
“The Love Story of a Bold Buccaneer”
A nobleman vows to avenge the death of his father by the hands of pirates. To this end, he infiltrates the pirate band; Acting in character, he single-handedly captures a merchant vessel, but things are complicated when he finds that there is a beautiful young woman of royal blood aboard.
Release Date: 3/8/1926
Runtime: 94 minutes
Languages: No Language
Director: Albert Parker
Budget: $1.3M
0Companies: United Artists, Elton Corporation
Countries: United States of America
CinemaSerf
Still at the top his game, Douglas Fairbanks is the eponymous character - but with a bit of an unlikely backstory. He and his father were lucky to survive a pirate attack on their ship, his dad perishes shortly afterwards and our hero decides to avenge himself on these reprobates by infiltrating and rising through their ranks. His cunning plan is sailing along nicely until they capture the beautiful Princess "Isobel" (Billie Dove) to whom he takes an immediate shine and has to shield from the worst (and potentially violent) excesses of his lascivious shipmates. It's got just about every pirate adventure theme going - walking the plank, buried treasure, duplicitous plotting - and enough swash and buckle to last a lifetime. Albert Parker keeps the pace rollicking along with a deliciously ghastly contribution from Sam de Grasse and an early(ish) outing for Donald Crisp ("MacTavish") with John Wallace doing his best "Long John Silver" impersonation too. The romance is managed within the storyline, it adds a gentle richness to the mixture without cluttering up what is essentially a sumptuous high seas adventure yarn with some super seaborne colour photography, pyrotechnics and style.
Pirate Captain

Douglas Fairbanks
The Duke of Arnoldo / The Black Pirate

Billie Dove
Princess Isobel

Anders Randolf
Pirate Captain

Donald Crisp
MacTavish

Tempe Pigott
Duenna (as Tempe Pigett)

Sam De Grasse
Pirate Lieutenant

Charles Stevens
Powder Man
John Wallace
Peg-Leg Pirate
Fred Becker
Pirate

Charles Belcher
Chief Passenger - Nobleman

E.J. Ratcliffe
The Governor
Nino Cochise
Pirate (uncredited)
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