Daily Archives: September 17, 2017

The Pirates of Blood River
Directed by John Gilling
Written by John Hunter and John Gilling; story by Jimmy Sangster
1962/UK
Hammer Films
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Brocaire, a pirate: [Realizes the sword thrust through him is fatal] Oh, Mama… [He falls over dead][/box]

The highlight of this movie is Christopher Lee and his French accent.

A couple of generations ago, French Huguenots fled to the Isle of Devon in the Caribbean to escape religious persecution.  The ideals of their forebears have been corrupted and the island is now run by religious fanatics.  As the movie starts, Jonathan Standing (Kerwin Matthews), is caught kissing one of the elders’ wives.  He is tried by a panel including his own father, who is also an elder, and sentenced to 15 years in the penal colony.  This is tantamount to a death sentence as the jailers are brutal.

Jonathan manages to escape and runs into pirates headed by Capt. LaRoche (Christopher Lee). Jonathan makes a deal with LaRoche so that the pirates will take him back to the village to organize a rebellion.  Unbeknowst to Jonathan, the pirates are actually nterested in treasure and will kill until its location is revealed.  This might be a problem as Jonathan is convinced there is no treasure.  Mayhem ensues.   With Oliver Reed as one of the pirates.

Hammer Studios was not known for its pirate movies but the gore carries over from the better-known Gothic horror films.  There are plenty of swordfights and other brutality to be had.  It’s mildly OK.

Trailer

These Are the Damned (AKA “The Damned”)
Directed by Joseph Losey
Written by Evan Jones from a novel by H. L. Lawrence
1962/UK
Columbia Pictures Corporation/Hammer Studios/Swallow Productions Ltd.
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Freya Neilson: You know, someone once told me when a bureaucrat wants to keep his job, he stamps everything ‘Top Secret.’ [/box]

The story is an uneasy mixture of JD movie with sci-fi thriller.  Director Joseph Losey keeps all of it powerful, if not coherent.

As our story begins American tourist Simon Wells (McDonald Carey) is visiting an English seaside resort.  Joanie (Shirley Anne Field) gives him the eye and he picks her up only to be brutally mugged by a gang of “teddy boys” headed by King (Oliver Reed), her brother. King has an unhealthy obsession with his sister’s virtue (think Scarface).  But Simon is the only man who has ever treated her like a lady and she cannot stay away from him.

We are also introduced to a bureaucrat and his estranged artist wife and learn that the former has some kind of sinister secret.

Simon and Joanie sail down the coast in Simon’s boat and happen to hide out in the bureaucrat’s house, which has been long vacant.  But the estranged wife arrives to spend the summer there and they are found out.  Before too long, Kind and his gang come looking for his sister and trouble.

Simon and Joanie escape and eventually find themselves in a cave with some children who are desperate to escape their current situation.  The bureaucrat’s secret, which involves these children, gradually unfolds over the remainder of the story.  Simon and Joanie are now in danger from both King’s gang and the bureaucrat’s assistant.

The story is really all over the place and does not bear scrutiny.  There were too many coincidences for me.  Also, I don’t want to give away the secret but it is insufficiently fleshed out.  I wish the movie had ditched a lot of the JD parts, particularly the “Black Leather Rock” song.  That would have given some more time to explain.

Setting the story aside, the film is beautifully and powerfully filmed.  Oliver Reed’s acting makes up for Carey’s inherent dullness and the rest of the cast is fine.  Recommended to sci-fi fans.

It was not until I was doing research for this film that I realized Oliver Reed was director Carol Reed’s nephew!

Trailer