Load of rubbish!!

Just perfect...

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

A rip-roaring piratical romp with Robert Newton, after playing Long John Silver for Disney's "Treasure Island" cashing in this time as Blackbeard a.k.a. Ned Teach leading his very motley crew into dangerous adventure on the high seas.Also on board are the statuesque Linda Darnell as the resident damsel in distress and her protector and lover Maynard (called Mainyard throughout by old Blackbeard) played by while the main protagonist of all and sundry appears to be the gentleman pirate captain Morgan, pillar of society by day and treacherous plunderer by night.Director Raoul Walsh ushers the action along in his typical no-nonsense style, with the ship battle scenes and hand to hand fighting among the pirate hordes especially memorable, give or take the odd jarring juxtaposition of ship models, back projections and less than bloody sword-fights.Newton completely dominates the cast. He ooh - ahhrs for all he's worth generally lending to proceedings the necessary bluster, heartlessness despite and cunning. He carries the picture and is in most scenes until his demise at the end which will serve as a warning to anyone who's ever let themselves be buried up to their neck in sand on the beach. Despite wearing a less than terrifying set of little red flags on his beard, Newton revels in the Teach part, knowing that no one trusts him and everybody fears him.I was confused for a time by the appearance of Richard Egan (later to captain his own boat into danger in "Jason and the Argonauts" some years later) as Maynard's friend as both men look so like one another. Darnell's similarly kidnapped old lady-in-waiting gets a humorous performance by as the rum-loving nursey although she disappears out of the film after about halfway but Walter Slezak seems as confused about his characters,Perhaps it goes on a bit and lacks a reasonable

This film seemed to be a staple of late nineteen fifties Saturday afternoon television. Even a ten year old could discern the broad elements of self-parody, and the motley collection of Dickensian characters....Equally important, the movie contains one of cinema's greatest one-liners: "I am the King of Spain!", perhaps second only in the low budget genre to "Slowly I turned." Yes, am a self-admitted Abbott & Costello fan as well, but "Blackbeard" outshines "Abbott & Costello Meet Captain Kidd" (1952)in almost every category. Perfection of a definitively weird sort, but perfection none the less. Alas, never actually saw it on the large screen.

I'd always wondered were Daniel Day-Lewis had found his weird accent for Gangs of New-York. Finally an explanation, the character of Will The Butcher is based on Robert Newton's superbly hammy Blackbeard (note: other IMDBers have suggested Bill Sykes, another Newton character).There are some drawn out scenes, such as where Newton swaps clothes with a look-alike to escape soldiers only to promptly shoot him in the back. The boat scenes are pretty well done though.Newton is the prototypical celluloid pirate with his outings in the definitive Treasure Island. Both films have memorable endings but are not up to the special effects of Pirates of the Caribbean.

I am gratified that so many others have commented on Robert Newton's completely over-the-top performance in the title role. Unfortunately, it completely transcends the otherwise conventional Hollywood pirate movie that surrounds it. When he's on the screen, nothing else exists. Yes, it's ham-acting at its hammiest but it's virtuoso ham acting that hardly anyone could hope to match. He rolls his eyes, growls, orates...he simply takes over the movie and almost gives ham-acting a good name. The only performances of this kind that I can think of which come close to matching him are Orson Welles (in many things but especially in "Black Magic") and Ralph Richardson in "Things to Come."