ma-cortes Many , many years ago , on the Spanish Main , there sailed the Seven Seas the most bloodthirsty buccaneer in history . Ruthless and daring he was , and , though his soul was black with foul deeds , he feared no creature , living or dead . Because he had an iron claw for a right hand , this terror of the Ocean lanes was known as ¨The Hook¨ . Bob Hope is Sylvester the Great , a conceited actor , the man of seven faces . He is a vaudvillian who falls for a gorgeous princess (Virginia Mayo) , both of whom being pursued by a nasty hooked pirate (Victor McLagen) and a governor (Victor Slezak) . Hope posing as a woman in order to escape , being saved by an old pirate (Walter Brennan). The Hook and his hoodlums (Mike Mazurki , Hugo Haas , Marc Lawrence) set out in pursuit Sylvester . They look for a valuable treasure and on the run Hope disguises as a gypsy . Meanwhile , Hope attempting to save the princess from being abducted . Hope and Mayo flee and find themselves surrounded by pirates . Later on , they go to the inn called ¨Bucket of Blood¨. Deciding to head back to treasure island . This is an original and entertaining swashbuckler comedy , spoofing numerous pirate situations and including a wonderful song titled ¨Kiss me in the moonlight¨. The film is a Bob Hope recital , he stooges , makes acrobatics , tongue twister and puts faces and grimaces . It's a pretty amusing farce with the master comic and he displays splendidly his portentous skills . Bob Hope show with his particular talent as a great comic about an issue of mistaken identities , maps , hidden treasures and many other things . This is one of Bob's early Technicolor entries , being spectacularly photographed by Victor Milner and William Snyder . Available digitally remastered stereo with original film trailer . This one Hope played on loan from Paramount to the great producer Samuel Goldwyn . Samuel Goldwyn paid Paramount $133,500 to borrow Bob Hope for twelve weeks. During that time, Hope made this film and ¨They got me covered¨. The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on March 26, 1945 with Bob Hope and Virginia Mayo reprising their film roles . Of course , at the end of the movie appears a famous guest star , Big Crosby , in a closing cameo performed . Bob Hope , Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour on their crazies starred the known series about ¨The Road To..¨, these are the following : ¨The road to Singapur¨ this one started it all ; ¨Road to Hong Kong¨, ¨The Road to Lebanon¨, The Road to Morocco¨ , ¨The Road to Rio¨, ¨The road to Zanzibar¨, ¨The road to Utopia¨ . ¨The princess and the pirate¨ results to be as funny as some the other ¨Road movies¨ , it's a great entertainment and fun . The motion picture was well directed by David Butler . Picture is a vehicle Bob Hope , he's an authentic comic and real Farceur . If you like Hope's crazy interpretation , in which he manages charm and humor , you will most definitely enjoy this one ; it's really a great amusement .

Robert J. Maxwell This is a splashy Technicolor comedy with Bob Hope as an impersonator on the run, Virginia Mayo as a kidnapped princess, Victor McLaglan as "The Hook", and Walter Slezak as the ruler of an island that serves as a pirate's rest stop.It should be funnier than it is, and I was trying to figure out why it doesn't come off more satisfactorily than it does. It's certainly fast enough. Everyone seems to be running around, bellowing, and there are explosions and multiple sword fights, and a few minutes of romance. But it's not funny for the same reason that "Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd" isn't funny anymore. It's a child's idea of comedy in that it lacks any sophistication. I don't mean to be supercilious but kids laugh at things that don't demand much of them. Somebody takes a pratfall and a fifth-grader laughs. Kids don't need to know anything other than what they see happening on the screen.What made the Road movies so funny was that there were pauses so that the audience could take a breath while Bing Crosby crooned a silly tune to Dorothy Lamour. And Hope and Crosby were constantly trying to outwit each other in ways both shameless and sly. When they had a friendly embrace and picked each other's pockets at the same time, we could identify with them, or at least with their desires. There was somebody for a grown up to ROOT for on the screen.The Road team had a different set of writers -- Panama and Frank -- and they were better at giving Hope gags than the writers of "The Princess and the Pirate." Hope is given a couple of anachronistic wisecracks -- "made in Japan, eh?" -- but they don't save the day because the rest of the movie propels us at warp speed through the ludicrous plot. One of the more amusing scenes is a minor rip-off from the Marx Brothers' "Duck Soup." What's missing is the easy banter between Hope and Crosby, the more delicate touches provided for them. ("Delicate", here, being a relative term.) Hope on his own could be hilarious, as he was in "They Got Me Covered." Danny Kaye was making movies in this period that were just as funny and, like Hope, he always played the same character, but it was a different character: the shy, neurotic schlub. Hope always played the same part in the 1940s too -- the sniveling, greedy, libidinous coward -- but nobody was better at it. Woody Allen borrowed some of Hope's mannerisms for his own performances.If you give Hope the right settings and the right gags he runs with the ball like nobody's business. But this part could have been done by almost any comic actor, maybe Red Skelton. "The Princess and the Pirate" was released in 1944. Hope had some splendid movies ahead of him. In the 1960s he was churning out one turkey after another. I suppose he must have enjoyed working. He surely didn't need the money by then. When he finally quit, he played golf, continued to make his well-known USO tours to troops overseas, and lived to a respectably old age. Not at all a bad career.

Neil Doyle This one is so much better than Hope's later romp in the swashbuckling genre called CASANOVA'S BIG NIGHT.VIRGINIA MAYO displays comic flair as Princess Margaret, the lovely Technicolor photography doing her full justice as the costumed princess running away from the villains with the cowardly Sylvester the Great (BOB HOPE) at her side. Hope is at his comic best, delivering every line with the sort of casual flair for comedy that served him so well during his early years at Paramount.But having the most fun are VICTOR McLAGLEN as the hook-bearing pirate with a devilish gleam in his eye; WALTER BRENNAN as the maniacal, half-witted pirate called Featherbrain who relishes every scene and gives one of his best supporting role performances; and WALTER SLEZAK as the wicked man who wants the treasure map and Mayo for his own.Not to be outclassed by these comic performances, we also have HUGO HAAS as the cabaret owner who shares some priceless one-liners with Hope who auditions for a job in his cabaret. The drinking scene is one of the highlights of the film.Directed at a frantic pace by David Butler, this is one of Hope's most enjoyable romps and it's all dressed up in fancy Technicolor and lavish sets and costumes.Not to be missed, if you're a Hope fan.

frankfob Bob Hope and Virginia Mayo star in this hilarious comedy about a tenth-rate actor who gets mixed up with beautiful women, corrupt politicians, pirates and treasure maps. Hope really looks like he's enjoying himself, and when you get a load of Virginia Mayo, you'll see why. She has never looked more ravishing--the gorgeous Technicolor photography actually works better for her than it did for Maureen O'Hara, who was known as "The Queen of Technicolor"--and shows an unexpected flair for comedy. Victor McLaglen seems to be having a blast as the evil pirate The Hook, Walter Slezak plays the crooked governor in another one of his fine oily villain performances, and Walter Brennan is a scream as a crazed pirate who takes a shine to Hope. Some hilarious comic routines--especially one where Hope pretends to be The Hook--and several surprisingly good action scenes, which you don't often see in comedies, make this one of Hope's best pictures without Bing Crosby (well, for the most part). Don't miss it.