Pretty Good

Good concept, poorly executed.

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.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Good, colorful period adventure from Hammer Studios is also a curiosity - a landlocked pirate movie! The high seas are nowhere in sight in a tale set on the Isle of Devon in the late 17th century. People known as "Huguenots" have fled persecution, and set up a peaceable community. Young Jonathon Standing (Kerwin Mathews), found guilty of adultery and sentenced to 15 years in a nearby penal colony, ultimately falls into the clutches of a pirate gang who are determined - nay, hellbent - on discovering whatever treasures this island may hold."The Pirates of Blood River" is nothing great, but it thoroughly entertains the viewer for a well paced 87 minutes. It's got plenty of effective ingredients: action set pieces, rousing orchestral music (by Gary Hughes), wonderful widescreen photography, and a reasonably simple plot (screenplay by John Hunter and director John Gilling, based on a story by Jimmy Sangster). Said plot includes a theme of religious fervor, and how some people, like Jonathons' father Jason (Andrew Keir), allow this to completely dictate how they live their lives.Jonathon is no innocent - he WAS guilty, after all - but he's still quite a likable chap, and one may admire him for attempting to take a stand. The villains are appropriately despicable, with the great Sir Christopher Lee taking center stage as a French accented pirate leader named LaRoche. Among his crew are Mr. Hench (Peter Arne), Brocaire (Oliver Reed), and Mack (Michael Ripper). This excellent cast helps to add life to the familiar but agreeable proceedings. (That's Desmond "Q" Llewelyn in the small role of Tom Blackthorne.)The action is well executed, although the final battle is a little anticlimactic because there was a sequence earlier in the picture that was more intense. There's one show stopping sword fight where Arne and Reed duel (while blindfolded) over a woman. And there's a mild bit of gore, although scenes involving piranha attacks involve little more than splashing water and a bit of blood.Fun stuff, for Hammer fans and lovers of pirate cinema.Seven out of 10.

Long adventure film about a bunch of pirates talking their way into the oblivion of boredom.One of the actors you'll recognize is Glenn Corbett who appeared in 'Shenandoah' as Jimmy Stewart's oldest son, but more notably as a dude named Cochrane in the Star Trek episode 'Metamorphosis'.I tried to watch this thing until the end, but it was so damned long and boring, I couldn't keep my eyes open. I finally turned off the TV and went to sleep. Then I was unable to remember not only the name of the film, but even what it was about.A cool title is the only thing the film has going for it. Make a pot of coffee before viewing... you'll need it.

Fleeing religious persecution a group of Huguenots settle on the Isle of Devon and establish a village where they can live and worship in peace. Unfortunately, many years later the leadership of the village is taken over by greedy and self-serving men who begin to enforce a type of religious tyranny on the residents. In one particular case a man by the name of "Jonathon Standing" (Kewin Matthews) has fallen in love with a woman named "Maggie Mason" (Marie Devereux) who is the wife of one of the leaders. Although neither have actually committed adultery when they are found in each other's embrace the decision is made to punish both all the same. In fear Maggie tries to escape by swimming to the other side of a river but is attacked and killed by piranhas. Meanwhile Jonathon is caught and then tried for adultery with Maggie's husband as one of the jurors. Although he protests his innocence he is sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in a penal colony. A couple of months later he attempts to escape but is captured by a band of pirates and taken to their leader, "Captain LaRoche" (Christopher Lee) who decides to march to the village and loot it. Now, rather than detail any more of the film and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this turned out to be a decent pirate movie despite the fact that almost all of the scenes happened on dry land. I especially liked the performance of Christopher Lee who I thought played the part quite superbly. In any case, I recommend this movie to all of those who think they might enjoy a film of this type and rate it as slightly above average.

I saw this film once in 1967. My young friends and I had barely left the movie theatre and we had forgotten the plot of this movie. Apparently we got to see scenes that were cut when released elsewhere so it should have made more sense, but I remember in less than a week we argued over what had happened, and why. Since then we have forgotten almost everything about it, except for two things which we still laugh about today. One; the skeleton rising from the river after its flesh had been stripped from it by piranhas (why would a skeleton rise up? the don't float),and the terrible continuity gaffe of the potted palm tropical forest; one minute the trees were green and lush, in the next scene dry and brown, then back to green again. But it was a Hammer film, and we loved Hammer films back then. Still do. Aah nostalgia. But there is a lot to be said for production values and a budget.