Captain Pirate (1952)

Written by CinemaSerf on September 9, 2022

Whilst this isn't a patch on "Captain Blood" (1935), it still makes for a fun sort-of sequel with Louis Hayward swashing and buckling for ninety minutes. This time, he must convince the authorities that he is being framed for a series of daring pirate raids on shipping by a man impersonating him. When they try to arrest him, he takes to his old ways to prove his innocence. We have seen all of this before, and to be honest much of it is a bit flat and derivative; Hayward hasn't the glint in his eye of many of his more mischievous, engaging, earlier performances and it really misses a decent baddie - a foil for his character to fence with. It's still an enjoyable film to watch, the costumes are suitably sumptuous and there is cannon fire a-plenty, but somehow it just falls a bit short.