Search - The Pirate on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Suitable for Children Movie Release: 1948 DVD Release: 07/24/2007 Format: DVD - Color Edition: Dual Layered Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English, French SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 41 mins Studio: Warner Home Video Members Wishing: 11 Genres: Musical, Romance, Musical Romance See Also: The Pirate

When Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne appeared in S. N. Behrmann's The Pirate on Broadway, there were no musical numbers whatsoever. But with Gene Kelly and Judy Garland in the leading roles of the 1948 filmization of The Pirate, the MGM production staff would have been drawn and quartered had there not been song after song. The story is merely serviceable: on a Caribbean isle in the early 19th century, sheltered young Garland comes to believe that travelling troubadour Kelly is in reality "Mack the Black," a notorious pirate. Kelly realizes that the surest way to win Garland's heart is to impersonate the romantic buccaneer, and this is what he does--nearly getting himself hanged in the process. Cole Porter's marvelous score yielded only one bona-fide hit: "Be a Clown", which has practically nothing to do with the storyline, but do you care? Highlights include the magnificently staged "Mack the Black," a heady combination of Broadway glitz and Caligariesque nightmare. Seven MGM screenwriters toiled away on The Pirate, though only the team of Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich were credited. While The Pirate was not a huge moneymaker on its first release, it has since been embraced by the cultists, who apparently can never get enough of Judy Garland. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lester Allen - Uncle Capucho
Judy Garland - Manuela
Jerry Bergen - Bolo
Gene Kelly - Serafin
Walter Slezak - Don Pedro Vargas
Gladys Cooper - Aunt Inez
Jean Dean - Casilda
Reginald Owen - The Advocate