weezeralfalfa Tortuga is a small , mostly rocky, island, off the north coast of Haiti. During the 'Golden age of piracy', it was a notorious hangout for pirates, continuously fought over by the Spanish, French and British. In this tale, there are basically two questions that constitute the plot 1) Is Captain Paxton(Ken Scott) going to be successful in his mission to destroy Captain Morgan's recent pirate empire, centered on Tortuga, that has brought the British colony of Jamaica to its knees? 2)What will be the ultimate fate of the accidental stowaway barefoot wildcat Meg(Leticia Roman). Dealing with her antics is the centerpiece of the first half of the film, during the transatlantic crossing to Jamaica. It's clear this flirtaceous street urchin lacks the graces of a traditional lady. Various of the crew try to instruct her on some of the graces of a lady, with mixed success. Fortunately, Paxton has a stock of lady's garments in a chest in his cabin, which keeps Meg, as well as the crew, entertained, seeing how she looks as a lady. The captain even gives her an heirloom necklace, having belonged to his mother. When the ship arrives at Jamaica, it's reluctantly agreed that she will disembark to find her fortune there, or somewhere else. However, fate soon brings her to the attention of the governor, who believes she is a lady, by her dress, and becomes accustomed to her as she recuperates in his mansion. He even proposes marriage to this young thing, and she accepts initially. But, eventually, it comes out that she was not raised as a lady, and in fact is enamored with Paxton, who seemingly hasn't yet made up his mind about her.....After overtaking the crew of one of Morgan's pirate ships, by trickery, Paxton pretends to make a partnership with Morgan, in which he will sell Morgan's large stash of booty in Jamaica and give half the profit to Morgan. However, Paxton then makes a deal with the governor, in which the governor will supply a number of warships and men for an invasion of Morgan's compound. This is immediately put into action. A complex plan of attack is organized, with Paxton going alone to infiltrate to the munitions room. He finds the barrels of gunpowder and lights a fuse to one. But before he can escape, Morgan, himself, enters and they have a sword fight, while the fuse is burning. Unfortunately, the powder explodes before they are finished, and essentially destroys the fort. Strangely, at the same time, the cannons on the wall explode! Seethe film(available at YouTube) to learn the unlikely and incomplete finale......The production values are good, if some of the events are unlikely. The inclusion of Leticia, as a frequently present character, is a definite plus, spicing up an otherwise humdrum story.

milliefan Oh my. 20th Century Fox must have burned with shame and embarrassment at this wretched turkey being released under their aegis. I enjoy almost all old movies, and up until viewing Pirates of Tortuga had never seen a film that was ALL bad, without any redeeming qualities or entertainment value at all ... but this is the one. Pirates is so very inept in every respect that it can't even be enjoyed as one of those "so bad it's good" pictures. The direction is almost non-existent, with scenes that drag on as is a first rehearsal had been filmed, and filmed before it had even been blocked. This plodding footage is interspersed with stock shots and, in cases, entire scenes lifted from earlier (and MUCH better) movies, and the inserts are glaringly obvious, particularly in the first battle at sea (thirty or so background extras listlessly waving swords at each other as if half asleep, never varying their position, suddenly interrupted by a genuinely action-packed insert from The Black Swan!). The cast is headed by lacklustre Ken Scott, who had lent his wooden presence to other Fox productions (his supporting role in Stopover Tokyo helping to sink that particular dud). John Richardson looks fabulous, but has no technique, looks somewhat lost, and after this film went back to virtual extra status until his breakthrough a few years later in She and One Million Years BC. Worst of all, in fact the worst performance I have ever seen by a leading lady in a studio production, comes from Leticia Roman, a pretty but spectacularly untalented Italian girl playing a cockney and spouting lines like "lord love a duck" and "you ain't ever treated me like a lay-dee" in a voice that's a cross between Monica Vitti and Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. I am in danger here of making Pirates of Tortuga sound like something worth sitting through in order to have a giggle, but believe me it is NOT!

dbborroughs Captain and his crew just returning to England are forced to go back out to take on the villainous Captain Morgan who is based in Tortuga . He once had a deal with the Brits but things have gone sour and he's raiding every British ship he can come across. Add to the mix a stowaway wench who has eyes for the captain and you're in for a rather superficial evening at the movies. Sue me the film never clicked with me. Its not that the action is bad, its not, its just that the plot doesn't really hold your interest. At times it's too much talk and not enough action, especially in the early going. Worse still is the cast who while adequate, are never really engaging and it's not really a wonder that I never really recall seeing any of them in anything else. I never really cared and despite the film looking good I allowed my attention to wander to other things.

MARIO GAUCI One of the myriad cheapies churned out by independent film producers (here Sam Katzman) under the aegis of a major Hollywood studio (20th Century Fox) and which revolves around the exploits of a notorious pirate figure (Sir Henry Morgan). Despite being fully aware of the film’s non-reputation even among others of its type, I was still taken in by the relatively decent cast (Robert Stephens, Leticia Roman and John Richardson) and the promise of colorful entertainment (brought on by my recent spate of similar superior outings).Unfortunately, PIRATES OF TORTUGA falls far short of earlier movies about Morgan – THE BLACK SWAN (1942) or even the contemporaneous MORGAN, THE PIRATE (1961) – and proves to be a lackluster affair with a poverty of imagination on display that is quite dispiriting. To start with, Morgan (an over-the-top Stephens) himself only appears half-way through with the result that we are left largely in the company of a truly overbearing gypsy of a leading lady (Roman), a listless hero (Ken Jones) and his puerile cronies (Richardson and Dave King). Add to that the intermittent usage of action stock footage lifted from earlier Fox seafaring productions, the uncharacteristic popping up of modern slang in the dialogue and the sheer predictability of the whole venture and it’s small wonder that very little time has elapsed before the film starts to sink…right out of one’s memory! For the record, director Robert D. Webb had much earlier won an Oscar as an assistant director (in one of the few times these awards where handed out) on IN OLD CHICAGO (1937) and had also guided Elvis Presley through his first film LOVE ME TENDER (1956); incidentally, I might get to check out six(!) of his other directorial chores in the future: not just two notable Westerns WHITE FEATHER (1955; with Jeffrey Hunter and Robert Wagner, which I have in my DVD collection) and THE PROUD ONES (1956; with Robert Ryan and Jeffrey Hunter again, which I intend to acquire) but also a few more available at local DVD rental outlets: BENEATH THE 12-MILE REEF (1953; which I haven’t watched in ages), the aforementioned LOVE ME TENDER, THE CAPE TOWN AFFAIR (1967; a remake of Samuel Fuller’s PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET [1953]) and THE JACKALS (1967; featuring Vincent Price and a remake of William A. Wellman’s YELLOW SKY [1948], which I own and intend to watch presently as part of my ongoing Richard Widmark tribute).