Raiders of the Seven Seas (1953)

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Perfectly adorable

not as good as all the hype

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Just one the many adventures of the legendary pirate Barbarossa. This fearless swashbuckler is played aptly by John Payne. Barbarossa stages a mutiny and commanders the ship for his own. He convinces the freed Spanish prisoners to stay on as his crew. He plans to kidnap a Spanish noblewoman, Alida(Donna Reed); to obtain a large ransom and destroy what he can of the Spanish war fleet. In the process, the pirate falls in love with the beautiful countess and has to contend with the officer she is supposed to marry. Very appealing scenery and plenty of action and adventure. Payne seems a bit throttled, but still shows Barbarossa to be pompous and fearless. Reed seems reserved, but so pretty and demure. Lon Chaney Jr. is notable as the pirate's aide, Peg-Leg. And young Skip Torgerson is a useful Datu. The supporting cast includes: Frank DeKova, Gerald Mohr, Anthony Caruso and Claire Du Brey.

An agreeable as well as decent John Payne swashbuckler about the Pirate Barbarossa, a real personage against the Spanish Main. This classic story of romantic adventure come to life enriched by Technicolor photography and adapted rightly to the screen. Since man's earliest venturings upon the oceans ..into the icy breakers of the North.. or the warm waters of the golden gulf have come down wondrous tales of Raiders of the Seven Seas . Barbarossa was one of them , sailing recklessly through the seventeenth Century , from India's Ocean to the Caribbean islands , today he still lives in hundreds of legends . This is one : It begins in Morocco , in the palace of the Sultan , where Barbarossa (John Payne) flees . As Barbarossa takes over a Spànish ship called Santa Margarita and frees a bunch of prisoners and makes them his crew , as his aide Peg-Leg (Lon Chaney) and deputy Renzo (Anthony Caruso) , among others . As a corsair captain and a crew of escaped convicts plundering for loot and revenge . On a raid, he takes as a prize a Spanish countess (Donna Reed) , Alida , governor's daughter . He has fallen in love with her by the time he manages for her ransom by the captain Salcedo (Gerald Mohr) who was to marry her . Meanwhile, Barbarossa goes to Santo Domingo and Turtle Island . Exposing her intended as a liar and a coward , he goes to ask for her hand but she has fled , and Barbarossa believes she is the one who murdered his assistant . Barbarossa encounters dangerous situations while trying retrieve his lover , as he is double-crossed and after that , he attacks La Habana , Cuba , where is the residence of the governor general and his officer , Captain Goiti (Henry Brandon).Amusing pirate movie , plenty of action , thrills , colorful cinematography and luxurious costumes . Although the story has been told before , tight filmmaking and nice acting win out . Overwhelming battle ships , sword-play and full of villainy , romance , swashbuckler and heroism . The picture is fast-moving , exciting and thrilling right up to the almost balletic climatic confrontation between John Payne and Gerald Mohr . Average-budgeted film by United Artists Pictures , using appropriate ship shots and miniature sets when possible . Nice acting by John Payne as a famous pirate who uses all kind of shrewdness in order to penetrate a well-defended stronghold on La Habana . Payne starred various swashbucklers and classic adventures such as ¨Tripoli¨ with Mauren O'Hara , ¨Captain China¨ by Lewis R. Foster , ¨Caribbean¨ by Edward Ludwig with Arlene Dahl , ¨Crosswinds¨ by Lewis Foster with Rhonda Fleming , among others . ¨Raiders of the seven seas¨ results to be one of John Payne's swashbuckling best though hasn't achieved a classic status . There appears the gorgeous Donna Reed as a hot-tempered countess moll who swoons over Payne ; furthermore , an enjoyable support cast such as Gerald Mohr as Captain Jose Salcedo , Lon Chaney Jr as Peg Leg , Anthony Caruso as Renzo , Henry Brandon as Captain Goiti and Frank DeKova as Captain Romero .United Artists took advantage of the unused as well as left sets from other A-movies by scripting and shooting a hastily assembled B-picture . This is a good-natured Technicolor romp with glamorous cinematography by Howard Greene and evocative musical score by Paul Sawtell. The motion picture was professionally produced and directed by Sidney Salkow , a craftsman who had already filmed other adventures . He realized all kind of genres such as routine westerns (Sitting Bull , The great Sioux massacre , Pathfinder) , Adventures (Prince of Pirates , Sword of the avenger) , war films , Sci-Fi (The last man on Earth) , Terror (Twice-told tales) and melodramas (City without men) . Salkow first worked for Republic, after joining Universal . At Columbia , he handled , among other assignments, four installments of the popular Lone Wolf series . After 1953, Salkow was primarily active as director of episodic television . Rating : 6 , acceptable pirate movie , entertaining stuff . It will appeal to John Payne and Donna Reed fans .

The light-hearted nature of this pirate adventure is immediately evident as the film opens with Barbarosa (Payne) being discovered romancing some harem ladies whereupon he's furiously chased by soldiers. He manages to reach the seacoast and swims out to the nearest ship. This is the best part of the film as he surreptitiously climbs aboard and rather than becoming a galley slave, he persuades the crew to mutiny and then to piracy with him as their chief!From then on it's pretty standard pirate movie fare. Henry Brandon and Gerald Mohr are surprisingly effective as wealthy but dishonest Spanish schemers, but their modern haircuts don't go very well with their elaborate 17th century court costumes. Donna Reed looks good, but is not convincing as the haughty daughter of a Spanish governor. The film comes alive only when John Payne is on screen, but nevertheless manages to entertain.

First, the good news. This movie is only 4 minutes and 23 seconds old before John Payne takes off his shirt, revealing a V-shaped torso which, unlike many of his earlier unveilings, is gloriously unshaven and only a few years past its prime. Now the bad news. It's all downhill from here. Even fans of pirate B-movies will find this concoction an anemic affair which lacks energy and style and which, due to a tight budget, has a disappointingly studio-bound quality. Throwing in an "adorable" child actor only accentuates the vapidity of the proceedings.John Payne manages to get by without serious damage to his reputation, aided, of course, by that bare-chest scene, but adding a reddish dye to his dark hair tends to make him look more silly than rakish. Donna Reed doesn't have the fire and flash needed for her part but, to be fair, no one could do much with lines such as: "I will enjoy (your company) even more when you are stretched to the four winds on a torture-rack!"A better grade-B pirate movie from this era is "Prince of Pirates" with John Derek and Barbara Rush.