As far as telling a reasonably accurate account of Blackbeard's career as a pirate, forget it! It reminds me more of certain westerns that have Billy the Kid, Wild Bill Hickok, and Jesse James, for example, interacting. The two main pirates in this yarn are Blackbeard and Henry Morgan. Well, Morgan was active as a pirate toward the beginning of 'The Golden Age of Piracy', whereas Blackbeard was a pirate near the end of this period, in the next century! Nonetheless, why not have probably the 2 most famous pirates who operated in the Caribbean tangle with each other in a classic tale, irrespective of the historical impossibility......RKO was taking advantage of the success of the mesmerizing characterization by Robert Newton of Long John Silver" in the 1950 hit "Treasure Island" to hopefully produce another pirate tale hit. Throw in a ravishing Linda Darnell as a major player, to spice things up even more....Keith Andes is criticized by most reviewers for being too bland in his role as the romantic lead Robert Maynard. I found him OK. If you need an Errol Flynn or Burt Lancaster, check out "Against All Flags" and "The Crimson Pirate", which were also released that year('52). Torin Thatcher makes an excellent Henry Morgan, while William Bendex is OK as Blackbeard's first mate. Irene Ryan(of "The Beverly Hillbillies")makes an occasional impression as a tipsy Maid in Waiting for Linda. While drunk, Blackbeard got her to reveal the location of Morgan's treasure: right on his ship!........The final scene , in which Keith and Linda are sharing a romantic interlude in their flight from a dying Blackbeard and his crew ignores the reality that the crew is probably hot on their tail in the other landing craft. Good luck!......Blackbeard found the presence of Linda on his deck a great aid in discouraging bombardment or boarding by Morgan or others. Linda claims to be the daughter of one time pirate captain Edwin Mansfield. This name is a slight alteration of Edwin Mansvelt: an actual pirate captain of these times........Blackbeard finally gets his due from his crew for being excessively greedy with the treasure. The ultimate fate of the treasure is ironic......Robert Newton would get yet another opportunity to display his unique charisma as a classic pirate 2 years later in "Long John Silver"

It's 17th century. Edward Teach is the feared pirate Blackbeard. The English Crown has sent reformed pirate Sir Henry Morgan against him and the other pirates. Not everyone is convinced of Morgan's conversion. Pirate Charles Bellamy arrives in Port Royal and Robert Maynard hopes to catch him with Morgan. He pretends to be the new shipboard surgeon only to find Blackbeard as the captain. Blackbeard takes Edwina Mansfield prisoner who is hiding a secret treasure.I don't have the best print of this and the Technicolor makes this feel even older. It's all very old fashion. The sets and the directing are all static. Robert Newton is playing Blackbeard for all he's worth. Keith Andes is a stiff pretty boy leading man. Linda Darnell has ample bosoms. The action has limited visceral tension. It's an old pirate movie from the backlots of Hollywood.

Blackbeard is essentially a story of a reformed pirate Henry Morgan becoming the Governor in the West Indies to get rid off other pirates especially Blackbeard (Robert Newton.)A young ship's surgeon Edward Maynard is tasked to become part of Blackbeard's crew to deal with both Blackbeard and Morgan who he also suspects of still being a villain.Blackbeard manages to kidnap Morgan's adopted daughter which leads to a romance subplot with Maynard. At all times Blackbeard shows ruthless cunning and double dealing.Newton hams it up nicely as Blackbeard who has set the pirate standard. William Bendix provides fine support, Linda Darnell is very nice eye candy but the whole thing is just too silly even though its a bit risqué here and there and rather strong in some of its violence.The film ranges from daft to dull, the final fight scenes with Blackbeard and the rest of the crew is dumb but his drowning scene is rather startling.

Of all the Hollywood actors who have portrayed Caribbean pirates, none have ever surpassed the over the top performances of Robert Newton. Despite being forever linked with Long John Silver in Treasure Island, in this movie he plays equally notorious villain Edward Teach Aka, " BlackBeard The Pirate. " Having spent a lifetime in the Caribbean, Teach has become synonymous with black hearted crimes on the high seas. In this story written by DaVallon Scott and superbly directed by Raoul Walsh, we catch up with the notorious privateer as he unsuspectingly takes on a new crew member and doctor Maynard (Keith Andes who signs on with the intention of gathering enough evidence, that Sir. Henry Morgan (Torin Thatcher) is also a pirate. The movie is everything associated with Pirates of the Old School, namely tall masted Ships, 20 lbs cannons, ship-to-ship fighting and double-dealing interaction between pirates. To help this endeavor full cast members include William Bendix, Anthony Caruso and Richard Egan. Movie eye candy is amply supplied by Linda Darnell who make the use of Technic color worth the cost. This film is easily recommended and over the years has become the stuff of Legends. Thus it has become a Classic. ****