Errol’s 50s swashbucklers are usually seen as sorry efforts from a once great star but this one at any rate remains colourful, escapist entertainment, with a strong script and top-notch cast. Sure, Errol looks dissolute and seedy but who cares? It’s Errol Flynn – he’s either going to be youthful and dashing or older and seedy yet still dashing with a twinkle in his eye.Undercover plots usually almost always work and it does here, with Errol trying to bust a pirate ring. The most fun in the film comes from gorgeous Maureen O’Hara as a feisty pirate, who falls in love with Errol, does a lot of swashbuckling and gets jealous of a (naive but very horny) princess in disguise – she was his best co-star in ages and its a shame they didn’t work together more often (Errol’s innate lechery teams well with O’Hara’s feisty hoity-toity-ness and the both seem to enjoy each other’s company).
O’Hara is a feisty independent woman, who runs her own pirate ship, is a dab hand at the sword and sits on the board of directors of the pirate community (there’s also a black pirate – progressive bunch, these pirates); while she’s comfortable in the masculine world, she hasn’t given up on her femininity – she kisses a tied-up Errol as a dare and later propositions him out-right (“get to it, Mr Hawke!” she demands); she likes to wear dresses and flash necklaces, but only in her down time.
There’s also Anthony Quinn as the villain (quite sympathetic - he's brave, on to Errol from the start and seems to genuinely like O'Hara - he does try to molest her at the end but that smacks of convenience so you don't mind that he gets killed at the end), Mildred Natwick as a Una O'Connor-style maid, floggings, duels, last-minute rescues, cast names fleeced from real pirates (eg Bart Roberts) and Errol almost eaten by crabs. Good stuff despite flabbish direction.
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