The impressive vivid colors produced by the three-strip system of Technicolor's first two feature films were beginning to perk the interest of Hollywood to the new technology. The third full-length motion picture to be released using the company's new film stock was May 1936's "Dancing Pirate," cinema's first feature film musical shot in that format.
"It's incredible how far a picture can get on great color, good dancing, and solid jokes," described film reviewer Andrew Wickliffe on "Dancing Pirate." Critic James Harrison added at the time of its release, "'Dancing Pirate' is an amusing diversion and a treat for the eyes when the dazzling Technicolor lights up the screen. The dancing of all involved is as good and pleasurable as any major studio production."
For years after its release, "Dancing Pirate" fell into obscurity, with only a cheap 16mm two-color Cinecolor process available. Then collector Wade Williams stepped forward with his private 35mm pristine copy. A restoration with 4K scan was performed, and the film, with Rita Hayworth, Pat Ryan (President Nixon's future wife), and Marjorie Reynolds appearing as three of the many dancers, was shown in a pristine print.
Pioneer Pictures, a subsidiary of RKO Pictures and producers of the first three-strip Technicolor feature film, 1935 "Becky Sharp," was responsible for "Dancing Pirate." Adapted from Emma-Lindsay Squier's 1930 Colliers Magazine story 'Glorious Buccaneer,' the movie centers around Jonathan Pride (Charles Collins), a Boston dance instructor in 1920 who is captured by pirates and sails to California as a slave. He escapes to a small coastal town where he is to be hanged for piracy. Serafina (Steffi Duna), daughter to the mayor (Frank Morgan), intercedes shortly before his execution with the stipulation Jonathan teaches her and her friends how to waltz.
Collins was a Broadway performer who had done film work since 1932, but "Dancing Pirate" was his biggest role yet. Married to dancer/actress Dorothy Stone, Collins had appeared in several films, live plays and a nightclub act with his wife. He never reached the top tier of actors mainly because most felt he was too tall and lean. Collins last appeared in the 1984 TV show 'The Master,' where his character reminisces about his audition for "Dancing Pirate." He died in 1999 at age 95.
