It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

If you thought Robert Newton had created the original pirate in 1950's Treasure Island, technically you're right. But you should watch Blackbeard, the Pirate to see his pirate character on steroids. If every ten sentences in Treasure Island, he added an "Aarr!", in Blackbeard, the Pirate, his imitable, incomparable sound was included every ten words. As the famous villainous Blackbeard, Bobbie cackles, sings, and is even more disheveled than he was as Long John Silver.If you're familiar with pirate legends, you probably know Blackbeard had a rivalry with Captain Morgan, and in this film, a woman comes between them. Linda Darnell-who has an irrational lack of fear of the lusty, crusty pirates and continually prances around in very revealing dresses-comes aboard, but she's hiding treasure in her luggage that both famous pirates are after. She falls in love with Keith Andes, but their romance isn't the interesting part of the movie. Robert Newton captures everyone's attention, and he manages to turn the despicable villain into an incredibly likable, jolly character. His cohorts, led by William Bendix and Skelton Knaggs, who bears an eerie resemblance to Frances McDormand, are much more wicked than he is.While there's no topping Treasure Island, I really enjoyed Blackbeard, the Pirate. Bobbie Newton is a fantastically energetic and magnetic actor, and he was constantly making me laugh without really trying to. While I didn't care for the ending, I'm glad I got to see one of his most famous roles.

Raoul Walsh's 1952 film "Blackbeard the Pirate" doesn't strive for any historical accuracy, but it's high in the entertainment category and one of the best of its kind. Robert Newton has literally a "field day" as Blackbeard and he set the standard for all future screen pirates. His famous "AAARRGGGG" is a crucial part of the dialog and Newton uses the expression for all its worth. Along for the ride are lovers Keith Andes and Linda Darnell; she's a captive and he's her rescuer. The rest of the plot revolves around Blackbeard and his men wreaking havoc in the Caribbean while kicking butt and taking names. But it's tough work with a woman like Ms. Darnell aboard ship. Lovely Linda displays plenty of cleavage and is so "top heavy" that it's a wonder she doesn't sink several frigates. Also in the cast is William Bendix ("The Life of Riley") as a pirate with a Brooklyn accent, but he fits right in with Blackbeard's motley crew. It's all done with flair and style under the guidance of Walsh who was one of Hollywood's best action directors. The final end to Blackbeard's reign of terror is befitting for the man and the movie. It's an image that will stay with viewers (particularly young ones) for a long time. Suffice to say that Blackbeard receives something a lot worse than "water-boarding."

Within the 17th century a reformed pirate known as Sir Henry Morgan is given the role of governor in Jamaica and the job of ridding the ocean of Blackbeard the pirate. A young surgeon Edward Maynard believes Morgan is still a pirate and takes the assignment of becoming part of Blackbeard's crew to get his large award and hopefully take care of these two men. Blackbeard manages to kidnap Morgan's adopted daughter Edwina Mansfield, and now Maynard has his hands full if he wants to complete his mission.Arrrrrrr. I could throw around some pirate lingo, but it looks like everyone was having a jolly good time on this colourfully swashbuckling pirate romp from director Raoul Welsh. This one feels like its parodying the whole set-up and including the clichés we've come to associate with pirates. We get double-crossings, greedy intentions, gallant sword fights, a bathing beauty, treasure chests and rum to name a few. Alan LeMay's enthusiastically crackling script (off DeVallen Scott's story) covers it all and offers some clever surprises with plenty of tooting drama to boot. The romance sub-plot comes off quite stuffy though and a few plot holes do work there way in. Welsh's lively direction makes sure something is always happening and never lets it flag about with focused photography. Scenes are well delivered and vigorously active, despite that it comes across more stagy than one big adventure packed outing. Surprisingly for its time (very tame now) it can be terribly violent and vulgar in its actions and the pirates (good casting I might add) look and act truly scum. The bellowing musical score gets into the spirit and the Technicolor format brings many vibrant flushes to make-shift sets. What's most captivating is Robert Newton's bawdily fiery and over-the-top turn as Blackbeard. His probably the most memorable thing out of this and what lifts it from the average crowd. A true scene stealer, that still leaves his mark when his not even on the screen and very much influential performance for latter pirate flicks. A goofy William Bendix is equally as enjoyable in a broad sense as his first mate. Linda Darnell looks irresistibly magnetic and grand, but is not offered too much. Keith Andes is acceptable, but is very much overshadowed as Edward Maynard. Torin Thatcher, Irene Ryan and Skelton Knaggs give capable support."Blackbeard the Pirate" is far from flawless, but definitely an entertaining foray my matey.

Enough has been said by other reviewers about Robert Newton's performance, so I want to make some comments about Linda Darnell's appearance in this film. Although she was given second billing, her part is rather small in the overall script. There wasn't much great dramatic effort required to do her part.I'm guessing her star power had something to do with her being cast in this film. The incidental love story involving her character could have been eliminated from the film without the film being affected. I guess it was needed to give the film a "happy ending".Since most of her work was filmed in black and white, it's nice to have another opportunity to see her photographed in Technicolor.