Morgan the Pirate (1960) User Reviews

Italian adventures with intrepid pirates and exotic scenarios

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 2 May 2008]

Henry Morgan (Steve Reeves) is an English slave who's bought by the Panama governor (Ivo Garrani)'s daughter named Ines (Valerie Legrange). They fall in love and then he's condemned . When he finds himself in a galleon , there bursts a rebellion and he becomes pirate . Meanwhile , Ines is kidnapped in island of Turtle , but she's freed . Then , Morgan decides to take the city of Panama , the location strongest fortified from Spanish empire . As the notorious pirate raids up and down the Caribbean, battling the Spanish, the English and other pirates .

The film is a nice pirate-adventure movie , being lavishly produced . This classic story of romantic adventure come to life enriched by Technicolor cinematography in charge of Tonino Delli Colli (usual cameraman of Sergio Leone and Pier Paolo Pasolini) and adapted magnificently to screen . Overwhelming battle ships and sword-play and full of villainy , romance , swashbuckler and heroism . Usual dancing scenes in charge of a gorgeous and erotic Chelo Alonso . Steve Reeves is cool as the pirate hero who encounters dangerous situations while trying to retrieve his lover . Reeves acted as a corpulent hero in several movies , starring historic and legendary characters , such as ¨Romulus¨ in Romulus and Remo ; ¨Phillipides¨ in Giant of Marathon ; ¨Eneas¨ in The war of the Trojan and The horse of Trojan ; ¨Glaucus¨ in The last days of Pompei and ¨Hercules¨ in Hercules the Queen of Lydia . The motion picture was well directed by Andre De Toth and Primo Zeglio . Andre De Toth is a classic director , Western habitual (Indian fighter, Man in the saddle , Ramrod , Last of Comanches , The stranger wore a gun) , but also made Péplum (Gold for the Caesar , The Mongols).

The film is partially based on historical events , as Henry John Morgan (born Welsh 1635, dead Port Royal, Jamaica 1688) was a known corsair , at death of pirate Edward Mansfield was appointed chief by the buccaneers . He conquered Providence island or Saint Catalina . Later on , he sacked the city of Panama , violating the truce between Spain and England . For that reason was imprisoned , but king Charles II freed him and named him governor of Jamaica .

Sir Steve Morgan

[EdgarST · 7/10 · 25 May 2012]

Although Panamanian filmmakers have finally been able to tell stories about their country, its people, and their lives, most productions dealing with anything remotely Panamanian have been foreign. A few like "Riffraff" (1946) and "The Tailor of Panama" (2001) only used the country as decor, while others as "Charlie Chan in Panama" (1940) and "Across the Pacific" (1942) were not even shot there. Only the documentary "The Panama Deception" (1992) or Paul Leduc's bizarre "Dollar Mambo" (1993) were more concerned, dealing with something as dramatic as the US invasion of Panama in 1989. In recent years things have changed a bit and a few Panamanian features have been made, as "The Fists of a Nation" (2006), "Chance" (2009), or "The Dry Season" (2012), with more in production or already released. I just finished watching "Morgan, the Pirate", an Italian-French co-production that ends with the taking of the city of Panama in 1671, under the direction of André de Toth (whose claim to fame is the 1953 original version of "House of Wax", made in 3-D) and starring Steve Reeves in the lead as Sir Henry Morgan. Of course, beautiful Chelo Alonso is on hand, as an exotic prostitute who lives in the island of Tortuga and stages magnificent Afro-Cuban choreographies on the beach (of the Italian island of Procida, where exteriors were shot), but the romantic interest was centered on vapid Valérie Lagrange (I guess for co-production reason with the French), as the daughter of the Governor of Panama, "the richest city of the Americas", as it is often identified in a couple of scenes. To be honest, wholesome Steve Reeves was often betrayed by weak scripts and rushed editing that summarized complex stories in less than 90 minutes. Although he had the physique to play a mere great action hero, in this film (as a extremely handsome Morgan, if one compares him to illustrations of the famous corsair) he could have developed a more complex character than the demigods he often played in péplum sagas, with the strong traits of Morgan's personality, according to annals of history. But this is all absent in the script. It is true that Reeves was no Laurence Olivier, but he functioned well in these epics, and besides showing flair as a swordsman in galleons and taverns, and against beautiful beaches and blue sea, he seemed eager to try more dramatic roles. Unfortunately this was neither a rich production: although it is well stated that the capture of the city of Panama was made after Spain and England had signed a peace treaty, the violent campaign (that included hundreds of men crossing the isthmus in a month, through the jungle) is trivialized and reduced to a romantic stroll through fields and hills, and in spite of the great fires that destroyed the city and forced its people to change its location, the city ends without scratches (these are reserved to Mademoiselle Lagrange, for a dramatic but false demise). With fine cinematography and music, watch it as simple entertainment and if possible in Italian and its original wide-screen format.

#1 1960's movie muscle-man in new territory

[sol-kay · 7/10 · 10 April 2010]

***SPOILERS*** One of movie strongman Steve Reeves best and most sensitive performances as the English pirate Henry Morgan. The daring young man who took upon himself to destroy the Spanish Empire with his band of jolly Roger Buccaneers in a series of hit and run battles on land as well as at sea.

Things didn't start off that good for Morgan with him being sold into slavery by the Spanish after capturing him from a sunken English galleon. It was Morgan's Greek-god like physique and good looks that had the daughter of the Governor of Panama's daughter Dona Inez, Valerie Iagrange, fall heads over heels for the big hunk by buying him at a slave auction in town. Put in charge of the royal stable Morgan made the mistake of getting a little too close, like enveloping her with his massive arms, with Dona, a horse lover, when she went to see the latest colt of her prized stallion. Condemmed to a life as a slave rower on a Spanish galleon Morgan starts a mutiny among the slaves on the boat who take it over throwing its Spanish crew overboard. Joing up with the pirates on far off Torluga Island Morgan starts his personal war against the Spanish using them and their ships as his attacking naval task force.

Non stop action with Captain Morgan causing havoc all across the Caribbean for the Spanish with his hit and run tactics that has them or the Governor of Panama Don Jose Guzman, Ivo Garrani, offer as much as 50,000 docket's, pieces of gold, for Morgan's head. During the action Morgan's buccaneers capture the governor's daughter Dona Inez who start to suffer for a serious case of Stockholm syndrome. Thats in Dona falling madly in love with her capture Captain Morgan, whom she was nuts about earlier in the movie before her capture, to the horror of her outraged father Governoer Guzman who want's her boyfriend dead!

In the end Morgan is double-crossed by his fellow Englishman and comrade in arms Sir Thomas Modyford, Givlio Bosetti, who after signing a secret peace treaty with the hated Spanish ratted out Morgan's brilliant battle plan to attack Panama City from the west, Pacific Ocean, not east, Atlantic Ocean, as the Spanish expected him to. With his navy now at the bottom of the Caribbean Morgan whips his men into action by launching a ground attack, with thousands of buccaneers, using the local cattle as human, or animal, shields on the surprise attack on Panama City.

***SPOILERS*** Action packed final with Morgan and his men breaching the Panama City walls and having it out with the Governor's men on their own turf making mincemeat out of them. Morgan himself gets a bonus besides capturing Panama City, the richest city in the Americas, by rescuing Dona who was being held against her will there by her pop "The Gov" or Governor. And later, after the film "Morgan the Pirate was over, Morgan would end up living out his final years as he Governor of Panama City which he and his men captured from the Spanish.

P.S I was at first surprised to see Steve Reeves' clean shaved but he then grew his famous beard back within the first half hour of the movie. It may have been the heat and humidity of the Caribbean that cased Reeves to later again shave off his beard and never has it grow back for the remainder of the film.

unforgettable colour

[ptb-8 · 30 January 2004]

I saw this in 1962 when I was 7 years old at a kids matinee in our local crummy cinema THE EMPIRE in the suburb of BOTANY in SYDNEY AUSTRALIA.

It made me the man I am today, with a completely mesmerising afficianado for old cinemas and the use of colour in old films.

Years later it was re run with hilarous voice overs at late shows but the film still was such good fun and quite well made that even making fun of it didn't detract. It is actually quite good.

MORGAN THE PIRATE (Andre' De Toth and Primo Zeglio, 1961) **

[Bunuel1976 · 4/10 · 18 December 2006]

Steve Reeves wasn't as fitted to the swashbuckler genre as he was to the epic, and certainly not this historical character (who even has two females, Governor's daughter Valerie Lagrange and peasant-girl Chelo Alonso, sparring for his attention) - unforgettably incarnated on the screen by Laird Cregar in the exhilarating classic THE BLACK SWAN (1942)! This alone dropped its credibility factor by a few notches; taken on its own merits, it's not too bad - though still nothing more than an ordinary costumer (in spite of De Toth's involvement) with plenty of action but little real excitement (since the plot is streamlined to serve its low-brow nature and the meager budget). That said, it's handsome enough (particularly in the French print I watched) and Franco Mannino's score is quite good as well.

A lush bit of lavish camp.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 3 August 2022]

If you can get past the dance sequence in the governor of Panama's court (which is basically a bunch of long haired men in fancy hats and well dressed ladies walking around in circles) and an obvious orgy on the island of Jamaica that seems to be ripped off from the golden calf worship scene in "The Ten Commandments", you'll find some serious moments in this film about the life of Captain Henry Morgan (Steve Reeves). It's actually pretty upscale for a sword and sandal film, one step above a gladiator movie, with impressive sets and sword fights, along with a romance between Morgan and the daughter of his enemy, the governor of Panama.

This is quite unemployable film, although I did cringe at a scene where the remaining prisoner not chosen for clemency is about to be drawn and quartered. Morgan is the last man given clemency, turned over by the woman who bought him as a slave and found him with a female slave. Of course when she turns up in Tortuga, he takes her prisoner, and it's interesting to note that she considers him a barbarian because he's a pirate while she's as a slave owner because she's the governor's daughter. Reeves is amazing to watch, not just as a gay icon, but for his easy charm on film, very handsome both with and without his beard. It's always obvious how these films are going to end, but when they are done right (which this one is), they become classics, and this is one of the better pirate films as well, even though Morgan as presented here is not your typical jolly Roger.

Pirate pecs

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 3 April 2019]

After two Hercules movies Steve Reeves generally swore off peplum ancient stories as locales for movie plots. But that doesn't mean he doesn't get to flex those pecs in other films. After all it's what the moviegoing public paid to see back in the day.

In Morgan The Pirate Reeves also uses his own voice not that deep sonorous basso that was dubbed in the Hercules films.

Some elements of pirate classics like The Sea Hawk, Captain Blood, and The Black Swan are used in the plot of Morgan The Pirate. Reeves is a slave sold at the market in Panama City by the daughter of the Governor. She likes what she sees (who wouldn't) but she has him sent to the galleons as an oar slave. But the slaves revolt and Reeves becomes the most feared pirate captain in the Carribean.

Nothing original here. The acting is below par, the battles are nicely staged and shot. Reeves is admittedly no actor, but if you're into muscles.............

Washed-out second-biller...

[moonspinner55 · 2/10 · 5 November 2015]

Italian-French co-production involving 17th century slaves-turned-buccaneers who take on the Spanish government of Panama. Action-adventure from producer Joseph E. Levine stars muscular Steve Reeves as the footman and stable-hand to the governor's pampered daughter; he's arrested and nearly put to death for kissing the glinty-eyed man-eater (who obviously doesn't mind in the slightest!). Turning the tables on his captors at sea, Reeves takes on the mercenaries of the neighboring city, eventually leading a revolt by foot into Panama after saving his lady-love from kidnappers. Dull and ridiculous dreck; the action sequences are as muddled as the romantic drama, though the English-dubbing isn't too distracting. * from ****

my #1 pirate movie

[non_sportcardandy · 10/10 · 6 June 2004]

During my school years this was the movie I viewed more times(4 1/2) at the theaters than any other.Although a steve reeves fan I was all set to make fun of this movie with my brother before viewing it,maybe I was too use to seeing him run around in sandals(Steve Reeves not my brother)and thought his playing the part of a pirate was kind of hokey.Fifteen minutes into the movie I accepted his playing a mortal and really started to enjoy this movie,actually the movie got real interesting earlier than that with the first appearance of Valerie Lagrange.Wow!The rest could have the blondes, this dark haired beauty was my type.First there was Annette,Gina ,Sophia and now Valerie,finally there would be Lucianna(that's my wife and leading lady).The romantic pairing of Reeves and Lagrange is fairytale like and probably had much to do with my repeat viewings that were an escape from the blah events of reality.Still though this is top adventure/action entertainment with a nice musical score.Like many Italian movies a few laughs are mixed in with all the action.The biggest one probably being when one pirate changes his mind about baring from the waist up before dueling reeves,seem as though his built wouldn't compare well with the champion body builder.There are nice scenes of impressive ships at sea to go along with the battles,pillaging and plundering.An epic without the long duration that causes squirming in the seats.In this film is also another big star of european adventure films-Chelo Alonso,she no doubt is appealing to many of the viewers also.The way I see it,if a person doesn't like this movie it's because they don't like pirate movies period.

Great Genre Film

[loufalce · 9/10 · 28 October 2009]

Before you write it off as just another el cheapo Italian made "peplum epic", take the time to watch it.Reeves is in fine form in title role and he does manage to create a believable character. The film is also fairly factual in how he began his career and the raid on Spanish controlled Panama at the end of the film actually happened in 1671. Film features fine color photography, good atmosphere, and realistic looking 17th. century costumes. There is a very exciting and well staged sword duel on the beach, beautiful women {including the voluptious Chelo Alonso} a great musical score and, for once the ships are authentic looking life size replicas and not the usual bathtub toy boats that too pirate movies feature. There's also a funny sequence where Morgan's men-dressed as woman capture a Spanish treasure galleon. I remember watching it on the Channel 9 "Million Dollar Movie" {in the New York area} in the early 60s when it would be shown at 7.30 and 11.30 every weekday night for a week. I must have watched it 5 times! It was a fun movie then. I recently got to see it on VHS and it is still how I remembered it. Of course it does not have a "Pirates of the Caribbean" budget, but it is not as overblown as those films. No supernatural events or fantasy elements, just a well made and exciting pirate film that delivers on all levels. Steve Reeves best role-even when compared to "Hercules". His films are long overdue for a comeback. I hope it happens soon! This guy really deserves it.

Great Movie

[limeres · 8/10 · 27 November 2006]

Along with "The Thief of Bagdad, one of Reeves' best flicks. It has a great story, perfect casting, authentic locations, rousing action and pretty music score. Reeves' presence and the strong romantic theme add quite a bit of appeal to the genre. Check out the sword fight on Tortuga Island, a classic. The whole family will love this.

Having seen this flick at the Saturday matinée when I was an impressionable young lad, it's hard to imagine anyone duplicating this role in a more convincing way than Reeves, but someday perhaps Hollywood will revisit the story of Morgan the Pirate, it's certainly worthy of a remake, if they could find someone with half the presence of Reeves to play the role.

A Steve Reeves swashbuckler; a peplum in disguise for a change of pace.

[TheVid · 13 November 2002]

This pirate vehicle for muscleman Reeves is an effective change of pace from his sword-and-sandal adventures, and similar to his heroic, action-oriented version of THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD. The extraordinary participation of Chelo Alonso gives this minor epic a big boost, as she, once again, provides a lively, exotic dance number amidst Steve's pec flexing. Enjoyable.

a fun spaghetti-western pirate movie!

[traitorjoe666 · 8/10 · 28 March 2015]

I caught this on the "Movies!" channel, was almost going to turn it off, but just got drawn into it. To be honest, I was never into "sandals'n'spears" movies which made Steve Reeves famous, so I never heard of him before, nor any other of the cast.

The flick progressed quickly enough to grab me and get me interested, and it didn't disappoint. It laid out (whether accurately or not, I don't know) Morgan's journey from slave to pirate, coming full-circle to give his former oppressors their comeuppance.

There's plenty of great scenery in the movie as well. Steve Reeves is *very* buff in this flick (no homo! :D ), and it's quite clear he's the square-jawed richly-maned hero of the flick! A bare-midriffed Consuela is also quite a treat, especially doing a slinky seductive dance, with more moving parts than a Swiss watch! With full-sized ships at sea, gorgeous sea shots, and so on, the film doesn't disappoint as far as scenery.

The ending seemed a little abrupt, which was probably the weakest part of the movie. I just expected a little more fleshing-out, or something... *more*. But even so, it was a nice journey to get there.

All in all, I found it quite enjoyable, and again, I'm admittedly not into swashbuckler flicks, so I'd consider that high praise for the movie. Enjoy!

Great Pirate Swashbuckler

[mhrabovsky1 · 9/10 · 8 December 2000]

It is a shame that "Morgan the Pirate" is not shown or recognized more by action fans. It is very hard to find this film on any tv station - including cable or video stores. Steve Reeves gives his very best acting job in this venerable pirate tale.....also, an oddity is that Steve has to pursue the lovely Dona Inez, the daughter of the governor of Panama, throughout the film.....she makes Reeves work very hard to make a conquest of her. In other Reeves tales the women begin swooning over him very early. Morgan the Pirate has great action scenes, with good closeups of some beautifully reconstructed pirate ships. The costumes are quite historical, with Reeves decked out in a slew of pirate regalia as the film progresses. The music sets off this swashbuckler to a great extent. Best music score around for this pirate tale. Reeves survives a mini mutiny among his own pirate group, spearheaded by a jealous cohort captain who Steve outduels in an excellent action sequence early in the film as Reeves establishes his authority as the overall leader of the pirates. Some lovely women to look at in this film, and Reeves does not appear overly muscular for the role.

Plenty of pirate fighting and a good romantic ending for Captain Morgan.

Morgan the comedian

[Danimal-7 · 25 February 2003]

I can't claim I wasn't entertained. MORGAN THE PIRATE is great fun, just not the way that I expected. I was looking for thrills, and got laughs instead.

I was psyched up to enjoy this movie right through the opening credits. I was saturated with those glorious Technicolor shots full of blue water and white sails, and I loved Franco Mannino's score. Unfortunately, it's all downhill from there. Andre de Toth's direction is ludicrous from beginning to end.

Shall we start with the hamfistedness? A Panamanian is buying a cow, inspects her teeth, and the seller declares it to be in prime condition. Pan to a slave girl, whose teeth are also being inspected. Okay, we get the idea, but just in case we miss the parallel, the slave's seller says the SAME WORDS, TO THE LETTER, as the cow's owner does!

That was my first hint that the movie was going to be bad, but not until the `action' scenes start did I realize just how funny it was going to be. Steve Reeves, enslaved aboard a Spanish vessel, leads a mutiny below decks. Instead of shooting the slaves from the hatchway, the Spanish marines obligingly climb right down the ladder and fall directly into the slaves' hands without even putting up a fight! Having thus gained some idea of the quality of his opposition, Steve Reeves just blows off the rest of the action sequence; it's obvious he isn't even trying. He swordfights like a septuagenarian English country gentleman pointing out landmarks with a cane. When he has to knock a man overboard, he just half-heartedly waves the stock of his musket at the victim, who promptly goes flying.

Then there's the dialogue. Of course there is nothing easier than to poke fun at badly dubbed Italian movies. But in this case, to blame the translators and dubbers would be unfair, since the original Italian dialogue obviously never made sense to begin with. For example: Dona Inez, seeing a dying sailor, slaps Captain Morgan and says, `You're nothing but a murderer!' His answer: `And you are beautiful!' Wow, what a splendid rebuttal! (It sounds even lamer if you remember THE SEA HAWK, where Errol Flynn answers a similar accusation from a beautiful prisoner by gently pointing out that his actions are no different from those of Spanish military `heroes').

The best laugh of all is when Morgan gives the order to abandon ship, which his sailors proceed to do not by taking to the dories, but by just diving overboard en masse! But the amazingly incompetent editing is humorous too; sometimes it looks like an early attempt to pioneer MTV-style jump cutting. At another point, a major patch of the movie simply goes missing in action. At one point, Morgan and his pirates have been abandoned, without ships (Morgan having burned them), on the beaches of Jamaica: they then proceed to march overland to Panama! The entire portion of the movie that explains how they got off the island of Jamaica to the Central American isthmus is just GONE!

I won't bother criticizing the movie for lack of historical accuracy. It's perfectly excusable to sacrifice historical accuracy in the name of a good story, like in BRAVEHEART or in almost any Shakespeare play. What I find more annoying is when the good stories in history are not exploited to their full potential. This movie, for instance is the second I know of (THE BLACK SWAN is the other) that wastes the dramatic possibilities of Henry Morgan. The historical Captain Morgan had all the qualities of a classic Hollywood villain: diabolic charisma, a penchant for treachery, absolute ruthlessness, a cunning genius for strategy, insatiable greed and lechery. He even had sinister, bushy eyebrows and a Basil Rathbone mustache! And film-makers can't think of anything better to do with him than make him a hero?

One parting shot: if I'd been in Morgan's shoes, I'd have told Dona Inez to go fly a kite. Consuela for me!

Rating: *½ out of ****.

Recommendation: If you want to see a good movie, skip it. If you want to laugh at a bad one, then by all means, see it.

EXAMPLE OF WHY STEVE REEVES WAS THE TOP BOX-OFFICE STAR OF THE 1960s

[larryanderson · 9/10 · 11 May 2021]

I first saw this movie about a year after it's initial release. I have admired the movie since then. Just a great fun movie to watch, especially during our current shutdown. The movie is not available on Y/T so it is a good thing I kept my PR release. I also have the Italian version, which has a different ending than the English Language release.

In the movie they say "concentrate your fire on the first ship, It's Morgan's" Well, when I was in Acapulco in 1979, I visited the fort there and stood on the wall, by a cannon and said.. the same thing.

Morgan the Pirate

[mhrabovsky1-1 · 15 January 2006]

You have to give Steve Reeves agent (s) a lot of credit for morphing him into a great action film such as this one. After two hugely successful Hercules films, Reeves spun off his superman, supermusclebulger personna in a number of sword and sandal type films and other historical characters. One such was the role of Henry Morgan in the great pirate film, "Morgan the Pirate". Most of the Italian made "epics" of the late 50s and early 60s such as the never ending Hercules type films were that they were made on skimpy budgets with shapely, lovely starlets who would never make any Hollywood films. Some of Reeves love interests in those films were Mylene Demengeot, Valerie LaGrange, Chelo Alonso, Georgia Moll and Ombretta Colli....didn't think any of those names rang a bell with you. As Captain Morgan Reeves is a slave to be sold off at an auction in a Panama market, but the daughter of the governor (Valerie LaGrange) is smitten with him after witnessing a flogging and makes him her personal valet. Reeves mistakenly embraces her in a barn and is sent packing to a Spanish war galleon by the governor as a result - presumably never to be heard from again. After leading a slave revolt on a ship, Reeves takes over and forms his own pirate band with him becoming the captain. On a raid Reeves discovers the governor's daughter has been captured on another pirate raid and he is smitten with her and "wins" her in a battle with another pirate captain. As the story goes Reeves and his band sink Spanish ships, have endless fights with other pirates and Reeves becomes more and more powerful as the "scourge of the seven seas"...all along Reeves desires the love of his captive lady Lagrange, but she fends him off wanting to go back to Panama and her freedom. After being set free by Reeves (Capt Morgan) she realizes she truly loves him and longs to see him again. After a failed attempt to capture the city of Panama in a raid, it appears Morgan has drowned.....alas..Morgan is alive and then in another back entrance raid he and his pirate band capture the city and reunites with Lagrange. Reeves showed some true acting ability in this film, and it is considered by his fans as his very best movie. There is a great musical score in this film also. Gets you in the mood for action. I'd rate this film in a pirate league with "Captain Blood" and "The Black Swan".....two very formnable pirate tales. Reeves fans will love this movie.

Morgan the Pirate

[coltras35 · 8/10 · 6 January 2024]

Purchased as a slave in the Panama market by the Dona Inez, daughter of the Spanish Governor, Welshman Sir Henry Morgan soon finds himself in love with the young woman. Soon after however he commandeers the ship transporting him and other slaves and soon they are the scourge of Caribbean looting and attacking the mighty Spanish Empire. The pirates soon find themselves acting under the authority of the English and Morgan has only one goal: to attack and take control of Panama.

Peplums get a bit of a raw deal of being cheap and silly, but in my opinion they are quite imaginative, capture a sense of time, build the scenario with a dramatic flourish, like an Opera - at least the good ones, and Morgan The Pirate is certainly a good one. It's quite enjoyable, beautiful looking with flamboyant costumes, well-ornate ships, with enough conflicts and lively action - the swordplay between Reeves and another pirate on the beach is quite exciting - and amidst the mayhem the relationship between Reeves and the governor's daughter is well thought out - she just doesn't fall into his arms, even when he declares his love for her. She still thinks him of a slave ... a stubbornness borne out from her mentality honed by her environment. Steve Reeves is really good as Henry Morgan, he's less Errol Flynn in terms of being a cheeky chappy, and is more serious and honourable. This is no doubt a romantic version of the pirate Henry Morgan but an enjoyable one. That's I think is down to Andre De Toth - who directed a few Randoloh Scott westerns and the excellent The Last of the Comanches- is a solid director.

Good Saturday Afternoon Matinee Fare

[hans101067 · 10 December 2000]

This is a good pirate film for kids.I don't think anybody,including Reeves,thought that he was a great artist,but it's a fun picture.Vaguely inspired by "Captain Blood",this has very little to do with the real Henry Morgan.It also has aspects of "The Adventures of Robin Hood "as well.Chelo Alonso,straight from her adventures in the Follies Bergere is simply exquisite.A funny sequence has Reeves strip to the waist for a duel with the paunchy Armand Mestral,who,when viewing his rivals superb physique,shrugs in chagrin.Ripping good fun.