The Pirate (1948) is about the ebullient actor Serafin (Gene Kelly) who comes to a small Caribbean town and falls hard for the romantic Manuela (Judy Garland). She rejects him, saving her love only for the legendary pirate Macoco, whom she wishes would steal her away. So Serafin takes on the guise of the notorious pirate in order to win her heart. Though it flopped when released, The Pirate has become a cult classic often hailed as being ahead of its time. I've seen the film twice and still fail to see the appeal.
Don't get me wrong: I love Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, and Cole Porter. Vincent Minelli is not among my favorite directors, but I usually admire his colorful style. It feels like someone got the most delicious ingredients for an ice cream sundae and ended up botching it big time, to the point where it's almost inedible. Porter's score is among his most unmemorable. Outside of "Be a Clown" (which is tucked away at the very end), I cannot hum a single one of them, a big flaw for a musical. The dancing is good though, and Gene Kelly is in fine form.
Unfortunately, the dancing cannot save a lackluster production. Kelly and Garland are stuck playing characters who come off as annoying, especially Garland's Manuela, who spends most of her screen time shrilly screaming and whining all her lines. Kelly hams it up to the stratosphere, which ceases to be funny fast. The comedy plays much better in the more underplayed scenes, like when Manuela is going off to sacrifice her virtue to the attractive "Macoco" to save the town and another girl offers to take her place. Manuela tersely replies, "He asked for ME."
The sets are so stagey they're distracting. While this theatricality works in the ballet dream sequence in the middle of the film or something like the Broadway Melody portion of Singin' in the Rain (1952), here it just comes across as cheap. The costumes are awful: garish parodies of 1830s fashion with ugly patterns. Poor Judy gets saddled with the most ridiculous outfits.
I know I'll be voted down for this. Ah well, such is life. This seems to be a movie a lot of people enjoy and I would never want to take that away from them. I wish I could have enjoyed it too, but it's not hard to see why this flopped so hard back in '48.
Don't get me wrong: I love Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, and Cole Porter. Vincent Minelli is not among my favorite directors, but I usually admire his colorful style. It feels like someone got the most delicious ingredients for an ice cream sundae and ended up botching it big time, to the point where it's almost inedible. Porter's score is among his most unmemorable. Outside of "Be a Clown" (which is tucked away at the very end), I cannot hum a single one of them, a big flaw for a musical. The dancing is good though, and Gene Kelly is in fine form.
Unfortunately, the dancing cannot save a lackluster production. Kelly and Garland are stuck playing characters who come off as annoying, especially Garland's Manuela, who spends most of her screen time shrilly screaming and whining all her lines. Kelly hams it up to the stratosphere, which ceases to be funny fast. The comedy plays much better in the more underplayed scenes, like when Manuela is going off to sacrifice her virtue to the attractive "Macoco" to save the town and another girl offers to take her place. Manuela tersely replies, "He asked for ME."
The sets are so stagey they're distracting. While this theatricality works in the ballet dream sequence in the middle of the film or something like the Broadway Melody portion of Singin' in the Rain (1952), here it just comes across as cheap. The costumes are awful: garish parodies of 1830s fashion with ugly patterns. Poor Judy gets saddled with the most ridiculous outfits.
I know I'll be voted down for this. Ah well, such is life. This seems to be a movie a lot of people enjoy and I would never want to take that away from them. I wish I could have enjoyed it too, but it's not hard to see why this flopped so hard back in '48.