The Pirates of Blood River

This is an enjoyable Hammer adventure film with the charismatic Christopher Lee playing Captain LaRoche, a ruthless eye-patched pirate who, with the help of his motley crew, attack an unruly Huguenot settlement on a Caribbean island convinced there is hidden treasure to be had.

The usual budget constraints are there but it doesn't hinder the film as much as some of their other adventure films despite the fact the pirates are only seen on land and not at sea. Director John Gilling has a firm hand on proceedings with a script by Jimmy Sangster and a solid support cast of Oliver Reed, Michael Ripper, Andrew Keir, Desmond Llewelyn and an early acting role for future TV star Dennis Waterman.

It's fun B-movie fare wrapped up in a handsome period adventure yarn that is entertaining with simple storytelling and perfect for a rainy Saturday afternoon.

In the seventeenth-century, a young Huegonot (Kerwin Mathews) escapes from a West Indies penal colony and joins forces with a treasure-obsessed pirate (Christopher Lee)...

Action-adventure in the Carribbean, Hammer-style, with not one but two Hollywood flavor-of-the-month hunks -Kerwin Mathews & Glenn Corbett (whatever happened to him?). Plenty of cutlass clashing (including a climactic one between Mathews and Lee), derring-do, and faux French accents but with all the swamp chases, you'd think at least one character would get gobbled up by quicksand. Unfortunately, none did. There were, however, enough saber-stabbings, booby-traps (including a spiked pit), musket skirmishes, and death by piranha (hence the title, "Blood River") to satisfy the easily amused. It was filmed on the back lots of Hammer's Bray Studios and stereotypes abounded from the sexy, nearly iconic Christopher Lee as the black-clad, one-eyed pirate king to a barrel-chested Oliver Reed as one of his lusty mates. The killed-off-all-too-soon Ollie cut a handsome, husky figure as did an earnest Glenn Corbett who's constipated acting made the rather lethargic Kerwin Mathews look like Sarah Bernhardt. Oddly enough (or not), Kerwin didn't have a femme love interest but Glenn did -the lackluster Marla Landi who looked a lot like Madeline Rhue. All in all, an agreeable time-waster, of interest mainly for it's idiosyncratic international beefcake.

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.

Having already made two Robin Hood movies, Hammer then tried their hand at a couple of pirate movies shot in the woodland surrounding Bray Studios in Buckinghamshire (co.scripted by John Hunter, son of T. Hayes Hunter, director of the pre-Hammer horror 'The Ghoul' in 1933). Their provenance as Hammer productions was underscored by suitably bloodthirsty titles ('The Pirates of Blood River', 'The Devil-Ship Pirates') and by their usual plush production values achieved within their modest means (the budget didn't actually run to a ship, for example). This, the first, certainly lives up to its title since several people get devoured by piranhas trying to cross the title river, while a couple of others get impaled on spikes by a booby trap.

My favourite scene in a Hammer film is Rupert Davies in 'Dracula Has Risen from the Grave' expressing relief that his prospective son-in-law isn't a Methodist; and then going ballistic when he instead reveals that he's an atheist. Religious zealots also receive short shrift in this movie in the form of Andrew Keir, who shows 'mercy' to his own son by sentencing him for adultery to transportation rather than death, declares "God has answered our prayers" when he (wrongly) thinks he's fought the pirates off, and would then sooner sacrifice the entire village than reveal the location of his hidden stash of treasure (which I figured out before anyone else in the film did).

Pirate captain Christopher Lee - "As strong as a lion, as cunning as a mongoose, and as vicious as a snake" - sporting a stylish eye-patch, presides over a mean-looking bunch of cutthroats (one of whom - wearing one enormous earring - is black). But Marla Landi as the female lead is absent for most of the first half, and although two of the pirates fight a duel over her only really comes into her own when she changes into leather britches and a blouse for the film's final quarter. Even then, alas, she's present largely as a spectator during the finale.

You won't find here any 18th-century ships in full sail photographed against a Caribbean seascape of azure blue skies. Instead, all of the action takes place on a mundane-looking island which offers little in the way of beaches or coves. (The geography of this made-in-England movie is disturbingly vague.) The result is somewhat drab and claustrophobic and makes one wish for the colorful sweep of "Anne of the Indies" or "The Crimson Pirate."

Partially making up for this weakness is an interesting cast which includes not only bound-for-better-things Christopher Lee and Oliver Reed but also a curiously-cast Glenn Corbett. Dennis Waterman pops up as a boy who's sent on horseback to warn of the pirates' attack.

Kerwin Matthews qualifies as an adequate hero. However, while the movie's poster shows him bound bare-chested to a ship's wheel, such a scene never appears in the print under discussion.