wes-connors On a picturesque West Indies island, fair young Judy Garland (as Manuela) fantasizes about being swept off her feet by a manly pirate. As was customary for proper young ladies in the 1830s, Ms. Garland's guardian Aunt Gladys Cooper (as Inez) has arranged for her to marry wealthy old Walter Slezak (as Pedro Vargas). Garland appears to accept her fate as "practical" but longs for one last adventure by the romantic Caribbean Sea. Right on cue, she meets sexy young actor Gene Kelly (as Serafin). He falls head over heels for Garland, but she won't reciprocate. To win her affection, Mr. Kelly becomes Macoco, "The Pirate" man of Garland's fantasy...This is the musical version of a Fontanne-Lunt play (by S.N. Behrman) which seemed a variation of Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew". Directed by Vincente Minnelli, it is flawed but entertaining. Perhaps surprisingly or perhaps not, Mr. Minnelli captures an unusually strong sexual energy in Garland and Kelly. This is subtle in their "meeting" scene and rather obvious when they kiss and Garland's hand clutches Kelly's muscular arm. Minnelli, who was married to Garland at the time, more often allows the camera to caress Kelly...Like a singing and dancing Douglas Fairbanks, the athletically attractive Kelly practically takes over the production. This is his film. Some background reading reveals Garland was often absent. Certainly, she should have been in the picture more. At times, Garland reaction shots seem edited in, to give her more of a presence. A double is also used (hiding her face in the fainting scene, of course). While it's disappointing to have Garland often unengaged, Kelly is in peak form. The showstopper occurs where it should, at the end, with the extended "Be a Clown" (written by Cole Porter). Kelly dances with the Nicholas Brothers and coaxes Garland back to work, for a rousing finale.****** The Pirate (1948-03-27) Vincente Minnelli ~ Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, Walter Slezak, Gladys Cooper

mark.waltz Like their 1945 artistic disappointment, "Yolanda and the Thief", producer Arthur Freed and director Vincent Minnelli strived to give cinema fans something different with their version of the 1942 Broadway play "The Pirate" which had starred the phenomenally famous stage couple of Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne. For MGM's rendition of that comical battle of the sexes, they added songs, here by Cole Porter, and in their first pairing in six years, Gene Kelly and Judy Garland. By this time, Gene was a star but Judy, already a legend, was undergoing emotional problems, and the result was a film that by the time of its release was more famous for its backstage drama than the on-screen drama.If Judy was ill, it doesn't show, and even if she believed she was being upstaged, that doesn't show as well. She's hysterically funny, amazingly sexy and at her best in singing her big number, "Mack the Black", as she yearns for a life of adventure with her life-long fantasy of the notorious pirate who realistically seems to be twice her age, yet makes her want him all the more. Along comes her social climbing aunt (Gladys Cooper, as regal as ever) who has arranged her marriage to the town's mayor (portly Walter Slezak). Not exactly anybody's idea of a romantic marriage, Slezak has longed for her from afar as well, and Cooper knows a Garland/Slezak pairing will put plenty of coin in her own pocket.Along comes a traveling player (Gene Kelly) who "insults" Garland in several ways, most comically by getting her soaking wet. "What are you, a top?", Garland roars as he spins around her in his efforts to romance her. But Kelly, who has already made an effort with practically every other lady in the town through the Douglas Fairbanks spoof "Nina", and when he manages to hypnotize Garland while putting on his show, learns of her yen for Mack the Black and upon meeting Slezak decides to use that to win her from the portly mayor.An update in play writing terms of Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew", Garland wants nothing to do with Kelly until he claims to be the pirate in disguise. But Kelly knows the truth of who Slezak really is, and this might lead to his own doom, even if Garland is responsible for it first when she smashes everything in sight after a row with him. Garland gets a beautiful ballad, "Love of My Life", while Kelly gets the first chance for the public to hear one of Cole's most amusing film songs, "Be a Clown", reprised of course with Judy much later on. Breathtakingly filmed and fast paced, this isn't deserving of its flop status, and as several critics pointed out at the time, it was indeed ahead of its time. Garland and Kelly are even more exciting than their first effort, "For Me and My Gal", and Kelly showed with both this and a remake of "The Three Musketeers" the same year that he was in league with Fairbanks, Colman and Errol Flynn when it came to the art of swashbuckling. Cooper is coolly calculating, Slezak a memorable villain, and they are joined by another veteran film villain, George Zucco, who appears as the judge when Kelly's scheme catches up with him late in the film.

Spikeopath The Pirate is directed by Vincente Minnelli and adapted to screenplay by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett from the S.N. Behrman play. It stars Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, Walter Slezak and Gladys Cooper. Music is by Lennie Hayton and Cole Porter and cinematography by Harry Stradling Sr. Gene Kelly plays Serafin, an actor who poses as notorious pirate Macoco to win the heart of Manuela Alva (Garland) because she dreams of being swept away to a life of romantic adventure. By definition it was a troubled production, numerous rewrites, Garland's battle with prescription drugs impacting on the shooting schedule and audiences turning their backs on a film they wasn't sure how to react too. With the box office results failing to match the production value or the film's ambition, it is a film that has for a number of years carried around the tag of being a dud, which while it has problems for sure, is an unfair reputation given the enjoyment and escapism value available upon viewing it now. The main fault lies with the very poor songs, where were it not for the closing Be A Clown (which would be copied to become Make 'Em Laugh for Singin' in the Rain four years later), then it would be a 100% stinker strike rate for Cole Porter. It's hard to believe the great man could come out with something so bland and boorish as the first song during the story, Niña, where he even uses a rhyme for schizophrenia! Another (minor) problem is that Garland is sometimes (and unusually) over the top in her performance, a problem we can probably attribute to her off screen issues since she seems to be grasping the chance to unleash her own form of escapism on screen. However, Kelly is on hand to calm her down and steady the ship; except for the film's funniest sequence as Manuela throws the entire contents of a room at Serafin! Yet in spite of the problems, and this really is no misunderstood masterpiece, the film often soars. With gorgeous Technicolor photography opening the eyes fully, we get a full on energised Kelly performance (his dance with the Nicholas Brothers pumps the blood and taps the feet), Slezak doing a wonderful turn as the shifty Don Pedro who Manuela is being coerced into marrying, and a Pirate Ballet section of the film that is stunning in choreography and eye popping visuals. There's also some lovely close ups of the two stars, they were a great pairing and it's a crying shame they would only make three features together, one scene in particular is heart achingly tender. With Minnelli keeping it brisk and mostly keeping it from being too stage bound, the simplicity of plot never hurts the film. Fun, frothy and flawed, indeed. 7.5/10

gowhitten Porter, Kelly, Garland, Minnelli! How could you go wrong? I was all set to watch this on a cold, rainy afternoon on my 100" screen. And to my utter amazement, this is one of the worst (and ridiculous) movies I have ever seen. This movie makes the worst Elvis Presley movie look good.The sets looked like they were from a low budget Gillbert and Sullivan production. The dancing (if you can call it that) looked like it was from a high school musical. The songs, well, it is hard to believe they were actually penned by the great Cole Porter (he must have needed some fast cash).The only good thing about this movie was the Nicholas Brothers. (Now where did Michael Jackson get his moves?)