The Black Pirate
Teaching us that revenge can be a great
way to meet women, silent screen icon Douglas Fairbanks joins
the crew of the ship that killed his father.
One of the silent era’s most spectacular
action blockbusters, The Black Pirate also boasts an experimental
early Technicolor process, making it one of the only color
silent films. Douglas Fairbanks Sr. stars as a nobleman who
is the sole survivor of a ship seized by pirates who blow
up the ship, killing everyone on board, including Fairbanks’
father. Fairbanks vows revenge and subsequently joins the
pirate crew, walking a fine line by seeming to aid the pirates
while actually protecting potential victims and plotting the
pirates’ ultimate downfall.
Fairbanks’s astonishing acrobatics remain dazzling
today, and the climactic battle includes some great underwater
footage of an aquatic assault on the pirates. This film includes
Fairbanks’ most famous and widely copied stunt, riding
down a sail on the edge of a knife. In another popular scene
that is often copied, Fairbanks cuts loose the corner of a
billowing sail, then holds on as the wind carries him up off
the deck of the ship and high into the rigging.
|