comical despite the essentially serious nature of the story. He comes to a sticky end blast those scurvy mutineers! and suffers a fate that was obviously nicked and expanded upon by the makers of eighties horror compendium Creepshow, curse their eyes.
This is the type of film you'd have loved as a kid but, as an adult, its shortcomings too often interfere with your enjoyment. Arrrr.