While the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series got boring later in their entries due to a lack of new ideas or repetitive ones, this 1950's one never rises past predictability and yawn inducing ghastliness. Other than the opportunity to see how tight Jeff Chandler's pants can get, there is never anything to rise this past the mediocrity state in its telling of the saga of an American naval ship's secret mission, posing as pirates, and exposing an enemy's ship as secret pirates rather than the noble naval ship it disguises itself to be. Not only is the story filled with a ton of plot holes deeper than the Atlantic itself, it never gets past old pirate movie clichés and a sense of confusion that even with a few tense moments only makes me say, Huh?". It has an opportunity to take off a bit when they land on a Caribbean island filled with deadly natives, but it's only a brief plot twist to bring on the unnecessary character played by Susan Bal. The characterizations played by the leads never quite ring true, and as handsome as Chandler is, he's never allowed to express any real emotion or have any humor. It's too bad that the photography is so colorful, because it really just ends up being so much the opposite when all is over.

After an extended tour of duty on the high seas the captain of an American warship receives orders to investigate pirate activity and report back to Charleston afterwards. In order to accomplish this mission "Captain David Porter" (Jeff Chandler) is also ordered to masquerade as a pirate ship in the process. Along with that a young navy officer named "Lieutenant David Farragut" (Scott Brady) is sent to assist him. Unfortunately, what the Navy Department doesn't know is that there is a history between the two and things only gets worse when a young woman by the name of "Countess Margarita La Raguna" (Susan Ball) is granted political asylum aboard the ship. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie I will just say that, although a little old, this was a fairly good pirate film which pretty much covers all of the bases one would expect in a movie of this sort. Because of that I have rated this movie accordingly. Slightly above average.

history and romance. atmosphere of a lot of other adventure films from the period. and something different. maybe the humor or the different manner to use ingredients of original recipes. in fact, a film who has the charm of the heroic stories and something more. maybe the acting or the American implication in a different European problem. maybe the absence of Errol Flynn and the inspired measure in definition of character by Jeff Chandler. or the performance of Joseph Calleia who explores the each side of his character. a film of great images and full of air from childhood books. an oasis for different viewers. and, sure, a certainly delight.

It's a lot of fun to watch a movie that just entertains, with plenty of swashbuckling, a stunningly beautiful heroine, manly male leads, and a fairly ghastly, but amusing story. One can't help being struck by the simple beauty of the leads--Brady & Chandler had 'A' movie looks, and there is really nothing to fault on their performances. The doomed and stunning Suzan Ball parades the deck in a series of stunning dresses, and shows the looks and talents behind the little legend.It is fun to think of David Porter and David Glasgow Farragut fighting the last gasp of piracy in the Caribbean. Joseph Calleia makes a magnificent and cheerfully evil Spanish governor, the kind of villain who puts you on the rack and offers you sherry. George Mathews makes a wise-cracking and dipsomaniacal CPO who would have been broken below Seaman 2nd in any serious navy, but still has fun and lets us have it, too.The story is utterly nonsensical, historically ridiculous, and the props and costumes have nothing do to with the supposed time period, with the exception of the U.S. navy uniforms shown early and never afterwards. It is only two to three times more plausible and accurate than the recent Disney abominations.