Editing The Black Pirate

{{short description|1926 film}}
{{about||the 1954 film starring Anthony Dexter|The Black Pirates|the 1976 Italian film starring Kabir Bedi|The Black Corsair (1976 film)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = The Black Pirate
| image          = Black pirate 1926 poster.jpg
| director       = [[Albert Parker (director)|Albert Parker]]
| writer         = [[Jack Cunningham (screenwriter)|Jack Cunningham]] 
| starring       = Douglas Fairbanks<br>[[Billie Dove]]<br>[[Tempe Pigott]]<br>[[Donald Crisp]] 
| cinematography = Henry Sharp<br>''(overall cinematography; b&w camera)''<br>Arthur Ball<br>''(Technicolor camera)''<br>George Cave<br>''(Technicolor camera)''
| producer       = [[Douglas Fairbanks]]
| music          = [[Mortimer Wilson]]
| studio         = The Elton Corporation<br>[[Technicolor|Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation]]
| distributor    = [[United Artists]]
| country        = United States
| released       = {{Film date|1926|3|8}}
| runtime        = 94 minutes
| language       = [[Silent film|Silent]] (English [[intertitle]]s)
| budget         = $1,300,000
| gross          = $1.7 million (U.S. and Canada rentals)<ref name=GeneralBook>{{cite book|first=Peter|last=Krämer|title=The General|date=2019|publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=978-1-8387-1889-3|quote=In addition, the strongly comedy-inflected, spectacular adventure films starring Fairbanks, who was known for his onscreen acrobatics (as well as his infectious smile), ranked highly in the annual charts – ''The Thief of Bagdad'' at no. 3 in 1924, ''Don Q, Son of Zorro'' at no. 4 in 1925 and ''The Black Pirate'' at no. 4 in 1926 – with domestic rentals of between $1.5 million and $1.7 million.}}</ref>
}}
'''''The Black Pirate''''' is a 1926 American [[silent film|silent]] [[action adventure film]] shot entirely in two-color [[Technicolor]] about an adventurer and a "company" of pirates. Directed by [[Albert Parker (director)|Albert Parker]], it stars [[Douglas Fairbanks]], [[Donald Crisp]], [[Sam De Grasse]], and [[Billie Dove]]. In 1993, ''The Black Pirate'' was included in the annual selection of 25 motion pictures to be added to the [[National Film Registry]] of the [[Library of Congress]], being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Librarian Announces National Film Registry Selections (March 7, 1994) - Library of Congress Information Bulletin|url=https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/94/9405/film.html|website=www.loc.gov|access-date=May 19, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Complete National Film Registry Listing |url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|website=Library of Congress|access-date=May 19, 2020}}</ref>

==Plot==
[[File:The Black Pirate (Albert Parker, 1926).webm|thumb|thumbtime=7|''The Black Pirate'']]
Pirates capture, badly maul and loot a ship. After relieving the ship and crew of valuables, the pirates fire the ship, blowing up the gunpowder on board, sinking her. While the pirates celebrate, two survivors wash up on an island, an old man and his son. Before dying, the older man gives his [[signet ring]] to his son. His son buries him, vowing vengeance.

The Pirate Captain and Lieutenant bring some crew to the other side of the same island to bury some of their plunder. They  then plan to murder the other pirates: "Dead men tell no tales." But first, the son appears as the "Black Pirate", who offers to join their company and fight their best man to prove his worth. After much fighting, the Black Pirate kills the Pirate Captain. The Pirate Lieutenant sneers, and says there is more to being a pirate than sword tricks. To further prove his worth, the Black Pirate says he will capture the next ship of prey single-handed, which he does. He then uses his wits to prevent the pirates from blowing up the ship along with the crew and passengers, suggesting that they hold the ship for ransom.

When a woman is discovered on board, the Pirate Lieutenant claims her. Being in [[love at first sight]] for her, the Black Pirate finds a way to temporarily save her from this fate by presenting her as a "princess" and urging the crew to use her as a hostage to ensure their ransom will be paid, as long as she remains "spotless and unharmed".

The pirates cheer the Black Pirate, and want to name him captain. The Pirate Lieutenant jeers but consents to wait to see if the ransom is paid by noon the next day. However, he secretly has a confederate destroy the ransom ship later that night to ensure it will not return.  Then, when the Black Pirate is caught trying to release the woman, the Pirate Lieutenant exposes him as a traitor and the pirates force him to [[Walking the plank|walk the plank]].

At noon the next day, with the ransom ship having failed to show, the Pirate Lieutenant goes to the woman to claim his prize. But just then, the Black Pirate, who with the help of the sympathetic one-armed pirate MacTavish, had survived being sent overboard, returns leading troops to stop the pirates. After a long fight, the pirates are routed. In the end, the Black Pirate is revealed to be a Duke, and the "Princess" he loves a noble Lady. Even MacTavish is moved to tears of joy by the happy ending.

==Cast==
{{Cast listing|
* [[Douglas Fairbanks]] as The Duke of Arnoldo / "The Black Pirate"
* [[Billie Dove]] as Princess Isobel
* [[Anders Randolf]] as Pirate Captain
* [[Donald Crisp]] as MacTavish
* [[Tempe Pigott]] as Duenna
* [[Sam De Grasse]] as Pirate Lieutenant
* [[Charles Stevens (actor)|Charles Stevens]] as Powder Man
* [[Charles Belcher (actor)|Charles Belcher]] as Chief Passenger (Nobleman)
* [[E. J. Ratcliffe]] as The Governor
* John Wallace as Peg-Leg Pirate
* Fred Becker as Pirate
* Nino Cochise as Pirate (uncredited)
* Jimmy Dime as Pirate (uncredited)
* [[George Holt (actor)|George Holt]] as Pirate (uncredited)
* [[Harold Kruger]] as Pirate (uncredited)
* Charles Lewis as Pirate (uncredited)
* [[Barry Norton]] as Youth (uncredited)
* [[Mary Pickford]] as Princess Isobel In Final Embrace (uncredited [[Cameo appearance|cameo]])
* Bob Roper as Pirate (uncredited)
}}

==Production notes==
Donald Crisp (MacTavish) had directed Fairbanks' ''[[Don Q, Son of Zorro]]'' (1925) in addition to  playing the villain in that film. Crisp, who had been in films for over a decade at this point, was also a major director of silent films. He continued as a [[character actor]] for another forty years, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1942 (''[[How Green Was My Valley (film)|How Green Was My Valley]]'').

The script was adapted by [[Jack Cunningham (screenwriter)|Jack Cunningham]] from a story by Fairbanks, who used his middle names "Elton Thomas" as a [[pseudonym]].  The film was directed by [[Albert Parker (director)|Albert Parker]].

Fairbanks had conceived of the film as early as 1920 or 1921, after finishing ''[[The Mark of Zorro (1920 film)|The Mark of Zorro]]''. He was allegedly inspired to produce the film after a conversation with [[Jackie Coogan]]. Off-hand, Coogan had mentioned how much he loved the ''Book of Pirates'' by [[Howard Pyle]]. Fairbanks and his art director, [[Carl Oscar Borg]], sought to replicate Pyle's evocative illustrations in the film.<ref>Eagan, Daniel. ''America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry''. New York: Continuum. p. 113. Web. March 24, 2015. {{ISBN|978-0-826-41849-4}} (hardcover) {{ISBN|978-0-8264-2977-3}} (paperback)</ref>

Fairbanks' wife [[Mary Pickford]] doubled for Dove for the kiss between the Princess and Black Pirate at the end of the film.<ref name="PickfordTestFilm">{{cite web |url=https://www.eastman.org/black-pirate-mary-pickford-technicolor-no-2-test |title=''The Black Pirate'' – Mary Pickford Technicolor No. 2 Test |last=L'Abbate |first=Anthony |date=2000 |website=www.eastman.org/ |publisher=George Eastman Museum |access-date=1 November 2021 |quote= }}</ref>

==Technicolor==
''The Black Pirate'' was the third feature to be filmed in an early two-tone [[Technicolor]] process that had been first introduced in the 1922 feature ''[[The Toll of the Sea]]''. This reproduces a limited but pleasing range of colors. ''[[Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925 film)|Ben-Hur]]'' – filmed around the same time – contains two-tone sequences but is shot primarily in black-and-white with tinting and toning in many scenes.

Fairbanks spent considerable money on color tests before making ''Pirate''. Two-tone Technicolor at that time required two strips of [[35mm movie film|35mm film]] to be fused together back-to-back to create the two-tone palette. Due to the heat of the projector, there would be so-called cupping of the film, making it difficult to keep the film in focus during projection. (Technicolor later perfected its process, so that two-color films required only a single strip of film.) A limitation of the process was that hues on film shot indoors under artificial light differed from that shot outdoors in sunlight, so two sets of costumes with slightly different colors for each character were required to get matching colors in the final film.<ref name="PickfordTestFilm"/>

==Legacy==
[[File:Black pirate photo 10.jpg|thumb|240px|right|Douglas Fairbanks and the crew of ''The Black Pirate'' (1926)]]
Fairbanks biographer [[Jeffrey Vance]] maintains that “''The Black Pirate'' was the most carefully prepared and controlled work of Fairbanks’s entire career” and “the most important feature-length silent film designed entirely for color cinematography.” Vance believes the limitations imposed by early [[Technicolor]] forced him to remove the "pageantry and visual effects" of his earlier swashbuckler and produce a straightforward action adventure. "The result was a refreshing return to form and a dazzling new showcase for the actor-producer’s favorite production value: himself. Fairbanks is resplendent as the bold buccaneer and buoyed by a production brimming with rip-roaring adventure and spiced with exceptional stunts and swordplay, including the celebrated ‘sliding down the sails’ sequence, arguably the most famous set piece of the entire Fairbanks treasure chest.”<ref>Vance, Jeffrey (2008). ''Douglas Fairbanks''. Berkeley: University of California Press, p. 203. {{ISBN|978-0-520-25667-5}}.</ref>

A two-year-long restoration of ''The Black Pirate'' was begun in 1970 by the [[BFI National Archive|British National Film Archive]] at the request of [[Douglas Fairbanks Jr.]] One original release print and two incomplete negatives were used to restore the film.<ref>Slide, Anthony. ''Nitrate Won't Wait: A History of Film Preservation in the United States''. McFarland. p. 105. 2015 {{ISBN|0-7864-0836-7}}</ref> In addition to the surviving color film, some black and white outtakes and test footage have been found and included in the Blu-ray release of the film, with narration by [[Rudy Behlmer]].<ref>[http://www.silentera.com/video/blackPirateHV.html Silent Era : Home Video Reviews]</ref>

The film was selected for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] in 1993.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/ |title=Complete National Film Registry Listing |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=May 20, 2024}}</ref>

The film is recognized by [[American Film Institute]] in these lists:
* 2001: [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills]] – Nominated<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/thrills400.pdf |title=AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills Nominees |access-date=August 20, 2016}}</ref>
* 2003: [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains]]:
** “The Black Pirate” – Nominated Hero<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/quotes400.pdf |title=AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes Nominees |access-date=August 20, 2016}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
[[File:Fairbanks sail scene.webm|thumb|thumbtime=8|The scene of Fairbanks sliding down the sail]]
*The sail-sliding scene was replicated in other pirate-themed media, including ''[[Against All Flags]]'', ''[[Rage of the Buccaneers]]'', ''[[The Goonies]]'', ''[[Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds (film)|Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds]]'', and the ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW Publishing)|IDW comic]] ''Turtles in Time'' #3 (August 2014).
*The [[Marx Bros]] 1935 movie ''[[A Night at the Opera (film)|A Night at the Opera]]'' ends with a scene of chaos during an operatic performance. [[Theater drapes and stage curtains#Backdrops|Drops]] and [[Fly system|flies]] appear as would-it-be painted sails of Fairbanks' pirate ship as Harpo swings on ropes between them, ultimately descending down one, legs astride a splitting scene-painted canvas – a full sail-slide descent.
*It was also subjected to a test by ''[[MythBusters]]'', where the stunt was declared implausible ("busted").<ref>"A person can safely slow a fall by using a knife to cut a sail." ''MythBusters'', [[MythBusters (2007 season)#Episode 71 – "Pirate Special"|season 6 episode 71]] (''Pirate Special''). January 17, 2007.</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of early color feature films]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=XKeBCgAAQBAJ Goessel], Tracey. ''The First King of Hollywood: The Life of Douglas Fairbanks''. Chicago Review Press (October 1, 2015) {{ISBN|1613734042}}
*Vance, Jeffrey. ''Douglas Fairbanks''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-520-25667-5}}.

==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{wikisource}}
*{{IMDb title|0016654}}
*[https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/black_pirate.pdf ''The Black Pirate'' essay by Tracey Goessel] from the [[National Film Registry]]
*[https://moviessilently.com/2017/07/16/the-black-pirate-1926-a-silent-film-review/ ''The Black Pirate'' A Silent Film Review] at moviessilently.com
*{{Rotten Tomatoes|1002511-black_pirate}}
*[https://www.silentfilmstillarchive.com/black_pirate.htm Stills] at silentfilmstillarchive.com
*[https://archive.org/details/pressbook-ua-black-pirate/mode/2up United Artists Press Book] on the Internet Archive
*[https://www.eastman.org/black-pirate-mary-pickford-technicolor-no-2-test ''The Black Pirate'' Mary Pickford Technical Test No. 2] (color test film) at www.eastman.org
*{{YouTube|a46tD6sjD58|Early Technicolor discoveries from the BFI National Archive}} (Billie Dove test starts at 0:44)
*{{YouTube|id=yWY4_6emHz8|title=''The Black Pirate''}}
*{{Internet Archive film|id=TheBlackPirate1926DouglasFairbanksSRAndy|name=The Black Pirate}}

{{Albert Parker}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Pirate, The}}
[[Category:1926 films]]
[[Category:1926 adventure films]]
[[Category:1920s action adventure films]]
[[Category:1920s American films]]
[[Category:1920s color films]]
[[Category:1920s English-language films]]
[[Category:American silent feature films]]
[[Category:American swashbuckler films]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Early color films]]
[[Category:English-language action adventure films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Albert Parker]]
[[Category:Films scored by Mortimer Wilson]]
[[Category:Pirate films]]
[[Category:Silent American action adventure films]]
[[Category:Silent films in color]]
[[Category:Surviving American silent films]]
[[Category:United Artists films]]
[[Category:United States National Film Registry films]]