Blackbeards assault1/4/2023 ![]() ![]() Blackbeard then orders Maynard to remove a bullet from his neck, and ever-suspicious, demands that sailor Gilly watch the newcomer during the operation. Beautiful passenger Edwina Mansfield, a pirate's daughter, is furious at Blackbeard because she had planned to marry Bellamy, but Blackbeard, who wants Morgan dead, knows that the nobleman is infatuated with her and will pursue her. As soon as Maynard and fellow spy Briggs board the ship, they learn that the notorious pirate Blackbeard has murdered Bellamy and taken over as captain. The governor has offered a reward to anyone who can prove that Morgan is receiving pirate loot. Maynard has turned spy because Jamaica's governor suspects that Bellamy is in league with Sir Henry Morgan, a former pirate who has been assigned by the King of England to protect the seas. In Port Royal, Jamaica, in the early eighteenth century, Robert Maynard poses as a surgeon in order to board pirate Charles Bellamy's ship. In 1968, Robert Stevenson directed Peter Ustinov in Walt Disney's production Blackbeard's Ghost (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1961-70). Murvyn Vye portrayed Blackbeard in the 1960 United Artists release The Boy and the Pirates (See Entry). RKO announced in Apr 1951 that the film would be shot in England, but no evidence of location filming has been found.īlackbeard was first portrayed on film in the 1911 Selig short Blackbeard, starring Hobart Bosworth, Bessie Eyton and Sydney Ayres. A Jan 1952 LAT item noted that Charles Laughton was under consideration for the Blackbeard role. In Nov 1950, HR announced that Robert Stevenson was to direct the picture, with a cast headed by Robert Mitchum, Faith Domergue, Victor Mature and Jack Beutel. ![]() For information about the life of Sir Henry Morgan, see entry for the 1942 Twentieth Century-Fox picture The Black Swan in AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1941-50.Īccording to modern sources, producer Val Lewton developed the idea for the film while he was associated with RKO and intended to star Boris Karloff as Blackbeard. Modern sources note that Blackbeard liked to tie firecrackers in his long beard, a detail included in the picture. Blackbeard died in 1718, killed not by his fellow pirates, as depicted in the film, but by an English force sent from Virginia. Aided by the governor, with whom he shared his booty, Blackbeard maintained a base in North Carolina and raided settlements in the Carolinas and Virginia. From 1716 to 1718, he attacked ships in the Caribbean and along the Atlantic coast of North America. ![]() Īccording to biographical sources, the real Blackbeard, born Edward Teach (or Thatch) in England in the late 1600s, turned to piracy after twelve years of serving as a privateer during the War of the Spanish Succession. Blackbeard died in 1718, killed not by his fellow pirates, as depicted in the film, but by an English. Sir Henry Morgan, who was then in the service of the king, had been sent to clear the seas of the very pirates he once had led." Voice-over narration, spoken by Keith Andes as his character, "Robert Maynard," is heard during the opening scene.Īccording to biographical sources, the real Blackbeard, born Edward Teach (or Thatch) in England in the late 1600s, turned to piracy after twelve years of serving as a privateer during the War of the Spanish Succession. The film's opening credits include the following disclaimer: "This photoplay is based on certain actual and outstanding events in the lives of its principal characters, but the other events and the other characters, except those representing persons whose true names are used, are fictional." The anonymous poem, "The Armchair Pirate," concludes the credits: "The meeker the man, the more pirate he/Snug in his armchair, far from the sea,/And reason commends his position:/He has all of the fun and none of the woes,/Masters the ladies and scuttles his foes,/And cheats both the noose and perdition!" The following written statement precedes the first scene: "During the 17th Century the Spanish Main was over-run with pirates, foremost of whom was Edward Teach, the evil and immortal Blackbeard. The working title of this film was Buccaneer Empire. ![]()
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