7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
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.
Starring: Judy Garland, Gene Kelly (I), Walter Slezak, Gladys Cooper, Reginald OwenRomance | 100% |
Musical | 78% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
June 2022 marks the 100th anniversary of Judy Garland's birth... and to celebrate, all three Warner Archive Blu-rays this month -- Ziegfeld Girl, The Clock, and For Me and My Gal -- feature the late, great star. Also covered this month are two 1940s Garland films from deeper in the Warner Archive vault, The Harvey Girls and The Pirate.
A surprise misfire given the considerable talent involved, Vincente Minnelli's The Pirate earned lukewarm reviews from critics and registered a box office loss of over $1M for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The story was based on a 1942 play by Samuel Behrman and movie rights were purchased for a whopping $250,000 but the production floundered for years, going through several rewrites as both a serious drama and a swashbuckling action-adventure film. Eventually it was shoehorned into a musical format starring top names Gene Kelly and Judy Garland, with direction by her soon-to-be ex-husband, strong production values, and even original songs by Cole Porter. Of course we know that the sure bet didn't pay off... but even with the passage of time, it's easy to see that The Pirate is far from a perfect picture.
Front to back, The Pirate is at least passable entertainment if you're intrigued by its subject matter, with good to great choreography that dots this mostly breezy 102-minute landscape less frequently than first-time viewers might think. The closing number "Be A Clown" (which was unofficially "borrowed" by producer Arthur Freed just four years later in Singin' in the Rain as the hastily rewritten "Make 'Em Laugh"), is a crowd-pleaser and an earlier dance accompanying the song, performed by Kelly and the tremendously talented Nicholas Brothers, is better still. Yet as a whole The Pirate nonetheless registers as a borderline trivial affair that rarely feels like much more than a few solid songs, dances, and dramatic exchanges held together with plenty of seams still showing. Stories of Garland's health problems and other behind-the-scenes drama were likely the source of its almost inevitable inconsistencies... and while the end result is occasionally impressive, The Pirate is a prime example of a whole being less than the sum of its parts.
Yet the film does have its share of fiercely loyal fans and, while Kelly's presence far outpaces Garland's here, die-hard fans of the late,
great icon will be just as pleased to add The Pirate to their ever-growing musical collection. As usual, Warner Archive puts in great work on
their still-available Blu-ray package, including another rock-solid A/V restoration and a surprisingly great collection of bonus features. It may not
prove tempting enough if you've never been won over byThe Pirate's charms, but there's enough here that even casual fans will get their
money's worth.
The Pirate is an absolute stunner on Warner Archive's Blu-ray; no surprise at all, given the film's top-shelf Technicolor origins and, of course, the boutique label's near-perfect track record for purist-friendly restorations. Although I did not have their parent company's 2007 DVD on hand for a direct comparison, this disc is advertised as being sourced from a 4K remaster and is extremely clean from start to finish. Fine detail and textures are quite strong, especially in regard to clothing and background production design, with a steady layer of natural film grain that hasn't been processed with any obvious noise reduction. But the real star here is The Pirate's vivid Technicolor palette, which really packs quite a punch during several dance numbers like the fiery red "Pirate Ballet"; primaries are especially bold but do not succumb to over-saturation or bleeding. Darker moments also look quite good, showcasing strong levels of shadow detail that similarly don't fall victim to black crush. Overall, this is an extremely stable 1080p transfer that wrings as much detail as expected from source material of this type, and maybe even more. Simply put, it'll never look better.
While the large majority of this DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track sounds perfectly fine (and at the very least, dutifully preserves the modest original 1.0 mono mix faithfully), a handful of short scenes and exchanges suffer from a tinny and borderline gauzy distortion that renders portions of dialogue somewhat tough to decipher. This is likely an age-related or other source material issue and isn't too prolonged or distracting, but it's definitely noticeable at times; luckily, the included English (SDH) subtitles are on hand to clear up some of those issues. Aside from that -- and, of course, a somewhat strained high end during non-performance music cues -- The Pirate enjoys a largely smooth and satisfying audio presentation that feels more or less in line with other musical dramas from this era.
Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during the main feature only, but not the extras. This is pretty annoying since the DVD collection that most of them were sourced from did in fact have optional subtitles available. It's perhaps my only ongoing hang-up regarding Warner Archive releases, and one that I hope is addressed at some point.
This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with poster-themed cover art and no inserts. All extras are ported over from Warner Bros.' 2004 DVD (one of several releases on that format), although a few upgrades have been made.
On paper, The Pirate is a sure bet: a musical starring Gene Kelly and Judy Garland, directed by Vincente Minnelli, with original songs by Cole Porter. The result isn't as good as that lineup suggests, as its highlights are held back by tonal and pacing issues (and rather fiery behind-the-scenes drama), not to mention a borderline silly story that feels beneath its big stars. There's still some enjoyment for Kelly and Garland fans, of course, and in some ways The Pirate is a very unique production among its contemporaries... but as far as I'm concerned, this is second-tier stuff at best. Don't tell Warner Archive, that, of course, as their new Blu-ray checks all the boxes with yet another robust and impressive Blu-ray package that fans will enjoy from top to bottom. Recommended, but only to the right audience.
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