The Pirate (1948)

Director:

Vincente Minnelli

Writers:

Albert Hackett (screenplay) and
Frances Goodrich (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

11 June 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

The great MGM musical romance

Plot:

A girl is engaged to the local richman, but meanwhile she has dreams about the legendary pirate Macoco...

Plot Keywords:

Pirate | Tightrope | Caribbean | Clown | Slapstick

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Judy Garland	...	Manuela
Gene Kelly	...	Serafin
Walter Slezak	...	Don Pedro Vargas
Gladys Cooper	...	Aunt Inez
Reginald Owen	...	The Advocate
George Zucco	...	The Viceroy
Fayard Nicholas	...	Specialty Dancer (as The Nicholas Brothers)
Harold Nicholas	...	Specialty Dancer (as The Nicholas Brothers)
Lester Allen	...	Uncle Capucho
Lola Deem	...	Isabella
Ellen Ross	...	Mercedes
Mary Jo Ellis	...	Lizarda
Jean Dean	...	Casilda
Marion Murray	...	Eloise
Ben Lessy	...	Gumbo

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #12034) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

When one dance sequence was being rehearsed, Harold Nicholas was just going through the motions, and Gene Kelly accused him of not knowing the routine - so Nicholas danced the whole routine, alone, full-out and flawlessly. Kelly was speechless.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Gene Kelly first shouts 'MACOCO' during the fight with Don Pedro, his mouth is wide open but he never moves it to make the third syllable of the word.

Quotes:

Serafin: [after Manuela smashes a painting over his head] You're overdoing this! You're being vindictive!

Movie Connections:

Featured in That's Entertainment! III (1994)

Soundtrack:

Nina

Excellent musical, very different to most others

The first 20mins of this movie are a bit slow but once Judy launches into 'Mack The Black' it takes off at an incredible speed. Garland and Kelly are wonderful with their tongue-in-cheek characters,especially funny is the scene where they have a huge row, judy throwing things at gene.

I find it a bit hard to believe that judy is this Spanish/Caribbean woman, could they not have used a little self tan? Most of the numbers are excellent although Minnelli gets a little self indulgent with his style at times.

This is enjoyable as it is rather satirical and doesn't contain any corny well used plots like many musicals of the time, however this is not as good as judy and gene's first outing 'for me and my gal'.

It's a pity the first take of 'voodoo' isn't available, the one that made LB Mayer burn the film and gave gene a massive lecture on how to behave whilst dancing, it probably wouldn't be so shocking today.

Not as good as classics such as 'meet me in st louis' and 'singin in the rain' but still ***** 5 stars.