Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

bigverybadtom Yes, this is another old MGM musical with Gene Kelly and Judy Garland, which is more an excuse for singing and dancing rather than plot. Problem is, the singing and dancing (especially by Gene Kelly) is good, but too sparse compared to the rest of the movie's running time, and worse yet, the musical scenes are almost peripheral to the movie's story line itself.The plot actually had potential. Judy Garland is a young adult raised by her aunt, who has arranged for her to marry her small town's wealthy, but fat and seemingly dull mayor. The marriage is for financial reasons, and Garland isn't impressed by her fiancé. In fact, Garland has her mind in a fantasy world, dreaming of leaving her sheltered existence and travailing the world, even being taken away by the legendary pirate Macoco. Gene Kelly is the head of a group of strolling entertainers who learns about Garland's fantasies and wants Garland for himself. But then comes a shocking plot twist which, if the producers had properly developed it, could have added real tension and depth to the movie. Instead, the movie ends up drifting toward an unsatisfactory conclusion.You might enjoy this if all you want to see is Gene Kelly singing and dancing. But there are far better musicals out there that you can see instead.

Robert J. Maxwell Some hokum about a Caribbean pirate's nest. Gene Kelly pretends to be Judy Garland's dream man, the notorious pirate Macoco. He rescues her from a planned marriage to the walrus-like Walter Slezak, she discovers that Kelly isn't a pirate at all but the dancer in a troupe of traveling players. It all ends happily.This kind of musical is kinetic and over the top, as suits a story about egotistic, hammy actors. The dialog can be pretty funny too. Garland has just been shrieking at some visitors to leave. They don't listen. Kelly, holding a whip, saunters up to them and quietly mutters, "Get out," and they leave at once. "You should try underplaying sometime," he tells her.It's not one of Cole Porter's most inspired scores, despite the blare and thunder given it by the music department. One song, "Niña," searches desperately for lyrics that rhyme. "Love of My Life" is pleasant enough, sung by Judy Garland, but the only memorable tune is "Make 'Em Laugh" -- I mean "Be a Clown." It's hyperkinetic vaudeville and exhilarating.As I say, it's all overacted, but that's in keeping with the story. Kelly has never been more acrobatic, swinging from ropes, dancing with a cutlass, turning calisthenics into a ballet for the common man. Even when he's not dancing, Kelly's postures, knees bent, fingers fluttering, suggested a coiled spring about to be released.The screenplay is a little weak and, alas, much of the success of a musical depends on the libretto. Everybody seems to have had a hand in bringing S. N. Behrman's play to the screen except Comden and Green. Betty Comden and Adolf Green were experts at putting together the story behind the songs in films like "On The Town" and "Singin' In The Rain." But penetrating and occasionally challenging wit is replaced here by mixed identities and pratfalls.Kelly's acting is surprisingly good -- in a properly theatrical way -- and Judy Garland brings some life to otherwise clunkish scenes.

gkeith_1 Two Macocos. One real, one fake. One sexy, one an elephant. Judy all prissy, Gene way less shy, ala Summer Stock of 1950. Judy's aunt and uncle trying to get rid of her, for money reasons. How come people in lots of movies are orphans and being raised by relatives or grandparents, like Parris Mitchell in Kings Row? Even Drake McHugh of Kings Row had no parents.Loved the fear in Don Pedro's face when he was confronted by Serafin as being the real Macoco, the criminal wanted for tons of crimes on the seven seas. Slezak was a great actor. Uncle Capucho was a namby-pamby little man, dominated by Aunt Inez -- the actress who later played the mother of Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady -- Gladys Cooper.The huge plaid tam worn by Judy in the beginning of the movie clashed in a quite ugly manner with her patterned dress. Her red lipstick did stand out quite well, however. I did love her beautiful wedding dress and veil. She looked quite wonderful in this ensemble.Slezak dragging his foot backward twice, like a horse with a hoof problem, was gross to look at.The Nicholas Brothers were absolutely wonderful, as always. I did miss seeing their fabulous tap dancing, plus their major leaping and sliding. They were excellent with Gene Kelly, and upon further viewings I was able to find them earlier in the movie. I have seen clips of some of their other movies, mostly black and white, as I recall.I do love the colors in this movie. They are lush, warm and wonderful. The production design is superb.Lastly, Gene's physique was divine. I understand that he always did his own stunts. You know that tap is my favorite dance, and I have seen a lot of his tap dance movies. In Pirate, his athleticism is superb, from the muscular thighs in the pirate mast fire fantasy to Gene's walking the tightrope to Judy's balcony.And finally, the cigarette inside Gene's mouth was horrible to look at. I know that smoking cigarettes in those days was the in-thing to do. Those actors/roles were such great role models for younger people, right (not!)?

bkoganbing Gene Kelly and Judy Garland stepped into some mighty big shoes when they accepted the lead roles in The Pirate. On Broadway, The Pirate ran in the 1942-43 season for 177 performances and the shoes that Kelly and Garland were filling belonged to Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne. True it's probably one of the lighter vehicles that Lunt and Fontanne ever did, still it might have been interesting to compare what they did with the snappy dialog of S.N. Behrmann.Cole Porter signed on to write the score for this musical adaption of The Pirate. Porter had been in a creative dry spell for a few years, most notoriously he was associated with a flop musical based on Around The World In 80 Days, a couple of years back. Believe it or not, he was having trouble getting work in Hollywood and on Broadway when he signed with MGM for The Pirate.According to the George Eells biography of Porter, it was Gene Kelly who asked Porter to write a clown number for him and Judy Garland. Porter responded with Be A Clown which turned out to be the hit of the film. The rest of the score is not top drawer Porter, but mediocre Cole Porter is better than most songwriters can come up with.Judy Garland plays another starry eyed youngster in The Pirate which is set in the 18th century Caribbean. She's first seen reading what would later be called a dime novel about the legendary Makoko the Pirate. She's getting into an arranged marriage with the mayor of the town, staid and settled Walter Slezak. When a troupe of strolling players led by Gene Kelly come to town, under hypnosis she reveals that she longs to be the bride of Makoko. What's Gene Kelly to do, but pretend to be Makoko.That's all well and good except that Walter Slezak is the real Makoko now just trying to live in peaceful obscurity away from the authorities who want to hang him. All this leads to some interesting complications that of course get all sorted out in the end.Judy gets to do two ballads in her unmistakable style, Love Of My Life and You Can Do No Wrong. And she stars in a rousing production number where the proclaims her enchantment with the legendary Makoko in Mack The Black. The film got a tepid response in 1948, it's given far better critical notice in retrospect. The Pirate was produced by MGM's legendary Arthur Freed and his unit and directed stylishly by Vincent Minnelli who was Judy Garland's husband at the time. Today's audiences would far better appreciate the combined wit of S.N. Behrmann and Cole Porter.As for Porter, his next writing assignment would stop all talk of his going into decline. The following year Kiss Me Kate debuted on Broadway which was Porter's biggest critical and commercial success. No one ever said that score wasn't up to his usual standard.