Plot: What’s it about?
Let’s face it, when we think of the one and only Burt Lancaster, our thoughts turn to a beach and some frolociking around with one Deborah Kerr in From Here to Eternity. But before those days, he actually used to be in a circus as an acrobat. Yes, really. Though I might have to confess that my favorite movie with him is as the preacher in Elmer Gantry, he certainly made his mark on American cinema and he’s likely to be a “one of a kind” even decades from now. As we flash forward to the present-day, a new movie has opened called The Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. Granted, pirate movies are few and far between these days with the last one (Cutthroat Island) having tanked big time at the box office. But, we have to ask ourselves one question, were pirate movies ever that big of a draw? Certainly other genres have stood the test of time, but once upon a time the swashbuckling men on screen did have their audience and it was one Burt Lancaster who capitalized on it in The Crimson Pirate.
I’ll try not to elaborate too much as the movie doesn’t even try to take itself too seriously. We meet Captain Vallo (Lancaster) as he is about to sell its shipment of arms to rebels when he discovers that the ship is carrying Baron Gruda has been commissioned to rid the area of rebels. He conceives an ambitious plan to first make money by selling the arms to the rebels and to then claim the bounty by betraying the rebels to Gruda. But when he meets the rebels he finds their leader has been captured and so hatches a plan to rescue him so that he can then sell the weapons and betray the rebels. But his plan is upset when he starts to fall for the rebel leader’s daughter. And how can we take a movie seriously when the lead actor begs the question “Ask no questions, believe only what you see … No, believe only half of what you see.” That’s right, we can’t. Still, the movie is fun and a reflection of what going to Saturday afternoon matinees used to be like. Not that great of a movie, but pure fun and one that any fan of Burt Lancaster might want to see.
Video: How does it look?
The Crimson Pirate is presented in a full frame transfer, as intended. The image here looks tremendous, with a super clean source print and of course, amazing colors thanks to the Technicolor process. I was stunned by the depth of the image here, as it so clean and sharp, its almost like looking through a window, instead of a television screen. The colors are so rich and vibrant, they bound right off the screen, but don’t become overly so, just to the point of maximum richness, never past that. No issues with black levels either, a terrific effort here and as the front of the box proclaims, it is indeed in “Technicolor”.
Audio: How does it sound?
The included mono option is cleaner and more effective than I expected, but it is still mono, so don’t expect a miracle here. It seems as though some restoration work has been done, as hiss is minimal and few age related flaws can be heard. This is good, since this movie uses a lot of musical numbers and those have to sound as good as possible. The normal dialogue scenes come across in crisp fashion. Warner has done some top notch work on this track, without question.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Just some text-based cast bios and some more screens describing the friendship between Lancaster and Cravat…
