weezeralfalfa It's very difficult to predict what you will think of this idiosyncratic musical comedy. Filmed in 3 strip Technicolor, it's only been available in B&W copies for decades. However, apparently, a full Technicolor copy surfaced in 2015, so perhaps this will be made available in time. This would be especially valuable for the colorful dances in the Mexican village of La Paloma.......The film title is misleading. The dancing master, Johnathan((Charles Collins) who is the main character, is not a pirate. Rather he was shanghaied from his Boston home by some pirates, and given menial jobs to do, until he escaped in coastal Mexican California during a shore operation.(Just why the pirates went around Cape Horn to the then backwater of California is not explained). It's understandable that the people of this village might be fearful with his arrival, as, from a hill, they saw a pirate ship off shore, and initially feared that he was the captain. As it turned out, none of the real pirates followed him. Just what they had in the casks they offloaded nearby is a mystery, but they didn't come looking for him before shoving off. His cask was different because he had put his aunt's umbrella and music box in it. The umbrella would come in handy numerous times In subduing enemies, while the music box sometimes served as music for dancing.......Before he was shanghaied, he was a dancing master in 1820 Boston. Recently, he had been specializing in teaching the imported European waltz, which was much simpler than most other dances being taught in America.(Historically, the waltz was first introduced in the US, in Boston, but in 1834, not in1820). However, there was much initial resistance to it, because it involved the revolutionary practice of the couple facing close together, with the man wrapping his arm around his partner's waist. Initially, this was considered to intimate.. When, he got to Mexico, he found this attitude even more infirmly ingrained, although eventually, they accepted it.......In addition to waltzing, Jonathan exhibited some tapdancing, often mixed with skipping or jumping, rather in the manner of Ray Bolger(the scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz"). In Boston, after a class, he so danced around the room snuffing out candles.......Initially, the inhabitants of the Mexican village decided that Jonathan should be hanged. However, senorita Sera Fina objected that he should be given a chance to demonstrate if he was a proficient dancer. At first, he had to dance with the hangmen's noose around his neck! Then, they allowed him to dance without the noose. The village men still wanted him hanged, but the women strenuously objected, and he was given a reprieve. .......During these proceedings, Sera Fina's father(Frank Morgan),who functioned as the town mayor, was quite prominent in the proceedings. He exhibited his signature bumbling and stammering mode of speech and behavior, which he would carry with him into his role as The Wizard, in "The Wizard of Oz). He was the most interesting character in the film, from the audience's point of view.......Jonathan faced a new threat in the form of some renegade soldiers from Monterey. At first, they were thought legitimate, and wanted to take him on Monterey for trial. Also, the captain(Victor Varconi) wanted to marry Sera Fina, demanding so many sheep from the father. Meanwhile, Jonathan made friends with the local Indians, and induced them to take part in an attack on the soldiers. Their only weapon was lengths of rope, which they used to lasso the soldiers from above, then hoist them up or tie them up. Meanwhile, Jonathan was jumping around bashing soldiers with his unbelievably resilient umbrella handle. Finally, he interrupted the wedding ceremony for SeraFina and the captain of the soldiers. The captain challenged him in a duel, he using his sword, and Johnathan using his umbrella. Using his superior maneuverability, Jonathan finally was the clear winner, and replaced the captain in the wedding ceremony. A celebration, with much colorful dancing, was held.

bkoganbing The Dancing Pirate which was released by RKO in 1936 was one of the last films done with an original score by Rodgers&Hart. They would be moving back to Broadway and had a string of hit musicals only interrupted by Larry Hart's death in 1943.As this was an RKO film watching it now it was fairly obvious that this film was created with Fred Astaire in mind for the lead. Had Astaire done it The Dancing Pirate might be better remembered. Certainly the two songs done by Dick and Larry aren't among the most memorable. In fact the best number in the film is a dance by lead Charles Collins to Yankee Doodle Dandy that had Astaire written all over it. In fact the main weakness of the film is Collins. A good dancer, Collins had a screen presence that was colorless, odorless, and tasteless. He plays a Boston dancing teacher who gets shanghaied by pirates and escapes the first chance he can when they put in to California for provisions.Still ruled by Spain, the local Alcalde is Frank Morgan at his decisiveless best. Morgan on loan from MGM is the best thing about The Dancing Pirate.Collins is sad to say guilty by association and the men want to hang him, but the women want to learn to dance so he's in legal limbo of sorts. He also has competition for the hand of Morgan's daughter Steffi Duna in the person of Captain Victor Varconi from Monterey at the head of a platoon of dragoons ostensibly there to protect the village from pirates. But Varconi has his own plans, Snidely Whiplash type plans.The Dancing Pirate won an Oscar nomination for the now defunct category of dance direction. I long for the day when musicals of all kinds were being churned out and a category like dance direction was warranted. Speaking of dancing Rita Hayworth is in this film as part of her family troupe of Spanish dancers, The Dancing Cansinos.The Dancing Pirate is an amusing enough film, but it really needed Fred Astaire to put it over.

jht176 The only things this turkey has going for it are the claim that it is in Technicolor and Rita Hayworth "stars" in it.My VHS copy is in color; however, nowhere in the credits do "Technicolor", "Technicolor Director" or "Technicolor Consultant" appear. I cannot see the Technicolor Corporation allowing any 1935 movie using its process to be released without there being ample credit given to Technicolor.If Rita Hayworth or rather Margarita Cansino appears in the film, she is totally unrecognizable. I am familiar with the Rita Cansino with the sleek black hair and low forehead who danced in the Spencer Tracy/Claire Trevor film Dante's Inferno; so, I was not looking for the flamboyant redhead of the characterized Hayworth -- except for the shorn platinum blonde of The Lady from Shanghai -- during her zenith on the silver screen.All pans aside, it does have Frank Morgan at his bumbling best; although, even at $5.00 with a poor copy of the American English language truncated version of von Sternberg's The Blue Angel, it was no real bargain.

jackclements I saw this movie when I was five years old and never heard of it again. All I could remember was the fellow dancing with a noose around his neck. Looked for it for years, then saw it, just in the past year, in a bin as a Rita Hayworth movie. Thanks to the generic title I recognized it right away. There won't be many comments on this one, as it's virtually unknown, but I've looked at it twice and it brings back a memory of a movie I loved so much as a child, though nothing came back to me except the mentioned dancing scene. It's offbeat, in terrific color and I think enjoyable . Did anybody ever hear of the dancer who played the title role again?